@futurebird When I was doing my undergrad, post-colonialism has just emerged as The Next Big Thing (and it was, and it still is pretty damn big), and the part of I kept hearing was: Cultures are so different as to be alien. Assume nothing about other people's cultures. You will be wrong (esp if you're white).
There's a LOT of truth to that.
But also, like you say, all us humans do a LOT of the same same stuff! We all have religion, and comedy, and literature, and music, and stuff like that.