I don't necessarily remember the specifics of what happen, but microagressions that often happen to me pertain to me hearing and having hearing aides. When I mention someone that I have hearing aids I often get "oh I only thought old people had them". At first it made me and embarrass because I felt like people were picking on me for having hearing aids.. I eventually learned that I should just explain to people that I have a heredity hearing loss, which runs in the family, and I had no control over it. Often times now when people mention this, especially my students, I explained to them that generation will actually have more hearing aid wearers because of all the loud music they listen to through their headphones.
After paying close attention this week to microaggressions, I realized that discrimination, prejudice, and stereotypes still exist and happen everywhere. The simplest thing of calling someone else a name and not mean it can be a microaggression. For example, I had a bi-racial student tell how in one class she was told to go back the Africa by white student. I asked her how she handled it,and she told me went off on the student because she was sick and tired of people making jokes and comments. We never know when something we say is going to offend anyone, so we have to be very careful in what we say, and think about what we are going to say before we say it!
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Friday, May 22, 2015
Perspectives on Diversity and Culture
I asked three people, My brother Mark, my friend Carla, and a student of mine. Below are their definitions of culture and diversity.
Student (age 15):
Culture: "When I hear the word culture I think of a lifestyle or another country who does something different than here in the U.S."
Diversity: "When I hear the word diversity I think of the different people/race of people in the world."
Mark (age 23):
Culture: "I think of people's backgrounds, ancestors, and family traditions."
Diversity: "Multiple interactions of cultures."
Carla (age 27):
Culture: "The behavior and characteristics of a specific group or society."
Diversity: "It's multi-cultural, not the same, variety of characteristics, unique."
Looking at what I have studied so far in this course the people I talked to had pretty much the idea of culture is one groups way of life and behavior. They consider culture to classified as specific group. When looking at diversity I feel that the their responses were similar in a way of that it's different among people, and each person is unique. I feel Carla's definition of diversity basically saying we are all unique. I also think Marl's definition of culture also is good talking about how its tradition and passed down from generations. It withstands the length of time.
One thing I noticed was with culture is the people didn't mention that culture was a person's was of thinking, values, behaviors, and traditions. They thought of culture more as a group as a whole that act the same. When looking at the difference in diversity, I wasn't surprised my my student's response saying diversity is people of different race. Diversity is so much more than just race. It can be gender, religion, class, abilities, values, traditions, interests, etc., the list can go on and on.
After looking the my three people's definition of culture and diversity I realized that we all have a different perspective on what we think culture and diversity are. It made me realize that diversity is what makes us unique from one another. Not one person is like the other, and that is how diversity is created. If everyone was the same, there would be no diversity. I also learned that culture is something that is withstanding and takes time to develop. By talking to people about their ideas of culture and diversity I now have a better idea of culture and diversity and my definitions had been developed deeper.
Student (age 15):
Culture: "When I hear the word culture I think of a lifestyle or another country who does something different than here in the U.S."
Diversity: "When I hear the word diversity I think of the different people/race of people in the world."
Mark (age 23):
Culture: "I think of people's backgrounds, ancestors, and family traditions."
Diversity: "Multiple interactions of cultures."
Carla (age 27):
Culture: "The behavior and characteristics of a specific group or society."
Diversity: "It's multi-cultural, not the same, variety of characteristics, unique."
Looking at what I have studied so far in this course the people I talked to had pretty much the idea of culture is one groups way of life and behavior. They consider culture to classified as specific group. When looking at diversity I feel that the their responses were similar in a way of that it's different among people, and each person is unique. I feel Carla's definition of diversity basically saying we are all unique. I also think Marl's definition of culture also is good talking about how its tradition and passed down from generations. It withstands the length of time.
One thing I noticed was with culture is the people didn't mention that culture was a person's was of thinking, values, behaviors, and traditions. They thought of culture more as a group as a whole that act the same. When looking at the difference in diversity, I wasn't surprised my my student's response saying diversity is people of different race. Diversity is so much more than just race. It can be gender, religion, class, abilities, values, traditions, interests, etc., the list can go on and on.
After looking the my three people's definition of culture and diversity I realized that we all have a different perspective on what we think culture and diversity are. It made me realize that diversity is what makes us unique from one another. Not one person is like the other, and that is how diversity is created. If everyone was the same, there would be no diversity. I also learned that culture is something that is withstanding and takes time to develop. By talking to people about their ideas of culture and diversity I now have a better idea of culture and diversity and my definitions had been developed deeper.
Saturday, May 16, 2015
My Family Culture
If I had to only chose three small items to take to me to another country I would choose a teddy bear, a photo of my extended family, and my recipe box. I would choose the teddy bear because it is made after my grandma passed it away, and it was made for one of her nightgowns. My grandma helped shaped who I am today, and the bear is constant reminder of the memories I have of her and my grandpa, and all the traditions they taught us, and I would be able to share those with people in another country. I would bring a family photo in order to keeps those family members close and near to by heart, but it will also help me remember all memories and traditions I created with them that help shape who I am today, and I can explain those traditions as well to people in another country. Finally, I would bring my recipe box because I have recipes in it that have been passed down through generations and I could still create those dishes in a new country with the people there.
If I was told when I got to a new country I could only have one those items, I think I would chose the recipe box. I would choose this because I can always share my memories with people and those I won't forget. I don't have all the recipes in the box memorized, and thus I would need the recipes in order to share those dishes from my culture with other people.
After completing this exercise I realized that I was raised that family is everything. They are the ones that will always be there for you through the ups and downs and life, and they can't disown you. I also realized that my family is what shaped me to be the person I am today. We have traditions that have been passed down through generations and continue to be passed down. Some of our traditions may not be part of the dominant culture, thus it could be difficult if we were forced to move to a new country, but hopefully we try our best to carry out those traditions in a new country as well and maybe adapting new traditions as well.
If I was told when I got to a new country I could only have one those items, I think I would chose the recipe box. I would choose this because I can always share my memories with people and those I won't forget. I don't have all the recipes in the box memorized, and thus I would need the recipes in order to share those dishes from my culture with other people.
After completing this exercise I realized that I was raised that family is everything. They are the ones that will always be there for you through the ups and downs and life, and they can't disown you. I also realized that my family is what shaped me to be the person I am today. We have traditions that have been passed down through generations and continue to be passed down. Some of our traditions may not be part of the dominant culture, thus it could be difficult if we were forced to move to a new country, but hopefully we try our best to carry out those traditions in a new country as well and maybe adapting new traditions as well.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)