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Cultural identityKim WilsonGeraldine RamirezStojanna Hollis
“The value of identity of course is that so often with it comes purpose.” - Richard Grant
Identity
Why is Identity Development Important?
• Plays a critical role in the individual’s psychological well-being
• Essential aspect of the study and practice of intercultural communication– Identity influences & guides expectations about
your own & others’ social roles– Provides guidelines for your communication
interaction with others• Classroom interactions• Business communication
How do you explain identity?
• See text pp 154-155 for a variety of definitions• Identity is dynamic & multiple- changes as a
function of your life experiences• Identity is a composite of multiple identities,
which are integrated; they do not work in isolation, but instead operate in combination based on the situation.– Example: when in the classroom, identity as a
student is salient, but you are still a male or a female, a friend of some of your classmates, a part-time employee, a son or a daughter, and perhaps even a wife or husband, to list just a few identities.
Social Identities
• Our social identities can be based on our memberships in demographic categories (e.g., nationality, ethnicity, gender, age, social class), the roles we play (e.g., student, professor, parent), our membership in formal or informal organizations (e.g., political parties, social clubs), our associations or vocations (e.g., scientists, artists, gardeners), or our memberships in stigmatized groups (e.g., homeless, people with AIDS).
» Gudykunst
Who Am I?*Adapted from Great Group Games by Susan Ragsdale and Ann Saylor
• Take out a piece of paper• In the center, write your name
Kim
Who Am I?*Adapted from Great Group Games by Susan Ragsdale and Ann Saylor
• Around your name, write five action words describing your personality and style, such as laughing, smiling, or serving.
KimLogical
Supportive
Organized
Independent
Loya
l
Who Am I?*Adapted from Great Group Games by Susan Ragsdale and Ann Saylor
• At the top left, write the name of one of your favorite books or movies.
• At the top right, write the name of someone you admire.
KimLogical
Supportive
Organized
Independent
Loya
lThe Giving
Tree
Mother Teresa
Who Am I?*Adapted from Great Group Games by Susan Ragsdale and Ann Saylor
• At the bottom left, write one thing you like to do most (nothing electronic).
KimLogical
Supportive
Organized
Independent
Loya
lThe Giving
Tree
Mother Teresa
Hike with my dog
Who Am I?*Adapted from Great Group Games by Susan Ragsdale and Ann Saylor
• At the bottom right, draw a simple picture that represents what kind of work you want to do (stick figures are fine)
KimLogical
Supportive
Organized
Independent
Loya
lThe Giving
Tree
Mother Teresa
Hike with my dog
Who Am I?*Adapted from Great Group Games by Susan Ragsdale and Ann Saylor
• Below your name, write one way in which others in the group support you.
KimLogical
Supportive
Organized
Independent
Loya
lThe Giving
Tree
Mother Teresa
Hike with my dog
Encouraging conversations
with peers- we’re all in this together
Who Am I?*Adapted from Great Group Games by Susan Ragsdale and Ann Saylor
• Share your “personal poster” with another group member
• Group debrief- share unique discoveries, ask clarifying questions or for more information
• Debrief questions– why is it important for team members to share information
about themselves?– How can you use some of the information you learned today?
• If doing this in person, could post all of our posters on the wall as a reminder of the unique perspectives and interests we each bring to the table.
Acquiring And Developing Identities
Geraldine Ramirez
“Individuals acquire and develop their identities through interaction with
others in their cultural group”
As a result, Identity development becomes a process of familial and
cultural socialization, exposure to other cultures and personal
development.
Familial Socialization
• Culturally appropriate beliefs, values and social roles
• Gender and Age appropriate identity
• Group/Individual Identity
Cultural & Personal Development
• Educational institutions teach culturally acceptable student behaviors
• The media’s exposure to stereotypes also greatly influences identity development through depicting a sense of how we should look, dress and act according to age and gender appropriate identities
Theoretical Models Of Identity Development
Phinney’s Three Stage Model
• Stage 1: Unexamined ethnic identity-Lack of exploration of ethnicity
• Stage 2: Ethnic Identity Search-Individuals become interested in learning about and understanding their own ethnic identity
• Stage 3: Ethnic Achievement-Individuals have a clear and confident understanding of their own cultural identity
Martin and Kayama’s Four-Stage Model: Minority
• Stage 1: Unexamined identity-not concerned with issues of identity
• Stage 2: Conformity-Individuals endeavor to fit in with the dominant culture and may possess negative self-images
• Stage 3: Resistance and Separatism-Cultural awakening that can result in a rejection of all or selected aspects of dominant culture
• Stage 4: Integration-Individuals possess a sense of pride in their identity and their cultural groups and demonstrate acceptance of other cultural groups
Based on how a person’s identity is achieved it can be classified as….
Avowed: Obtained voluntarily Ex. Student, Sorority/Fraternity
Member, Football Player
Ascribed: Involuntarily Ex. Racial, Ethnic, and sexual identity
• Identity is established through communicative interaction with others
• Constantly moving in and out of different identities as you interact with other people, and with each identity, a person employs a set of communicative behaviors appropriate for that identity and setting.
Identity in Intercultural Interactions
• Intercultural competence occurs when the avowed identity matches the identity ascribed to him or her by another party.
• Ex. Foreign business partners (Japanese/US business partners)
Developing Intercultural Competence
Identity in a Multicultural Society• “There is not only a growing willingness to
cross cultures, but also an evolution of a nation in which personal identity is shaped more by cultural preferences than by skin color or ethnic heritage”
• “Identity is rapidly becoming more of an articulate negotiation between what you call yourself and what other people are willing to call you”
• “Regardless of what form they may take or how they are achieved, your identity will remain a consequence of culture”
“Once you label me you negate me.” Søren Kierkegaard
Stereotyping & Prejudice
Stereotyping• Stereotyping is a complex form of categorization
that mentally organizes your experiences with, and guides your behavior toward, a particular group of people. It becomes a means of organizing your images into fixed and simple categories that you use to represent an entire collection of people.
• Stereotyping can be a natural way of dealing with the unknown– How can we influence the minds of our youth
in a way that, when they don’t know certain things, they learn how to ask questions rather than assume?
Stereotyping
• Stereotypes can be positive or negative– How can we engage our youth in
positive stereotypes? • Stereotypes are learned
– Like Culture views, it’s learned in a variety of ways
• Stereotypes are the products of limited, lazy, and misguided perceptions.
Stereotyping• Four reasons why stereotypes hamper
intercultural communication:1. Kind of filter
• Only allow in information that is content with information already held by the individual
2. Assuming that all culture-specific information applies to all individuals from a particular cultural group.
3. Oversimplified, exaggerated premises and assumptions.
4. Resistant to change
Stereotyping• Avoid Stereotypes
– Begin in childhood• Having children engage in
positive face-to-face contact with other groups
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve0u1lwjfLU
Prejudice
• occurs when a person holds a generalization about a group of people or things, often based on little or no factual experience.
• Positive or negative– Liking or disliking a certain group or thing.
• Prejudices, are directed at a social group and its members. – Groups are marked by race, gender, and
age• Prejudices involve evaluative dimension
– Feelings in what is good or bad, right and wrong, moral and immoral
Prejudice
• Ego-Defensive – People hold a prejudice without having
to admit they posses such beliefs about a member of an out-group.
• Causes of Prejudice– Scapegoating
• When members of the in-group act out their frustrations and hostilities by being prejudiced against the out-group.
Prejudice
• Discrimination against children and youth is caused by the bias adults have for other adults that causes them to discriminate against young people.
• As youth leaders, it’s easy for us to discriminate against our youth through language:– “Act your age”– Children should be seen and not heard– What do you know, you’re just a kid
Prejudice
Adults should strive to be a role model for other adults.
Demonstrate in your own conduct and the way you talk that you oppose attitudes and behavior that debase, degrade, inflict injury on or promote animosity against people of all ages.
“ Dream that children will be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their
character.”-Martin Luther King Jr.
Racism
Racism
• Racism is the belief in the inherent superiority of a particular race. It denies the basic equality of humankind and correlates ability with physical composition. Thus, it assumes that success or failure in any societal endeavor will depend upon genetic endowment rather than environment and access to opportunity.
• Racism is driven by “culture, economics, psychology and history.”
• Extension of stereotyping and prejudice
Racism
• Avoiding Racism– Be honest– Object to racist jokes whenever
you hear them– Respect freedom
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hpt2mdDQZn4
Ethnocentrism
• One’s own culture is superior to any other. It is the idea that other cultures should be measured by the degree to which they live up to our cultural standards.
• “Narrow lens”• Levels of Ethnocentrism
– Positive– Negative– Extremely negative
• Ethnocentrism is usually learned at an unconscious level
Ethnocentrism
• Avoiding Ethnocentrism– Avoid dogmatism
• Not the question that’s important, but the dogmatic manner in which people answer them
– Be open to new views
ActivitiesFor youth and adult leaders
Bridge*Adapted from Team Building Activities For Every Group By Alanna Jones
• Objective: For each person to contribute his/her strengths to the group.
• Group Size: 4 or more
• Materials: Paper plate, black markers
Listener
Organized
Creative
Bilingual
Humor
Bridge*Adapted from Team Building Activities For Every Group By Alanna Jones
• Give the group a stack of paper plates and a few black markers. (The group should have enough paper plates to make a “stepping stone bridge” across the room or play area.)
• Don’t tell the group that they’ll be making a bridge. Simply ask them to each take a paper plate and write down one of their own strengths, talents or attributes on it. Tell them that they can do this on more than one plate if they feel they have more than one strength.
Bridge*Adapted from Team Building Activities For Every Group By Alanna Jones
• After the group members feel that they have written down as many strengths as they have, tell them they must use the paper plates to make a bridge across the room.
• When building the bridge and when crossing the room, the only plates that the group can use are ones with strengths written down on them. At no time may anyone’s feet touch the floor.
• If the group needs to add more plates to the bridge,
people must write down more strengths on more plate and add them to the bridge.
Bridge*Adapted from Team Building Activities For Every Group By Alanna Jones
• Discussion prompts:– Could one person build a bridge by themselves? Why
or why not?– How is a group enhanced when there are many
different people working on the same team?– What strengths did group members not write down that
you felt they should have?– Each individual on the team has many strengths, as we
can see. What strengths do you think this group has as a whole?
Group Labels*Adapted from Team Building Activities For Every Group By Alanna Jones
• Objective: to talk about how we treat one another in the group
• Group size: 6 or more• Materials: labels,
black markers
Group Labels*Adapted from Team Building Activities For Every Group By Alanna Jones
• Fill out labels with titles– Teen groups: jock, nerd, popular, druggie, cowboy,
brain, emo– Culture/society groups: Latino, Asian, African
American, Caucasian, Jew, Christian, Muslim, woman, man, celebrity, homeless, person with AIDS
• Choose a game for the group to play– Teambuilding exercise– Volleyball– Board game
Group Labels*Adapted from Team Building Activities For Every Group By Alanna Jones
• Before playing, put a pre-filled label on each person’s forehead or back. They must wear the label throughout the game, and other teammates should treat them as they would treat someone with that label in real life.
• Don’t let players know what label they are wearing, and others should not tell them what it is.
Group Labels*Adapted from Team Building Activities For Every Group By Alanna Jones
• Play the game• After the game, give each person a chance to
guess what label they were wearing and discuss how it felt to be treated the way they were
• How do you feel after this activity?• What surprised you the most?• Do you think that we treat those of a different
culture differently? Why or why not?• How do these differences affect our group?
