Discussion Post: Revisiting Your Introduction
You have explored culture, identity, and cross-cultural experiences. You have also gotten to know some of your colleagues in your exchange of ideas in Discussion. Now that you have a better understanding of your culture, values, and beliefs, and how those might have evolved, what would you change about the introduction you posted? Would you give more space to certain aspects of your identity?
For this Discussion, you rewrite your original Class Cafe introduction to more fully embrace who you are, and then reflect on the process.
To Prepare
1. Review your course announcements for possible information related to this Discussion and Homework.
2. Review all of the Learning Resources assigned.
3. Return to the Class Café and reread the initial introduction you posted there at the beginning of the course.
4. Consider what you would add or subtract in your initial description of who you are. Ask yourself:
a. What is the first thing you seemed to be emphasizing? Did you identify yourself as belonging to a dominant or subordinate group?
b. Which identity markers stand out as most important?
c. To what extent did you choose, unconsciously, to "play it safe"-exposing only the necessary bare essentials to your unknown classmates?
5. Remember that all of your classmates have been going through the same process of self-reflection and discovery as you have these past 3 weeks. You still do not know one another well, but you probably know a little more about yourself, and perhaps you sharing on a deeper level now will encourage others to do so. We are here to learn from each other.
Task
Post a rewrite of your Class Cafe introduction here, considering what attributes or identifying elements you feel need to be added, expressed, or expanded upon.
Then, explain this process of reexamining and defining yourself. Why did you make the changes that you did? How did you come to this discovery? What exercise, homework, or resource from the course helped you better understand yourself and your identity?
Reflective Homework: Reexamining Our Attitudes and Perspectives- Self in Relation to Others
As humans, we are constantly making judgments based on available information in order to survive. Some of those judgments involve categorizing people and places as "good" or "bad." When we don't have any available information-for example, we have not had any experience with that person or place-we might draw from our unconscious learnings from childhood, community, and media portrayals, and make assumptions. These assumptions are often stereotypes or generalizations that have been allowed to propagate in society, and they are flawed. They tell a very narrow story.
You reexamine your attitudes and perspectives, checking for these assumptions about others. First, you go back and reread the initial introduction you posted in the Class Café. Then, taking into account what you have learned about yourself over the last 3 weeks, you rewrite your introduction to reveal aspects of yourself and your identity that you now feel are important to claim and share. You then reflect on your interactions with classmates and how new information may have changed your earlier assumptions.
Learning Objectives
1. Explain the process of reexamining identity.
2. Reflect on interactions with diverse class colleagues.
3. Describe assumptions and perceptions related to culture and identity.
In the process of developing cultural humility, you will make mistakes. Maybe the words don't come out right, you offend someone, or you unconsciously fall back on the assumptions that have helped you navigate life thus far. This is to be expected. To be humble is to say "I'm not perfect," "I don't know everything, I can never know everything," and "I'm trying." To be humble is also to be curious about others and how they have come to be who they are.
With that in mind, in this Homework, you consider the assumptions you originally brought to this course regarding your classmates and how those assumptions may have changed after reading their Discussion posts this week. You also assess your reaction to your classmates' revised introductions.
To Prepare
1. Review all Learning Resources assigned for this week. Pay close attention to the Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie video, The Danger of a Single Story.
2. Review your classmates' posts on this Discussion post. Consider your reactions to your classmates and with whom you identified.
Task
Submit 1 to 2 pages critical reflection on what you learned from your classmates' discussion posts and whether you could relate on any level to their writings. Specifically:
1. What assumptions did you make earlier in the course about your classmates, and based on what? To what extent have those "single stories" broadened or changed with new information?
2. What shook or challenged you in the revised introductions? Why?
3. Whose experience did you most identify with? Whose experience did you not identify with, and why?
4. Do you think your classmates view you as belonging to the same group (dominant or subordinate) as you have assigned yourself? Why or why not?
Format your homework according to the give formatting requirements:
1. The answer must be double spaced, typed, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the homework, the course title, the student's name, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also include a reference page. The references and Citations should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.