Cultural Identity

1. Cultural identity
Kim Wilson
Geraldine Ramirez
Stojanna Hollis

2. “The value of identity of course is that so
often with it comes purpose.” - Richard Grant
Identity

3. 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

4. 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.

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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.
Kim

8. 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.
Kim

9. 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).
Kim
Hike with
my dog

10. 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)
Kim
Hike with
my dog

11. 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.
Kim
Hike with
my dog
Encouraging
conversations
with peers- we’re
all in this together

12. 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.

13. Acquiring And Developing
Identities
Geraldine Ramirez

14. “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.

15. Familial Socialization
• Culturally
appropriate
beliefs, values
and social roles
• Gender and Age
appropriate
identity
• Group/Individual
Identity

16. 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

17. Theoretical Models Of Identity
Development

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. • 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

22. • 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

23. 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”

24. “Once you label me you negate me.”
Søren Kierkegaard
Stereotyping & Prejudice

25. 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?

26. 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.

27. 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

28. 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

29. 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

30. 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.

31. 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

32. 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.

33. “ 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

34. 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

35. Racism
• Avoiding Racism
– Be honest
– Object to racist jokes whenever
you hear them
– Respect freedom
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=Hpt2mdDQZn4

36. 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

37. 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

38. Activities
For youth and adult leaders

39. 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

40. 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.

41. 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.

42. 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?

43. 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

44. 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

45. 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.

46. 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?