When examining my own cultural identity it has occurred to me that many of the things that define my own cultural identity are that of Majority groups, however it would seem that I have just as many if not more Minority group identity factors shaping me ever so slightly within the majority boundaries.
For example at first look I am a Married male with a predominantly Anglo-Saxon heritage. However upon close inspection one can begin to notice the red hues within my complexion these are subtle hints to a much less dominant cultural history.
Many members of one side of my family strongly identify with our Native American heritage; as a result I spent many years as a young man learning that culture. Later in life when I was around 12 or 13 I moved in with my father whom I knew very little of as he and my mother divorced when I was still a newborn. His side of the family did not participate in the same native heritage as my mother’s side of the family so I felt that I grew distant from that culture.
These are two competing factors that have helped establish my ethnic and racial Identity. I currently self-Identify my race or ethnicity as white however within that broad categorization my native influence have definitely played a part in the way I view or approach certain aspects.
A large part of my own Identity I struggle with is my age identity. Growing up as a child people would always comment about how I seemed very mature for my age. I can look back and agree with them many times I preferred to have interactions with adults because many of the things children my age were doing or talking about seemed immature.
This trend followed me thought my schooling career and, as a result I had a much better understanding and relationship...
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...uslim perpetrators. In fact this research shows that between 1980 and 2005 only 6% of terrorist acts were committed by Islamic extremists (Global Research , 2013)
Works Cited
El-Zibdeh, N. (2009). Understanding Muslim Fasting Practices. Today’s Dietitian, 56.
Global Research . (2013). Non-Muslims Carried Out More than 90% of All Terrorist Attacks in America. Retrieved from Global Research : http://www.globalresearch.ca/non-muslims-carried-out-more-than-90-of-all-terrorist-attacks-in-america/5333619
Martin, J. N., & Nakayama, T. K. (2011). Experiencing Intercultural Communication. In J. N. Martin, & T. K. Nakayama, Experiencing Intercultural Communication (pp. 169-198). New York: McGraw-Hill.
McGinley, S. (2011, July 10). Retrieved from arabianbusiness.com: http://www.arabianbusiness.com/-warning-for-non-muslims-caught-eating-in-public-during-ramadan--409549.html
...mbers have used the same words before they committed their suicidal actions. The connections between terrorism and Islam are pointed out clearly when the extremists say that they are waging a “holy war” against their enemies. Extremists have used Islam as a justification to attack churches, Hindu and Buddhist temples. Due to the fact that the terrorist who carried out such criminal and inhumane acts associate himself or herself with Muslim religion, the public comes to view Islam as a severe risk. In reality, only 15% of the 1 billion Muslims are extremists and out of that 15%, only a few engage in terrorist activities. However, most news stories do not focus on the places where things are going right, but on the places where things are going wrong. Due to all this, it is clear that the extremists play a large role in pinning the scarlet letter on Muslims in the US.
My cultural identity consists of being a 22-year-old white female who identifies as White, heterosexual, Christian-Lutheran, able-bodied and a member of the lower-middle class. Through these identities, there are certain roles that I distinguish with like being a student, daughter, sister, and friend. Socioeconomic
In Stuart Hall’s “Ethnicity: Identity and Difference,” he claims that identity is a volatile social process through which one comes to see the self. Hall argues that identity is not a thing rather a process “…that happens over time, that is never absolutely stable, that is subject to the play of history, and the play of difference.” These factors are constantly entering the individual in a never-ending cycle, re-establishing and affirming who one is.
Kradin, R. L. (2012). When ancestral heritage is a source of discomfort: culture, pre-object relatedness, and self-alienation. Journal of Analytical Psychology, 57(2), 207-222. doi:10.1111/j.1468-5922.2011.01962.x
Martin, J. N., & Nakayama, T. K. (2013). Intercultural Communication in Contexts (6th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Starting with one of the surface aspects of my cultural identity is my language. I speak English, like most people who were born in America I learned English and only English right from the start. I
Martin, Judith N., and Thomas K. Nakayama. Intercultural Communication in Contexts. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2013. Print.
?A definition of race might rely on an outward manifestation such as color or some other physiological sign. Race and ethnicity (and to some degree nationality) also imply a shared socio-cultural heritage and belief system. Finally, race and ethnicity harbor a physiological self-identification. Indeed, this factor is perhaps the most important in defining the identity of an ?ethnic? or ?racial? individual. It implies a conscious desire on the part of a person to belong to an aggregate of people, which possesses unique cultural characteristics, rituals and manners and a unique value system.
I did not want my background to restrict me from educational or professional opportunities. In certain environments, specifically school and professional settings, I would distant myself from my culture and my Hindu religion. Even though I was immersed in cultural and religious activities, such as playing the harmonium, which is an instrument comparable to an accordion, and sing bhajans, which are religious or cultural songs. I made sure I did not have an accent when I spoke and I discussed more American activities instead of mentioning my cultural or religious activities that I participated in. All to ensure I was not negatively defined or labeled as the typical first generation kid.
Times are changing and I feel like I am forced to conform to the everyday social norms of America, which makes me feel impuissance. Racial identity, which refers to identifying with a social group with similar phenotypes and racial category, is the only experience that I have with life (Organista, 2010). Racial ethnicity was used to build my self-esteem and to keep me in the dark when it came to how society treats individuals of darker complexion. However, once I left the confines of my family and neighborhood, I was forced to befriend and interact with individuals that had different cultural values and beliefs than me. This experience caused me to learn how to appreciate other racial and ethnic groups and their cultural values and belief. This is an accurate definition, of acculturation because I was able to understand and fit in with individuals different from me, while maintaining my own culture and ethnic identity. Therefore, knowing the importance of my ancestry, while acculturating and developing my own identity was all used
In this reflective paper, I discuss several aspects of my race, ethnicity, and culture that has made me who I am, and impacted my overall individual identity.
When individuals or groups from different cultures communicate, this process is called intercultural communication. The transaction process of listening and responding to people from different cultural backgrounds can be challenging. The greater the difference in culture between two people, the greater the potential of misunderstanding and mistrust. Misunderstanding and miscommunication occur between people from different cultures because of different coding rules and cultural norms, which play a major role in shaping the patterns of interaction (Jandt, 2012).
While widely accepted, this idea continues to remain un-true. Humanitarian and ISNA (Islamic Society of North America) council member Omar Alnatour discusses this in a Huffington Post article titled “Muslims Are Not Terrorists: A Factual Look at Terrorism and Islam”. Alnatour gives five examples of how Muslims are not terrorists. “1. Non-Muslims make up the majority of terrorists in the United States:” from 1980 to 2005, only six percent of all terror attacks committed in the United States have been by Muslims. This shows that it is nine times more likely that a terror attack would be committed by a non-Muslim. “2. Non-Muslims make up the majority of terrorists in Europe:” of the 1000+ terror attacks that have happened in Europe since 2011, only 2% were done by Muslims. “3. Even if all terrorist attacks were carried out by Muslims, you still could not associate terrorism with Islam:” going back from 1970 to present day, there have been around 140,000 terrorists worldwide. Since there are 1.6 billion Muslims, that number would only represent 0.00009 percent of them. “4. If all Muslims are terrorists, then all Muslims are peacemakers:” Out of the past 12 Nobel Peace Prize winners 5 have been Muslim (42 percent). Because some can claim all Muslims are terrorists due to a small percentage of attackers happening to be, one can also make the argument that all Muslims
Humans have been communicating since four million years. On the other hand, the birth of culture is estimated to have taken place about 35,000 years ago. Today, both culture and communication have evolved considerably and have become interdependent of one another, to the point that communication is considered to be a product of culture. Thus, our own culture has a deep impact on our thoughts and behaviors. Since each culture has its distinct aspects, intercultural communication can be the cause of conflict and disorder. There are three main issues which are at the root of the problem of intercultural miscommunication : language as a barrier, cultural diversity and ethnocentrism. I will analyze these three notions in situations in which intercultural communication is frequent such as : the workplace, the classroom and vacation trips.
I wasn 't quite sure what I was getting into when I first enrolled in Intercultural Communications. I had assumptions as to the goals of the course such as I would be learning about the way cultures interact with each other, learn about communication in general, or I would be learning about the ways we use communication through our culture. I think that I achieve the latter goal, but I also gained knowledge about more then just my culture. I came to realize that there is more to a culture than just language, appearances, and customs, which are aspects of culture that could be seen above the waterline, or they are more noticeable/obvious to someone outside of that culture. There are aspects of culture that are below the waterline, or more