Talk about what you learned in Dr. Blane Harding's talk, especially
topics that pertain to multiculturalism, identity, privilege, social
justice. How does this build off the topics we discussed last class?
Blog posts must be 200-400 words, proofread, and void of common grammatical errors.
Your blog posts are due before the start of class next week.
Please email kualbreaks@gmail.com if you have any questions!
Dr. Harding’s talk opened my eyes to how I can improve in my efforts to promote all types of people. Though some of what he told me was a reminder, much of his talk was new information; he gave me a perspective that I hadn’t before considered and made me analyze my own behavior and beliefs on a deeper level. Several topics of Dr. Harding’s talk stuck out to me, but I’d like to specifically focus on the equality/equity debate and how we can help.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that Dr. Hardy differentiated between equality and equity. His picture of three men, all different heights, trying to watch a ball game, helped illustrate this difference for me. The fact is, we don’t all start the same. Through certain privileges, such as race, socioeconomic status, gender, or sexual orientation, some of us are “taller”. With this in mind, it doesn’t make sense to provide equal “step-stools” for each person. As in the illustration, equal step stools don’t result in an equal view of the game, due to variations in height. Likewise, providing blind but “equal” opportunities, without considering the unique challenges that certain racial or sexual identities must overcome, will ultimately result in inequality. Instead, we should strive for equity, in which individual identities are considered when providing opportunities. For example, knowing that racial minorities may lack a mentor due to their different appearances should lead us to work harder to connect such minorities with a mentor, so that they may have the potential for equality. This is equity.
I was happy that Dr. Hardy also provided the often ignored question of what privileged individuals should do. Privilege doesn’t have to be a bad thing; rather, it can be a tool for change. The first step is to accept that you are privileged. Only after that acknowledgment is made can there be an advancement in reducing inequity. As a member of the majority, of the privileged group, you can express your opinion with the benefit of actually being heard. This voice can then be used to advocate for those in the targeted group. I take comfort in knowing that privilege has the possibility to be a good thing, if we learn how to use it.
During Class #2, the main thing that I remember learning about is the importance of keeping an open mind. In the places that we are going to, there is no doubt that we are going to encounter people who have different life experiences and different life perspectives than we do. From what Dr. Harding said, these kinds of encounters don’t happen as much as we might think that they do. So it’s important to recognize that we may think that we’re open minded and that we’re treating someone “correctly,” but if we aren’t culturally competent then we may only be scratching the surface of how to deal with multicultural situations.
ReplyDeleteThe most important thing that I think I learned from Dr. Harding’s presentation was the importance of letting others identify themselves for you. It happens quite a bit that people will define others based on their preconceived notions (namely, Dr. Harding’s example of a fellow basketball parents assuming that he was a janitor when, in fact, he’s been a college professor for 20 years). People can also define others based on context of the encounter. The example that Dr. Harding gave us is that even though he has always been half black and half white, he has been called Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Mexican throughout his entire life. This story is significant because it helps expose how poor America’s sense of cultural competence is. It reveals how much we need to improve.
Another important aspect that I learned from his presentation is the difference between cultural awareness and cultural competence. There’s a difference between thinking you accept a group and actually doing so. The example he gave us was that he thought he was culturally competent with the gay community because so many people in his family have different sexual orientations than he does. But he didn’t notice that he would only spend 5-10 minutes with gay students while spending an hour or so with straight ones. He had to expand his comfort zone by associating with the gay community to help him transition from just being culturally aware to actually being culturally competent.
From this class, I learned that we must respect people as individuals, not by “categories,” such as culture, race, gender, social class and etc. Only after we get to know the person well, then, we could start to address them based on their culture, and also learning from their experiences to build onto that relationship. To achieve that, we must expand our comfort zone.
ReplyDeleteWe are all living in a multicultural society but we are definitely not experiencing social equity. Multiculturalism is crucial to promote the valuing of diversity and equal opportunity to every individual in society. Treating everyone equally will allow individuals to constantly have a positive mindset and interact, as well as contribute freely, to society. Dr. Harding said, “The more space we create for identities, the more identities will emerge in that space.” I find this quote intriguing because we truly are living in a constantly evolving multicultural society. The more we respect others, the more comfortable they become, to reveal or express their identities.
Having awareness is good, but insufficient. The society may be aware of, for example, a type of discrimination towards a minority community, but if no one put an effort to voice out and take action, the discrimination will still remain in the society. The dominant group will still have all their privileges and the minority will remain with limited benefits. Dominant groups should use their privileges to other’s advantage by creating opportunities for the other groups of society. Recognizing and promoting recognition of inequities are important to empower individuals so that they can empower the community around them. Therefore, we need cultural competence in our society to create equity and social justice in the world.
We have to be culturally competent to be able to truly respect and accept one another. From the previous class, we learned that every individual has their own identity wheel which consists of various different elements. To have a good relationship with the community, we need to be able to recognize their identities and be culturally aware as well as competent in our daily interactions with one another.
I learned so much from Dr. Blane Harding’s presentation. It was great to be able to hear from someone who has experienced so much when it comes to multiculturalism and identity. His family is a great example of how people who may have the same exact genes may identify in completely different ways. How they wish to identify as a human being is up to them. When other people try to label them based off of what group they think they belong to is when feelings can get hurt and people can be offended. As Dr. Harding said, before all else, we need to treat someone as an individual. This follows along with our identity wheel activity from the last class. We need to treat everyone with the same amount of respect, no matter what their identity is. We need to appreciate the diversity of every person, not make assumptions about them because of their identity.
ReplyDeleteThe next subject of Dr. Blane Harding’s presentation that really interested me was privilege. When we went through the list of identities that are privileged or not, I was shocked to see that I fell into the privileged category nearly every time. It really made me think about how blessed I am and how many advantages I have that I don’t even think about on a daily basis. When we wrote down three people that influenced us and their lists of being privileged or unprivileged, it was eye-opening for me to see that they were all almost the exact same as me. It really shows how we’re more likely to influence people that are similar to us. With that exercise, Dr. Harding showed that I really need to make an effort to have a relationship with and try and leave an impact on people who are different that me.
Class #2 was completely eye-opening and left me even more curious about what I can learn about others and myself. When Dr. Harding began talking I expected to be totally bored by what he was saying. I expected him to reiterate the ever-present idea that we are all prejudiced even if we think we aren't. As he further discussed the differences between race and culture, I began realizing how I unintentionally set myself apart from those of different backgrounds than myself. This realization was eye-opening and honestly a bit scary.
ReplyDeleteWhen we completed the activity on several people who have impacted our lives and looked at the similarities in their backgrounds, the only diversity I found on my page was gender. I felt almost embarrassed that I had unknowingly only let my life be affected in ways that I found familiar by people who were essentially the same as I am.
I left class #2 with a totally different mindset. As hard as it was to come to terms with how shallow I'd been in the past, I'm so glad I'm conscious of it now. I'm even more grateful I have been given the opportunity to participate with an organization like Alternative Breaks at such a young age because my eyes have already been opened to ideas some adults may never be able comprehend. I hope that I can continue to broaden my mind and reduce boundaries of any sort through this experience.
Dr. Harding’s presentation opened my eyes to understanding people and their differences. Most of the information presented to us was new to me. I knew little about multiculturalism. Dr. Harding was able to truly connect because he has been through situations in his life dealing with issues presented by multiculturalism. I now have a greater understanding of what it means to stay open minded and not “judge a book by its cover.” When we go on our alternative break we’ll be working with kids that have different beliefs and life experiences than ourselves. We must respect everyone as an individual instead of automatically placing them into a “category.” We don’t have the right to assume anything about the students that we will be working with based off of their gender, race, ethnicity, or socio-economic class. We must first get to know them and refrain from making assumptions.
ReplyDeleteDr. Harding explained the difference between equality and equity because most people don’t know the difference. He showed us the picture of three people of different heights watching a baseball game. In the illustration, each person receiving equal sized step stools represented equality, but it doesn’t result in equal views of the game. Equality is giving everyone the same thing no matter who they are, even though it will affect everyone differently; people will still feel inferior to others. Providing equal opportunities for people is detrimental when considering the obstacles that certain identities have to overcome. On the other side of the illustration, each person’s height was considered when they were giving out the step stools, so each person was given enough step stools in order to be able to view the game. Equity is considering individual identities when providing opportunities. The difference between equality and equity is often confused.
We should be culturally competent in order to respect one another and accept each other as individuals. Last week in class, we each made our own identity wheel that had characteristics about ourselves that were very important to us. Those identity wheels helped us understand how truly different we all are from one another and we go to the same university. We have to imagine how different our identities will be compared to the identities of students we will be working with. We need to be understanding of others’ identities and be culturally aware of our interactions with others.
Dr. Harding’s talk last class period was not only enjoyable but also extremely thought provoking. His lecture was on diversity and all the different forms it takes on in our society. The generic definition for diversity that Dr. Harding gave us was that diversity is the representation of all cultural and congenital differences.
ReplyDeleteDiversity is an essential component of multiculturalism, and this was one of the key points of Dr. Harding’s discussion. Multiculturalism at its roots seeks to promote the valuing of diversity and equal opportunity for all people through understanding. We are living in a multicultural world, and racial and cultural lines are blurring before our eyes. Multiculturalism will be a key facet of the years to come, and it is vital that we begin to immerse ourselves in it and broaden our perspective.
This leads into another part of Dr. Harding’s talk on expanding our comfort zones and our cultural competence. Most people could probably claim to be culturally aware, which is the thought, but not many can claim to be culturally competent, which is the application of cultural knowledge. I know that I personally am not culturally competent, and working on expanding my comfort zone and exploring cultures other than my own would definitely aid in my comfort and competence. As Dr. Harding emphasized, change can be good, and I am looking forward to this trip providing me with the opportunity to change and broaden my horizons.
Finally, one of the last points of Dr. Harding’s discussion that particularly relates back to the prior class period (class two) is the idea of multiple identities. In the class prior to this we all made identity wheels and discussed the different aspects that combine to make our identities. This was probably my favorite section of Dr. Harding’s talk because I really enjoyed the points he brought up. He emphasized that you have to let people choose their own identities, and if you leave space for these identities even more will emerge. I think that is such a crucial point to make especially to college students because we are in the perfect environment to grow and blossom into our own unique identities.
One of Dr. Harding’s points of emphasis was that “you treat the individual within the culture”. His meaning is that one should not change their own cultural behavior when interacting with someone of a different (or perceived as different) culture. Being culturally competent does not entail changing your own culture. Mannerisms are an important aspect to culture and Dr. Harding seemed to be most concerned about such.
ReplyDeleteI liked Dr. Harding’s notion of “expanding one’s comfort zone” instead of simply just “leaving one’s comfort zone”. Leaving one’s comfort zone implies that the zone’s boundaries are not flexible and that the person will eventually return to that zone. Expanding the zone means the progress made by briefly being uncomfortable will remain and the person will not necessarily have to move back into their old comfort zone to be whole again.
The difference between being culturally aware vs. a situation of interaction was interesting to consider. Just because one has factual information about a culture does not make them fluent in another’s culture. People can be intellectually well-informed, but still botch an interaction when presented with an unfamiliar situation involving multiculturalism.
Equity, equality of opportunity, as a concept was made very clear by the picture of kids watching a baseball game. Before the picture, I understood what equity meant but still felt more comfortable using the term “equality” when talking about social justice. Now however I feel much more confident with the term “equity” and how to use and explain it.
One thing that stood out to me the most from Dr. Harding’s lecture was that the fastest growing race in America is multiracial people. Additionally, he drilled into my head that people have the right to identify any way they choose to, and why ought that not be the case? One concern that I felt when he was talking is that I am not very educated about different rules and values of cultures outside of my own. I would not have known how to be respectful to the Muslim woman in the circumstance that he described. I need to work on becoming more culturally competent. Another point that stuck out to me was that we should not be colorblind; people’s race and origin are often very important to their identity and we should respect that. This is contrary to what I have grown up learning.
ReplyDeleteWhen we completed the activity on people that have impacted my life, I recognized that the people who have had the most influence on me are people that are very similar to me. This was kind of disappointing to me, and after recognizing this I am going to work to immerse myself with people that are not replicas of myself.
Dr. Harding began his speech by providing a crucial principle that one should live by in every interaction with people of different ethnicities: to respect others ethnicity but not necessarily accepting it. Concerning the topic of identity, Dr. Harding clarifies the difference between race and ethnicity. Race is the division for humankind determined by genetics while ethnicity involves one’s cultural background, values and practices. In other words, race is associated with biology while ethnicity is a social concept. Dr. Harding provided the example of identifying Hispanics as officially belonging to the Caucasian race – a fact that is not popularly known by common laymen.
ReplyDeleteThe question of equality versus equity was also emphasized by Dr. Harding when he started the topic of social justice. He stressed that equity will be the ultimate purpose of social justice – not equality – because equality does not guarantee fairness to all when some portions of the society suffers certain economical or social disadvantages.
Multiculturalism refers to the co-existence of diverse culture that is present in a society. It is important for one to acknowledge and accept multiculturalism in the sense of eradicating behaviours of color prejudice or discrimination towards cultures other than one’s own. This is because it allows relationships to foster and ultimately equity in a fair, competitive and global world.
However, reality is that equity is not yet present in society. There are certain privileges associated to the group of people of certain characteristics that the society believes to be dominant to the subordinate features. For example, being biologically a man is more socially advantageous than being a woman; similarly, being a white man is more ‘superior’ than being a person of any other race in America. However, Dr. Harding pointed out that even though this is the saddening reality – that complete equity or equality is not yet achieved (he is optimistic that we, will eventually). People with socially favoured characteristics can and should utilize their privileges to help the less fortunate. This relates to what Alternative Break is all about – reaching out to help the less fortunate!
All in all, I learned that the importance of having respect for other cultures rather than just being a passive intellect who passes anthropology quizzes with flying colors but do not respect other races in real-life interactions. The talk is insightful and provides not only theoretical and applicable rules when handling scenarios which may involve people of other cultural or racial backgrounds during our break.
I sincerely enjoyed Dr. Harding’s talk. I wouldn’t necessarily say I learned a lot of new things since I’ve attended diversity talks before, but I would for sure say that it made me think. One of the things that stuck out to me the most was the difference between multiculturalism and diversity and his example of the Old Navy commercial. I know when I’ve seen those types of commercials I’ve made mental notes about how they did a good job of adding Asians, Hispanics, and African Americans. But what I never thought about what that sure they added different races, but they all still look alike. They clearly were all raised in the US because they wear the same type of clothing and have similar hairstyles. Nothing about those commercials say multicultural - they all scream diversity. Another thing that stuck out to me what when Dr. Harding was discussing identity and used his children as examples. Just because someone looks African-American or looks Asian, doesn’t mean that that is who they identify as. As an outsider to that person’s life, I have no right to judge and say what is right or wrong about their decision. As someone who is half Mexican and half Ukrainian, I am constantly labeled as a Mexican because of the color of my skin and dark features. Because of this I’ve been a victim of all the types of racism Dr. Harding discussed. It definitely hurts the most when people are racist without knowing it. Which is something I did learn about during his lecture. Once you get to know me as a person, you would know that I identify more as Ukrainian/European for many different reasons. I think the topics we discussed during his lecture builds off of the previous weeks identity wheels. It is important for us to be aware that someone’s appearance or habits doesn’t define who they are. Their identity is made up of so many different factors that no one has the right to say what parts of it are right or wrong. We need to be conscious of the things we do and say to people that are different than ourselves. In order to be truly multicultural we need to educate ourselves about the cultures we are surrounded with in order to peacefully coexist and help each other succeed.
ReplyDeleteIsabella Paniagua-Novak
In the previous class, we discussed certain situations and problems that may arise in our volunteering, and Mr. Harding’s talk provided a solution to those which stem from a difference in privileges, cultures, or identities. He identified three basic steps for doing this. They are as follows:
ReplyDelete1. Treat the individual within the cultural context
2. Respect people and their choices
3 .Let people identify themselves
I think these three steps will be very useful not only when working with those of other cultures, but also in day to day situations. Additionally, Mr. Harding placed a large emphasis on becoming more than just culturally aware and becoming culturally competent. This too will be extremely helpful in navigating a vastly growing multicultural society, and working one on one with those who have identities that differ from my own. He also emphasized that the next step after cultural competency is social justice, or giving individuals what they need to equally compete.
Mr. Harding helped us identify our identities through a variety of exercises, such as seeing whether we were privileged or unprivileged in certain categories, seeing how similar we were to our mentors, and discussion. Identifying my mentors and their similarities to me was a real eye-opener, as they were all very similar to one another and to myself. He taught me that by finding mentors with different identities than mine will be beneficial to increasing my cultural competency, and gaining a more comprehensive perspective.
By having us recognize for what categories we were privileged in, Mr. Harding helped us become more aware of our privileges. This is important in our breaks because, as we saw simulated last week, being unaware of other’s lack of privilege can lead to conflict and tension. In other words, we need to recognize what is privileged so we don’t make assumptions for everyone.
I thought that the presentation was informative, interesting, and relevant. More than that, the importance of recognizing and learning to be respectful of others identities in a multicultural society, being aware of one’s privilege, and moving on to social justice are ideas that will be helpful and pertinent in life beyond the Alternative Break.
Dr. Harding placed an emphasis on the difference between cultural awareness and cultural competency. He described cultural awareness as the “idea” and cultural competency as the “action”. Now I understand cultural competency as an everlasting journey, not an end destination; there is always more you can be doing to improve your cultural awareness. At the end of class, Dr. Harding had us all evaluate our cultural competency. I realized though I am culturally aware, I am still not culturally competent. There are more things I could be doing in order to educate myself and become more comfortable with cultures and identities different from my own.
ReplyDeleteThis was further highlighted during the activity in which we identified our mentors. Dr. Harding noted that most of us chose people similar to ourselves as our mentors. My mentors were all of the same age and education level as myself. I also noticed that although my mentors were racially diverse, they were not culturally diverse. Dr. Harding explained the difference between diversity and multiculturalism using an Old Navy commercial. Although the commercial contains people of many different races, they are all a part of the same culture. They all dress the same way, act the same way, and appear to have the same values. My mentors and I are all different races, but we are all a part of the same culture.
The idea that I resonated most with was the idea that people have the right to choose their own identities. Dr. Harding explained how all of his children identify themselves differently. As an example, one of his sons identifies as black while the other identifies as white. Dr. Harding told a story about his son arguing about his identity as black with a teammate. The teammate was arguing that Dr. Harding’s son is white, not black. He was not allowing Dr. Harding’s son to identify himself; the teammate was assuming his identity for him. While on our breaks and meeting new people, this is an important idea to remember. Assuming how others identify themselves can lead to miscommunications and ill feelings. It is important to remain open and allow others to identify themselves as well as not letting others assume our own identities.
So my previous post was deleted for some reason, but here is my attempt at recreating it, Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteDr. Harding touched on several very controversial topics that many people consider "not real issues" or issues that aren't important to many people, one of which being Privilege which ironically is part of the first statement. He touched on three main topics that I thought were very important personally and for everyone in general. The three things he touched on that were important to me were Privilege, Identity, and multiculturalism. He also touched on social justice, which is a major issue but not one for me personally, however social justice was presented in such a way that it made me more open to the idea. Privilege was the most interesting topic to me, and for good reason. Privilege is one of the most under recognized issues in society right now, and he did a very good job of opening that topic up without controversy. Identity is another very important topic nowadays, with many different "identities" and ways of identifying coming out of the blue. With identity being a major issue and people not being free to identify as they please, it would benefit everyone to recognize this as an issue. The last topic covered, or at least the last of the important topics covered, was multiculturalism. Multiculturalism to me has always meant being accepting of people who come from different backgrounds. I have always fancied myself as someone who is open to people from different backgrounds and cultures, and Dr. Harding did a very nice job of highlighting the importance of being open to other cultures.
Dr. Harding’s presentation was interesting and enlightening. The picture with the varying step stools helping everyone see the baseball game helped me refine privilege as being different for everyone, and how striving for equity is more fair than equality alone. His activities made me realize I am very privileged, even to be in college, but he also explained how we can use our privileges to positively influence other people’s lives.
ReplyDeleteDuring the activity where we wrote down people who influenced us along with their background, I realized that Dr. Harding was correct and most of the people I listed had similar identities to myself with one of the only exceptions being age. His activity made me realize I have not allowed myself to be exposed to as many identities as I thought I had been influenced by, which in turn probably makes me more close-minded. I hope to break this barrier and be influenced by people with different identities than myself in order to become more culturally competent.
One of the stages in becoming knowledgeable about multiculturalism Dr. Harding talked about was knowing where you stand. He illustrated this with the personal example of a man calling him a janitor, and when the man tried to apologize he insulted him again. The man did not think he was prejudiced when he was labeling people with harmful assumed identities before they could explain their true identities. The identity wheel we did in class two is a good way to encourage listening and letting people identify themselves. In order not to recreate a scenario like this, during my alternative break I will ask the kids questions and listen to them explain their own identities.
Dr. Harding’s speech had many important points but the one that struck me the most was the difference between cultural awareness and cultural competency. I had always prided myself on being culturally aware but the more Dr. Harding spoke the more I realized that was all I was. He helped me understand that I need to work on becoming more culturally competent. Instead of just being aware of the differences around me I need to seek out knowledge about other cultures and their customs. Along with this topic was his point on diversity versus multiculturalism. I had never really thought about the difference between the two topics. It made me realize that that for most of my life I have been surrounded with diversity but not with multiculturalism and that I hadn’t immersed myself in many other cultures. Many people, including myself, commonly overlook the differences in these two words but it is culture and not diversity that creates individual’s identities. I really liked how Dr. Harding spoke about individuals choosing their own identity and that although we have many characteristics that make us up; we get to choose what truly defines us.
ReplyDeleteAll of these topics really play into what we discussed at the previous lesson about difficult situations that we might run into based on our differences in identities. Dr. Harding’s talk not only gave me insight into what might be motivating the person’s actions but also how to be understanding of their choices. With further evaluation of cultures, we might be able to relate to their choices but even if we can’t agree with it at least we can understand the culture that prompted it.
Dr. Harding also focused on privilege and at first I became very uncomfortable because as a middle class Caucasian, these talks normally point to how terrible of a person I must be since I have privilege and others don’t. However Dr. Harding really showed how everyone has privilege in one way or another and that for those who have it the problem isn’t necessarily that we can’t share it but that we don’t use it properly. He made me feel proud of my identity and motivated to do more for those who don’t have as much privilege as I am fortunate enough to have.
During Dr. Blane Harding’s talk, I was challenged to think about how multiculturalism and identity relate to me as an individual as well as the people around me. He pointed out that oftentimes, people fail to realize that they are being inappropriate when placed in a culture outside of their own or when interacting with people of different backgrounds than their own. In focusing on “expanding your comfort zone,” Dr. Harding explained that a comfort zone is not a fixed level of social interaction, but something that can grow as one becomes more educated on recognizing and embracing differences. In class, he had us do an exercise during which we listed 3-7 non-family individuals who we credited with having an impact on our lives. We then listed their various individual “identities” (race, class, education, gender, religion, sexual orientation, age) and considered how these individuals compared to each other and to ourselves. I found that while mine were of many different ages and education levels, they and I were nearly identical in race, class, sexual orientation, and religion. Dr. Harding challenged me to think about how this finding may affect my ability to be open to other cultures and identities. His talk even challenged how I consider my own identity, adding on to the identity wheel activities of last class. As discussed in class last week, we need to be aware of other people’s backgrounds and seek to treat everyone fairly. Fair treatment, however, does not always mean identical/equal treatment. Through social justice, we must consider various factors in order to ensure that everyone has fair opportunity in the world.
ReplyDeleteWhat likely struck me most about Dr. Blane Harding’s talk was his distinction between being culturally aware and culturally competent. He mentioned early during class that we never have to change who we are when placed in contexts we are unfamiliar with, but he also stated that we may have to adjust our behavior for the situation (e.g. in some situations we should avoid specific jargon that might make communication more difficult). This discrete difference is incredibly important. If we attempt to change our identity expression in order to match that of the people with whom we are interacting, then we end up making assumptions of their identity based on how they appear and whatever little information we may have about them. Finding the proper equilibrium of behavior adjustment is imperative in progressing from cultural awareness to cultural competency.
ReplyDeleteThis skill is becoming all the more important in our multicultural society so that we can be a positive force for social justice and equity. Knowing about other cultures and being aware of their norms is necessary but not sufficient. It is all the more important that we understand how to apply this knowledge to real-life situations. This will play a major part in enabling us to interact appropriately with people identifying with different subgroups than ourselves and to help to ensure they are given whatever resources necessary to have the opportunity to succeed.
Clearly our identity is important to us, it not only affects the way we see ourselves, but as we learned from our second class, it affects the way we interact with others. From that class we also learned to be aware of what aspects of our identity might be sources of privilege. Harding built upon this concept by noting how we could adjust our behavior in order to curb the negative effects that could result from our privilege. He even stated that this type of proactive behavior could not only curb the negative effects of privilege difference, but even serve to benefit the person that would have otherwise felt threatened or uncomfortable by an inappropriate display of privilege. Having this capability would enable us to not only avoid needing to change our identity expression but also would facilitate our interaction with individuals from other backgrounds.
Dr. Blane Harding’s presentation on cultural awareness and competency was enlightening. He spoke on issues that we, in a globalized and multiethnic world, need to learn to address on a daily basis. I particularly enjoyed his emphasis on the difference between cultural awareness and cultural competency as well as the importance that he placed on functioning in such a diverse world.
ReplyDeleteCultural awareness to Dr. Harding is the ability to recognize other cultures. This means acknowledging that another culture exists and having at least some knowledge of that culture’s norms. This cultural awareness is quite important, though it does not go far enough. Cultural competence goes a step farther than cultural awareness. This term indicates learning to be respectful toward and interact well with other cultures. Reaching a level of cultural competency does not mean trying to become part of a culture or giving up one’s one beliefs, but simply interacting with a culture in a respectful way. Dr. Harding stated that though many people have a high level of cultural awareness, which can come from learning about another culture in an academic setting, cultural competence is more rare. Additionally, it is something that must be worked on throughout one’s life.
Dr. Harding did touch on many other important topics, such as issues concerning equity. His points, though, about cultural awareness and competency were the ones that stood out the most to me. His talk was enjoyable and educational.
There were many things I needed to really think about and roll around in my head while Dr. Blane Harding was talking. Multiculturalism isn’t something that I’ve had to think about a lot. I’ve always just been a go with the flow kind of guy and not worried about anything. What I didn’t know was how that could be taken in a negative way. Having no knowledge of cultural differences can be just as harmful. As he said during class, sometimes we may do things that offend others but we don’t know the difference because we haven’t learned about different customs from other cultures.
ReplyDeleteHis way of differentiating between equality and equity with the picture of the three men watching the baseball game was perfect. It really helped to paint a picture of what the difference between the two is. We don’t all start the same and that’s what a lot of people don’t realize. We need to be conscious of our surroundings as well as who is around us so that we don’t offend anyone.
We need to be culturally competent if we are to ever understand and respect those around us. We can tie this into the previous class, with our identity wheels. Each of us has our own identity and we need to be able to recognize that theirs is different from ours and be open to learning about new things, stepping out of our comfort zone.
Concepts we discussed in class during and after Dr. Harding's talk that stood out to me included: equity vs. equality, authentic vs. superficial diversity, and perceptions of identity vs. self-identification.
ReplyDeleteThe discussion pertaining to the difference between equity and equality really helped me refine what had before been a vague idea. It is not enough, necessary, or desirable to provide everyone the same tools or resources without regard to context, a practice which aids those who are already equipped and leaves others far behind. Rather, if we are to truly 'even the playing field' and propagate a culture in which individuals and communities thrive, it is necessary that everyone have access to the same opportunities and must thereby be equipped with the tools and resources that best meet their needs.
In the last section, we considered the many identities we each embody and how those identities shape our perceptions. In addition, we were also asked to consider the same concept in regards to the experiences of others and how mindfulness, or lack thereof, of the identities of others impacts individuals and systems. I came away from Dr. Harding's presentation confident that a significant factor of mindfulness in action is the practice of respecting a person's right to identify themselves instead of assuming the identity of others and acting upon personal and systemic expectations of that identity.