Cultural Autobiographical Paper

Cultural Autobiography Paper
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Part 1 –Who Are You?

As you think about the concept of culture, consider how it affects your life and your view of others. This assignment is designed to guide you through a reflective process guided by eight cultural attributes. There are no right or wrong responses to any of these questions. Your responses should be rich descriptions of your cultural attributes. As you write your paper, make direct connections to the class reading assignments or other literature to support or argue your claims. The final section of this paper should summarize your culture and include other attributes you think are important to your culture. A conclusion statement should focus on the implications that your culture has on the way you learn and your view of teaching. Provide examples.

Use APA style when writing your citations. An open-ended (suggested 3-5 pages), typewritten paper should address the following cultural attributes. Submit your paper as an attachment to the Canvas assignment tab.

Attributes of Culture

Race
Although race has often been defined as a biological category, it has been argued that race is a biological concept of little use because there are no "pure" races (e.g., all humans are genetically racially mixed, though few of us might know this or acknowledge it). Recent research in mapping the genetic code of five people of different races demonstrates that the concept of race has no scientific basis (Akron Beacon Journal, 2000). Nevertheless, in the United States, race is an important category and is judged largely based on skin color. The latest U.S. census included a category for "mixed race" in addition to such categories as "White," "Black," "Hispanic-non White," and "Asian and Pacific Islander." Technically, race is not part of culture, yet in this county, people define their race as their culture.
• How is race evident in your life?
• Is it something you think about on a daily basis?
• What benefits do you have in this country because of your race?
• How has race affected your learning and social experience/s?

Gender
Gender is defined based on a particular set of physical characteristics related to male and female reproduction (but remember, of course, that one's reproductive organs can be surgically changed). Cultural meanings associated with gender are expressed in terms of socially valued behaviors that are assigned according to one's gender. Gender roles are those sets of behaviors thought by a particular people to be "normal" and "good" when carried out by the assigned sex.
• How is gender evident in your life?
• Is it something you think about on a daily basis?
• What benefits do you have in society due to your gender?
• How has gender affected your learning and social experience/s?

Social Class
Social class is culturally defined based on those criteria by which a person or social group may be ranked in relation to others in a stratified society. Common terms you might have heard are "working class," "poor," "middle class," "rich," "owning class," etc. There is considerable debate about the criteria that determine social class. Some identify class membership primarily in terms of wealth and its origin (e.g., inherited or newly earned). Others prefer to consider criteria such as amount of one's education, power, and influence, as well as one's choice of leisure pursuits.
• How is social class evident in your life?
• Is it something you think about on a daily basis?
• What are the benefits your reap because of your social class?
• How has social class affected your life experience/s?

Ethnicity/Nationality
Ethnicity is defined according to the knowledge, beliefs, and behavior patterns shared by a group of people with the same history and the same language. Ethnicity carries a strong sense of "peoplehood," or loyalty to one's community. Nationality is defined based on shared citizenship that may or may not include a shared ethnicity. In the contemporary world, the population of most nations includes citizens and resident non-citizens who vary in ethnicity. While we are accustomed to this idea in the U.S., we are sometimes unaware that it is also the case in other nations. Thus, we tend to identify all people from Japan as Japanese, all people from France as French, etc. Similarly, when American citizens of varying ethnic identities go abroad, they tend to be identified as "American."
• How did you learn about your ethnicity and nationality?
• How are the concepts of ethnicity and nationality evident in your life?
• Is it something you think about on a daily basis?
• How have ethnicity and nationality affected your educational and social experience/s?

Religion/Spirituality
Religion and spirituality are defined based on a shared set of ideas about the relationship of the earth and the people on it to a deity or deities and a shared set of rules for living moral values that will enhance that relationship. A set of behaviors identified with worship is also commonly shared. Religious identity may include membership in a world - - wide organized religion (e.g., Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Taoism), or in smaller (but also worldwide) sects belonging to each of the larger religions (e.g., Catholic or Protestant Christianity, or Conservative, Reformed, or Hasidic Judaism). Religious identity may also include a large variety of spiritualistic religions, which may or may not be connected to a religious institution.
• How is religion or spirituality evident in your life?
• Is it something you think about on a daily basis?
• How have religion and/or spirituality affected your life experience/s?
• Is your religion a dominant entity in this country?

Geographic Location
Geographic location is defined by the characteristics of the ecological environment in which one lives. This may include the characteristics of one's neighborhood or community (rural, suburban, urban), and/or the natural and climatic features of one's region (plains, coastal, hot, cold, etc.). This may also include mobility and the number of places where you have lived.
• How is geographic or regional identity evident in your life?
• Is it something you think about on a daily basis?
• How has geographic location affected your life experience/s?
• What values do you consider typical of the region where you currently live?

Age
Age is defined according to the length of time one has lived and the state of physical and mental development one has attained. Chronological age is measured in different ways by different social groups or societies. Some calculate it in calendar years, others by natural cycles such as phases of the moon, and still others by the marking of major natural or social events. Most humans view such development as a matter of "stages," but the nature and particular characteristics of each "stage" may differ widely. In most western societies, for example, age cohort groups are usually identified as infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age. In many nonwestern societies, the cohort group we define as adolescents may not exist at all, and the classifications of childhood and old age may be longer or shorter. In addition, different societies place different value on age, some placing more emphasis on youth while others venerate the aged.
• How is age evident in your life?
• Is it something you think about on a daily basis?
• How has age affected your life experience/s?
• Is age a factor you think will influence your teaching?

Language
The cultural definition of language is "a shared system of vocal sounds and/or nonverbal behaviors by which members of a group communicates with one another" (Gollnick & Chin, 1990). It is through language that most other cultural knowledge is acquired. Considerable research on the relation of brain function to language gives evidence that human beings are "hard wired" for language development at a particular stage in brain development (Chomsky, 1966). That is, children who are in the company of other people appear to be "programmed" to learn whatever spoken language or sign system is used around them. Children even invent their own language systems, complete with syntactical structures, if no other language is available. Language is meaningful in terms of both its verbal properties (what we "name things, people, ideas), and in terms of its nonverbal properties (its norms regarding interpersonal distance, meaningful gestures, etc.).
• How is language evident in your life?
• Is it something you think about on a daily basis?
• How has language affected your life experience/s?
• Define the best way you communicate with others.

Other Categories
There are other ways we may choose to identify ourselves culturally, for instance by our health status, our ability/disability identity, our sexual orientation, or our social status.

Final Statement
Summarize your culture and state what cultural attributes influence the way you learn. Consider the way culture will influence the way you will teach. Reflect on the ways you have benefited from our educational system in the US.