Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

My family and I are traveling this week from Chicago to Georgia. We spent several days in Cave City Kentucky so that we could explore Mammoth Cave. This was really a perfect time to study the idea of microaggression because I found myself immersed in a culture quite different from my own, and realized for the first time that I do tend to unconsciously think of myself as superior. Noticing certain thoughts and ideas within me based on the idea of microaggression has quickly led me to be a more tolerant and respectful person.

Staying in the same campground where my family was staying were several families who live in the mountains of Kentucky. The physical appearance of these people is different from what I am accustomed to, which made me instantly judgmental. I did not know them, know anything about them or about where they are from, but I immediately belittled them in my mind. Fortunately, I took what I was reading, and made an effort to be more open minded. Then, however, a man from that group approached my five year old son and asked him his name. I was immediately defensive and ready to pull my child away when I remembered my decision to hold my judgment. The man had seen my son jumping into the pool, and saturated showing him different ways to jump. They played together happily, and innocently for quite some time. I then noticed a huge cultural difference between me and the people I was coming into contact with in Kentucky. I tend to talk to adults first and children remain secondary to that because of the assumption that someone who approaches a child is a kidnapper or a pedophile. In the area of Cave City Kentucky, people approached, played with, and enjoyed the company of children without ever talking to the adults at all. They even give the children candy and quarters (which could probably land them in jail in Chicago). I came to realize that this simple, innocent enjoyment of children is a better way to be than the protective distance from children that I am accustomed to (without even realizing it).

The point is that by holding judgment and pausing before reacting to the cultural differences I was experiencing, I was able to learn something about another group of people. In addition, I found that my feelings of superiority were false and I much preferred their approach to children and to strangers. I felt humbled by this experience and I came to realize that in order to grow as a human being it is important to release all feelings of self centeredness and look to other cultures for possible improvements in my own attitudes and actions.

Perspectives On Culture And Diversity

I asked three very different people about their ideas regarding culture and diversity. Elijah, a fourteen year old boy with an African American father and a Caucasian American mother sId that culture is "How people act and what they do. Like, traditions they have." He defined diversity as "The difference between people and things.".

I then spoke to JoAnne, a sixty four year old married nurse who grew up in a neighborhood on the north side of Chicago. She defined diversity as "the differences between people of differing backgrounds, such as Religious, ethnic, or geographic.". She went on to define culture as "the traditions with which you are raised. These include ones core values, celebrations, foods and beliefs."

finally, I spoke to Milan who is a 55 year old professor of linguistics who was born and raised in Serbia. He began by telling me that his definition might not be politically correct, and then went on to give me the following definitions:

Culture - culture is a system of beliefs shared by a society whereby that society is able to sustain itself physically, intellectually and morally.

Diversity - diversity is an aspect of a culture which reflects that culture's willingness and ability to incorporate within itself tolerance for and encouragement of expression of attitude towards reality such as does not reflect the most prominent traits of the mainstream but which brings with itself potentiality for enrichment, expansion and innovation.



While I found that Elijah's definitions were far less complicated and involved than those of Milan and JoAnne, they all said basically the same thing. I think that JoAnne had a good point when she mentioned that culture involves core values. I think that this alludes to the unconscious portion of culture that we exhibit without thought. I also appreciated Milan's thorough definition of culture. He defined diversity within a cultural group rather than diversity between different cultural groups. This was a different perspective than I have really thought about, even though we have been discussing this very subject in the class. I mostly appreciated Elijah's definition, however, because it was simple and straightforward and unclouded by the complexities of adulthood.

My Family Culture

If I found that I had to move to a whole new country with my family and could only bring three items, these would be my iPad, my beading kit and my journal. The iPad I would bring because it holds all of my pictures, I can read books on it, I can communicate with others through email, I can watch videos, I can translate into other languages, listen to music etc. The iPad holds much of the sentimental parts of my life. I would bring my beading kit because I make jewelry, and in addition to being an enjoyable activity to pass the time, I find it to be a meditative and calming activity that reduces stress. Finally, I would bring my journal so that I could have memories of my life that I have already recorded as well as keep a record of the feelings and events in this new part of life.

I would be very sad to give up my journal upon arrival because I would lose the written record of the past, but I would be able to keep an upcoming record using my iPad, so it wouldn't be a total loss. Losing my beading kit would be pretty devastating because it is an important part of who I am, however I would then attempt to discover traditional arts within the new culture that I could learn and create. I would keep the iPad because it holds so much information and has the capability to store more.

One thing I realized with this assignment is that I feel very connected to history. And culture through art, and while I would choose to keep things like pictures over art supplies, the loss of this connection would be devastating. I am part Iroquois on my fathers side, and the jewelry I make uses the traditional native American art of bead weaving. This is a huge part of who I am and of my ancestry, so it would be a big cultural loss for me.