Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

   Learning about microaggressions this past week has really opened my eyes and made me become more aware of conversations around me. While I did not find an example of microaggrssion this past week, I remember certain situations and conversations that fit into this definition. My husband and I have a friend that is very blunt in his comments and also jokes around quite a bit. I remember multiple occasions where our friends likes to make jokes about women. Many of these jokes pertain to women's stereotypical role in the household. Many of his jokes would involve women having the job of being in the kitchen and cleaning the house. While many of us either laughed or wrote his comments off, I can see now that his comments indeed were microaggressive. While he did not mean any harm in his comments and jokes, they were still very offensive and insulting. I remember my actions during his comments were mainly just to roll my eyes at him and come back with a sarcastic remark. Now I find that putting a clear definition to what he was doing brings me a whole new perspective. If someone else was on the receiving end of his jokes that did not know him very well, that person may as well be extremely offended by his comments.

   Keeping an open ear this week for microaggressions has really taught me that discrimination and prejudice does not necessarily mean that someone is intentionally trying to be offensive or hurtful. We see that stereotypes can be brought out because someone is being microagressive to another person. Whether the person feels that they have more power in the relationship to say those comments or the ideals are inherited from someone's family background, being microagressive is definitely unintentional and looking into our own biases can help us prevent the cycle of microaggression. I have learned this week that if I do not want to be unintentionally microaggressive then I really have to look into my own background, beliefs, and biases so that I am fully aware of how I feel towards others. The effects of this can be hurtful since microaggression is something that can be unintentional. People that have been victims of a microaggression can have feelings of being marginalized even by the ones that they are close to which is why I believe knowing our own biases can help in this process.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

I interviewed three people this week and asked them about their definition of culture and diversity. I chose to interview my husband because he is a different gender from me, my mom because of our age difference, and my co-worker because she is African American which is a different race from me.

Culture:
My husband's definition is different customs and backgrounds for a group of people.
My mom's definition is the surroundings that you are raised in.
My co-workers definition is the way a group of people live within their society.

Diversity:
My husband's definition is the differences in people which could include race, religion, ethnicity, etc.
My mom's definition is the different cultures that we encounter in society.
My co-worker's definition is the differences and uniqueness in everyone and what sets them apart from everyone else.

There are some aspects of culture and diversity that I have studied in this course that can be seen through these interview answers. The aspects of diversity being unique to everyone and diversity includes many things such as race, ethnicity, religion, and many more factors. The aspects of culture including customs, backgrounds, and belonging to groups of people. Culture is also about a person's surroundings and society that they have become accustomed to.

While I think these definitions gave me an insight into each person's individual answer and how they see culture and diversity, I have also seen things that I have learned through this course that were omitted in their answers. While culture can be about the different customs and beliefs that we can see on the surface, it also includes deep culture and the aspects that we cannot see. Diversity also includes aspects of social identities.

In learning more about people's definition of culture and diversity it has broadened me own definition as well as given me a new perspective on culture and diversity. Learning from others I can see that their definitions have been influenced by their own culture and diversity. This interview has shown me how important people's values and opinions are important to them and how each person can be influenced.

My Family Culture

   For this week's blog we are to imagine our family going through a major catastrophe and having to relocate to a different country with a completely different culture. With this trip we are only allowed to bring three small items.

   The three items that I would bring would be a one book from my bookshelf, a picture of my family, and my cell phone. I chose these items because I consider them important to me and significant in my life. When choosing a book from my bookshelf I would have to just choose a random one because there are so many that I would want to bring. I chose to bring a book because I love to read and I think it would help me to deal with the situation of moving to a completely different country. Reading  book and getting away can help to ease stress, which is what I would imagine to be a stressful situation. I would also choose to bring a picture of my family. This item can help me to feel more "at home". Having pictures of those that I love is something that I like to display in my house. Those that I come in contact with would be able to see just who I consider most important to me. The last item that I chose was my cell phone. While i know this item may seem a bit obvious, I chose it because I feel that it could connect me with the new country more. I could look up and discover different aspects about the culture as well as connect socially with the people that I come in contact with. I think this could help me become more at ease with being in a different country and culture entirely.

   If I was told that I could only keep one item upon arrival it would be difficult to give up the other two. While it was hard to think of three items, suddenly telling me I had to give up two of them would make me upset and extremely hard to think of which to keep. From my three items I'm not sure which item I would choose to keep. From this exercise I was able to gain insight into what would be important during a stressful situation. I reflected on my own culture and what certain items mean to me. I was able to reflect on how I might deal with being in a completely different culture from my own. It helped me to understand how people around me may feel if they were coming from a different country.