Reflection:
Past experiences have created principals for categorizing differences that determine my opinion of culture. I assumed cultures were defined by different races, religion, or languages. Given these models, I was convinced I had never really experienced culture. Little did I know that those around me were apart of unique culture. Many factors together make one collective culture, and many things including culture become identity. My identity always felt like it was decided for me. I grew up in a very small predominantly white, middle class mountain town where everyone seemed the same. My culture was that of those around me. We all celebrated the same holidays, spoke the same language, looked the same, ate the same foods, and followed the same expectations for school and work. I was raised in a community of a single story. To an extent, I had never really seen culture, but I was constantly overlooking my own identity. I never understood that familiar things to me are completely foreign to someone else. Similarly, I have learned that the simple pleasures I enjoy make up my identity. I wish I had run across the Danger of a Single-Story TED talk long ago because it would have opened my eyes to look deeper into my home community. I wish I had been influenced to look at people and their identities from different perspectives rather than just assuming they were similar to me. When I was in 4th grade, I was assigned to be a peer mentor to a student from South Korea. I vaguely remember being obsessed with getting her acclimated with our culture rather than taking time to learn about the things she was used to. This podcast showed me how I have been stuck on the single story of my culture. Everything was measured against my perceived normal. I have been trapped by taking this criterion to develop stereotypes of what I thought was culture. Default positions about cultures prevented me from being open to learning what is true. When I came to college, I learned that diverse culture can be just as simple as difference in cuisine. I also found that in my desire to have people to ask questions about me, I have been more interested in learning about the cultural differences of others too. Once I begin studying a second language, I will be introduced to a whole new culture and be immersed in a society where I can ask simple questions about food, literature, education, and religion. Differences in communication will help me see a different side of the story, I will be put in the opposite position that may feel uncomfortable. In the future, I would like to utilize this single-story concept more by avoiding presumptions about others and feeling comfortable asking about their culture. Completion of my identity map for this Honors course satisfied competency for Self-Awareness and Knowledge and /understanding Level one.