We started off class with an exercise where looked at ourselves in a mirror with our eyes closed and thought of who we were. We wrote down five questions.
1. Where do I come from?
2. Where are my parents from?
3. Where did I come from before coming to class?
4. What is Important to me?
5. Where do I want to go? Tomorrow? In life?
We then moved to the left of where we were seated. We wrote our answers to their questions with their pen and paper. At the same time we were asked to think about the person that sat there before us. It made me think of how we are different. We have a diverse class in age, gender and race. It was a good exercise especially if it was someone who would be considered different then you. It was a good segway to the lesson for the day where we discussed Identity, Cultures, National Identity and Stereotypes.
Identity is who we think we are and this feeling is internal and subjective. Culture is a way of life for a group of people. Their traditions, values, beliefs, rituals, holidays, food, clothing, art, music behaviours and language are al part of their cultures. National Identity is a composite of cultural practices. It is a symbolic face of how others see us and insiders portray. Stereotypes are a way of organizing information. They may be accurate in depicting a part of a society. Problems occur when applied generally or used for simplistic generalizations.
We discussed the first chapter of Translation Nation by Hector Tobar. In the reading he describes the Latinization of the United States. We also learn of an individual by the name of Ben Reed. Reed was a Mormon who had a Latin soul. He became a Spanish speaking radio host and even Reed himself said he was born an Anglo but identifies himself as a Latin culturally. The class comes full circle with the beginning exercise, the PowerPoint and Ben Reed on identity and how we or others see ourselves.
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