Mental Maps of Culture: An Icebreaker

Purpose

1.         To reflect upon your early experiences related to culture and intercultural interaction.

2.         To learn about others as you each share and discuss your early experiences and understanding of the concept of culture.

Instructions

Reflect upon some of the experiences you had growing up that may have influenced your understanding of the concept of culture. Perhaps you grew up in an environment that was filled with culturally diverse experiences and encounters. Or, perhaps you were raised in a rather segregated or protected environment and had little direct experience with people different from yourself. When did you first learn about different people? How did you react to this experience? What messages did others give you—either intentionally or not, that you still remember today? How have you come to understand the concept of culture today? Reflect back over your life and try to recall events and experiences along the way that have influenced your feelings and thoughts about people from different cultural backgrounds.

In the space below, or on another sheet of paper, make a drawing or diagram that includes your experiences and your thoughts, feelings, and understanding related to culture. Then, using your drawing, introduce yourself to one or two other people while sharing your experiences with culture. In your discussion, look for similarities and differences in your feelings and thoughts, the events and experiences that contributed to their development, and the people who influenced you along the way.

Answers:

As a child, I attended a predominantly Black school throughout grade and middle school. Although I am half Black, other students always saw me as Asian. I knew this by the actions and words that resulted from my peers noticing that I didn’t “look Black”. Sometimes, students would jokingly say “ching chong” to me. I can’t even begin to count how many times I’ve heard the question, “Are you Chinese?” Throughout all of my childhood, I have always been made extremely aware that I looked different since I always was around a Black crowd. I remember how much it confused me and made me feel as though I didn’t belong when I, indeed, do identify as Black/ African American. I think that was always a dilemma for me: Do I identify as Black or Japanese? Does it matter?

The first time I was ever made aware of my racial difference was around the time I was in grade school.  I was at a birthday party for a friend of my dad’s daughter. My dad had predominantly Black friends. Therefore, I was always around kids who were also Black. As a child, I never really bothered to think anything of skin color. It never mattered to me back then.

At the birthday party, I was going down a long slide that was connected to a bounce house. What I didn’t realize was that there was someone at the end of the slide sitting. Because of my oversight, I ended up bumping into a girl at the end of the slide. Though, the bump was barely enough to cause her to get hurt or slide off since she was just sitting to the side.

After I bumped into her, I remember saying “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry”, at least 4 times in a row. I also remember feeling really bad. The girl sat there staring at me while I was repeatedly apologizing. Then she said it: “You f*cking white b*tch.” It’s quite crazy looking back at that situation since we were in elementary, and she already learned to have such vulgar vocabulary. As a result, she told the other kids that I was a “stupid, white b*tch”, and I ended up crying at the party. I still tear up thinking about it because it hurt so much that the girl would say something so offensive. I felt alone and very confused. After my dad found out what happened, he told me that I’ll be fine and that I’m just being sensitive. I think that part hurt the most. He didn’t do anything about it and continued to let me cry and feel like an outcast.

However, I was surprised that I never grew hatred especially when it’s so easy to generalize people at that age. I still grew close relationships with African Americans, but I’ve always overlooked skin color. I think the bad experiences I had as a young child helped me realize that many people are just ignorant, and it’s definitely not due to their skin color; it definitely could have been their parents or the influences around them.

In high school, I was always surrounded by such a diverse group of students. Because of it, I feel very open-minded to learning about other people and understanding how their point of view is different from mine. I’ve also learned how their culture could affect their actions whether it’s religion, family culture, their identifiers, and any other factors that can play a role in their decision-making. I also noticed that the more diverse a group of people are, the likelihood of someone making offensive comments was relatively low.