Culture

It's fascinating to think about how culture shapes who we are, how we think and process information, and how we act. I've been thinking about this more lately as I read Zaretta Hammond's Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain. This may eventually turn into a series, but for now, I want to focus on the first part: self-awareness.

So, who am I? How does my culture impact me? Well, I'm half-Chinese. This means that half of my extended family doesn't speak English as their first language, serves (somewhat) different food at home, and sometimes have different ways of communicating ideas (that are more typical in Chinese culture). Although I have never lived very close to them (geographically), they have always been a presence in my life, and I have always felt connected to this piece of my identity.

[On the other side of the family, I have ancestors who moved to the USA a couple of generations back from Europe. While I don't want to neglect this side of my past, it is much more similar to the dominant culture where I live, so I am going to focus my blog on my half-Asian side.]

While it's hard to pinpoint the exact implications this has had on my life, I wanted to write and reflect on a few ideas here:

• I have always been around people, who I love, who speak English with an accent, or don't speak it fluently. I would guess that it has naturally given me a higher comfort level when communicating cross-culturally than I would have otherwise.
• While I realize that Asian Americans face different realities than those of other races, I have still had personal experiences that demonstrate racial insensitivity (at best). Usually, I just shrug these things off - what else can you do? But I'm starting to wonder if it's an entry point to deeper conversation.
• Something that one of the (South Asian) refugee kids I work with has stuck with me - "The bad thing about being Asian is that everybody expects you to be smart. It's worse being a stupid Asian." While there are many things to unpack in that statement (and you'd better believe we had a conversation about how different strengths does NOT mean you are stupid!), it opened my eyes to the fact that even "good" racial stereotypes can be harmful.
• I've been thinking a lot about the concepts of individualism vs. collectivism. I'm not sure I have really concrete thoughts to write about, I see both really manifest in different areas of my life. It's given me a good lens to think about as I work with students, teachers, and especially my friends who are relocated refugees! I feel a little bad mentioning it here without really having much to say, but it's altered my perspective, albeit subtly, enough that I feel like I need to at least mention it here.

This has been a learning journey for me, and one that I have struggled with how much to say on a public blog. Examining your own cultural background, implicit biases, and thinking about how it interacts with others' is deep work - and easy to misinterpret on a blog without the benefit of non-verbal communication! At the same time, not talking about it enables current patterns to continue, so I feel compelled to write something. Curious to talk more about this? Please reach out - I'm happy to have one-on-one conversations in more detail!

How does your culture influence you? How are you building your own capacity for cultural responsiveness?