Artifact 3

Cheryl Hoskinson
ED 258
June 28, 2016

Cultural identity
Question: In 2 pages, describe your cultural identity using at least
three cultural groups described in the module (from the flower or
the list). They could be the same or different from your introduction in
the discussion area. Additionally, describe some of the values with
which you were socialized as part of these group memberships.
Consider and reference Tatum's chapter on the complexity of identity
and describe in what was your cultural group might experience
privilege or oppression in a particular setting. Provide some examples
to support your claims. Finally, reflect on whether or not you have
thought about these things before and what Tatum says about some
people having to think about their cultural identity a lot while others
do not. Furthermore, what does Dean Barnlund have to say about the
invisibility and imprisonment of culture? What do we learn from this?
Answer: The three cultural groups that I would choose to describe my
life are Religion, Ability, and gender. I once had a teacher who said he
disliked all students who were white American women who were
republicans. I think he was just kidding, because I ended up passing
his class.
Religion: Plays a vital role in making me the person I am today,
because all my values stem from the basic fact that I believe in God,
and therefore, live according to the principles that he has laid before

me such as loving your neighbor as yourself, and the golden rule treat
others as you would want to be treated. Respect authority figures, and
no matter what you do in life work as if it were for God not for man.
In respect to religion in the United States Christianity basically
is the dominant religion, therefore, according to Tatum it would be
considered the privilege class. Whereas if a person were to look at
different places in the world, such as the Middle East, they would
notice that Christianity is not the dominant religion, but rather
Moslem or Buddhism. Christianity would be considered oppressed in
those countries. In fact, even today in some countries people are
killed for their beliefs.
Gender: Growing up female in my life has always played a major role
in that I was considered subordinate to the male species. In my day
we were not allowed to hold certain jobs such as fireman or
construction workers. A case in point, when I was in the military
females were not allowed to go on submarines, pretty much
everything else was open. There was a time before I went in to the
service where females were not allowed to fight on the front lines.
Another example of how my gender affected me was in the clothes I
wore. I was not allowed to wear dresses until I was 12 years old, and
in middle school.

However, since the time of the womens liberation movement

there have been many changes that have occurred, so that women are
not as oppressed as they use to be. Women can now wear whatever
they want to, and many women are doing jobs like wielding that only
men were allowed to do. We can now fight on the front lines; I was
only three hours away from the action during the Persian Gulf War.
Women are still not the dominant class, but we have come a long way.
Ability: I am totally book smart, and that is why I can go to school
forever, and still pull out good grades. This ability has allowed me to
go far in life. The fact that I get along well with others as definitely
broaden my abilities. However, where I lack a strong foundation is
when it comes to the ability of applying what I have learned, and the
fact that I am not super speedy. I am efficient and through, but lack
the speed that is required in some job fields. For instance, I know that
I was not treated right at my last job, in the warehouse, because I
cared about what I did, and wanted to do the job right the first time,
so I would not have to do it again. All the management cared about
was how fast a job you could do.
Even in the military I was judged, because I could not apply
what I learned to how the job was run, and what the management
expected. My life has been shaped by the fact that I can easily learn,
but have a hard time applying my knowledge.
3

Have I thought about these things before I would say that I

have, not necessarily because I wanted to, but rather because I was
forced to as in the fact that I lost my job at the warehouse, because I
was not fast. Cultural identity has really never been an issue with me
because I was born a white American in a Middle Class Family, and we
were allowed to practice our religious beliefs with no threat of
persecution. However, if I was raised in a place where I was the
minority, and did not speak the dominant language, I know that
culture identity would have a major effect on my life.
As long as people are trapped within their own way of thinking,
acting and believing never taking a glance outside the box that they
reside in they will be imprisoned within them. These cultural frames
of reference are no less confining because they cant be seen or
touched. Until we as humans take a look at the world around us, and
the different cultures such as Japan we will be limited in what we
experience and what we can learn from those around us. What I learn
from this is that as long as I dont look outside my own culture and the
values it possesses then I will never have the opportunity to learn
from others. There is a whole new world out there to be experienced
by all of us. We need to find ways that we can all come together on
some common ground. We should all break the chains that bind us
and be open to what we can learn from other people who are different
from us. There is a whole new world out there to be explored. The
4

biggest issue that we all face is that we have our own comfort zone,
and just dont want to disrupt it. Take risks and learn about other
cultures besides what they eat and wear. As educators what better
way to teach our students then from learning from other classmates
who have different cultural backgrounds.