This paper is a reflection on your own cultural identity.
Your paper should be driven by an overarching thesis or claim about your identity that is stated clearly in the introduction and advanced throughout the paper (In other words, the paper should have a trajectory, a cohesion, and a focus rather than jumping around from idea to idea in a random or unorganized way.)
Address the following content areas in the body of the paper.
Briefly describe your culture identity or group membership.
Here are some questions to jumpstart your thinking:
-What culture do you identify with?
-How do you perform, embody, or communicate that culture?
-Are there any ambiguities, contradictions, or challenges with this membership?
-Do you believe you have no culture? Why?
Critically analyze your “positionality.”
Some questions to think about here include:
-What key category or set of categories impact your social position?
-Are you part of a dominant, or marginalized group?
-Are you privileged in some area?
-Are you disadvantaged or disempowered in another?
-How does your position impact your life and experiences?
Submit 3-4 pages, double-spaced, in Times New Roman 12 font. Please avoid larger fonts and stretched margins. Write 3 FULL pages MINIMUM (not 2.5 or almost 3).
Allow me to quickly review these important concepts:
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Positionality refers to one’s “social location” (Chapter 1). The term describes how we are socially positioned in relation to each other, esp. in terms of power (who has more or less power).
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One’s social location is made up of an intersection of demographic categories–race, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, and physical abilities. These are “socially constructed hierarchical categories.”
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Example: I’m a woman, of Mexican descent, upper class, and deaf
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Example: I’m a White American male who is in a committed relationship with another man, educated, from working class, and non-religious
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Your positionality gives you a particular standpoint from which to view and make sense of the world.
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Marginalized people and those with less power in society often have a fuller perspective about the world because they understand both the dominant and marginalized points of view.
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