3.1: Chapter Resources

Activities

Cultural Interview

Chapter 3 begins by directing us to ask “Who am I?” As we learned in previous chapters our self-concept is developed in part by how others see us. Thinking about who we are now, who we were before, and who we will become is a life-long process. This activity will help students think explicitly about themselves and who they are. You can use all of the interview questions or pair the list down to meet your specific needs.

Student Activity: This activity can be done individually where students simply answer the questions for themselves. Or it can be an interview where they are put in pairs and they ask each other the questions.

Interview Questions:

1. How do you define “family?”
2. Who holds the most “status” in your family? Why?
3. How do you define success?
4. Do you consider your parents to be successful?
5. How important is education in your family?
6. Did you ever live with your grandparents or extended family?
7. Is punctuality important to you? Why or why not?
8. What is the most important meal of the day?
9. What types of foods do you like to eat? Are these foods considered indigenous to your culture?
10. Do you actively participate in organized religion?
11. How important is religion in your family? Why ?
12. If religion is important in your family, do you plan to pass this on to your children? Why or why not?
13. Are the roles of men and women specifically defined in your family? If so, what are they?
14. Do you have any eating habits/rituals that are specific to your culture?
15. What is your most important (or most celebrated) holiday?
16. If you are from a culture that speaks English as a second language, do you speak your native language? If not, why? If so, will you teach your native language to any children you have?
17. How do you perceive physical contact?
18. What is considered most disrespectful in your culture?
19. What is considered most respectful in your culture?
20. What would you say is, from your perspective, the most commonly held misconception about people of your culture?
21. Have you ever experienced racism? In what form?
22. Have you ever felt excluded based on your gender?

Investigation:

1. What is self-concept? How do your interactions with others, like your family, influence your perception of yourself?
2. Did any of your answers surprise you? Why or why not?
3. Did you notice any similarities between the answers of your classmates? Did these similarities correlate with a shared cultural identity?
4. Are there areas where your individual identity diverges from your cultural norms?
5. Are there other questions you would add to this list to encourage self-reflection?

Refugee Resettlement

Section 3.3 (Refugees) focuses on cross-cultural adaptation including refugees. “In addition to those leaving their home country in order to better themselves and their families economically, many migrants leave in order to escape regional or national danger or deprivation. Some leave to escape discrimination due to their ethnicity, religion, or political affiliation.” Refugees face a difficult decision to leave, a perilous journey to reach safety, and are often subject to exploitation, suspicion, and discrimination.

“Organized efforts to help refugees exist in many countries. In some cases, these are organized by national governments, often in cooperation with international groups such as the international Red Cross or the UN Refugee Agency” (section 3.3: Refugees). The United States has historically led the world in refugee resettlement numbers but admissions have recently fallen to record lows. In 2018 the United States fell behind Canada as the top resettlement country globally. And in the fiscal year 2020, the United States resettled fewer than 12,000 refugees, a far cry from the 70,000 to 80,000 resettled annually just a few years earlier and the 207,000 welcomed in 1980, the year the formal U.S. resettlement program began (Migration Policy Institute, 2021).

Student Activity: Have students review current refugee crises facing the world. This could be done individually or in small groups. Where are we seeing large numbers of refugees? What are they fleeing? Where are they headed? You could assign each small group one specific area (e.g. Syria, Venezuela, South Sudan, etc.) and then have them share out the basic details with the class.

Investigation:

1. Should the US increase the number of refugee admissions?
2. What obligation do we have in the “West” to help those feeling crisis situations?
3. What potential problems might increasing refugee admissions in the US cause
4. How could they be managed?

Ableism

Section 3.2 (Ability) focuses on a variety of different cultural identities. One often-overlooked cultural identity is disability. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) defines an individual with a disability as “a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a person who has a history or record of such an impairment, or a person who is perceived by others as having such an impairment” (Allen, 2011). Ability has institutionalized privileges and disadvantages associated with it. Ableism is the system of beliefs and practices that produces a physical and mental standard that is projected as normal for a human being and labels deviations from it abnormal, resulting in unequal treatment and access to resources.

Until recently a medical model was the dominant view of disability. In this view disease or injury was seen as something to be cured through medical intervention. In this model, the focus is on the individual who needs to be made normal by healing. Today this outdated view is being replaced by a social model of disability. In this view, disability is seen as mainly caused by environmental and social barriers. Disability is a reflection of society’s unwillingness to provide accessible spaces and facilities that would enable individuals with disabilities to fully participate in all aspects of society. A wheelchair user isn’t disabled because they are in a wheelchair, but because society continues to build stairs.

Elevator Pitch, Martyna Starosta, Time, July 31, 2020.

A short film by Martyna Starosta looks at accessibility challenges in New York City's massive subway system, as advocates fight to get elevators in stations and improve usage for all.

Student Activity: Have students get into small groups to explore the ways in which societal and environmental barriers create disability.

*One other example I often point to is the increasing prevalence of touch screens, they are ubiquitous in cell phones at this point but they are becoming incredibly standardized on kiosks at the grocery store, the airport, the bank, etc. The move from physical buttons to touch screens has made it increasingly difficult for those who are blind or visually impaired to access these self-service devices.

Some additional resources you might include:

There have been significant changes to the way buildings are designed in American architecture since the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) thirty years ago. The ADA is a landmark civil rights legislation that was a pivotal element in architecture and design for creating public space, buildings, and products. We take for granted the ramps, push-button doors, Braille signage, and other accessible features we encounter in our daily lives due to the ADA. However, there is still a way to go. In 2019, a multi-million dollar library was opened in Queens, NY. The beautiful design with tiers of shelves that connect to cascading stairs were not accessible for anyone using a wheelchair. Disability advocates argue that there’s only so much legislation can do and that it goes beyond civil rights. Designs should be on a broader vision of accessibility that takes a mind shift. The snake-like pathways at the Robert W. Wilson Overlook combine form and function that meet accessibility needs. Designers have moved from “universal design” to “inclusive design” that helps just about everybody (for example, curb cuts for wheelchair users). Architecture and design need to go beyond the ADA letter of the law and embody civil rights goals.

Building Accessibility Into America, Literally, Michael Kimmelman, The New York Times, July 20, 2020.

A viral video of a woman crying over her broken wheelchair by an airline spotlights an ongoing problem of airlines mishandling wheelchairs. Since airlines were required to report lost or damaged wheelchairs in 2018, more than 15,000 have been mishandled by major airlines. This figure would be significantly higher if not for the pandemic that limited air travel. In 2019, an average of 29 wheelchairs were lost or damaged. The problem has been ignored for too long and airlines do not fully understand the importance of a wheelchair for those who need them. Although airlines are responsible for repairing or replacing mishandled wheelchairs, this can take weeks or even months. A wheelchair user’s mobility and independence will be limited without their wheelchair. Airlines need to do better to ensure safe and dignified travel for all and improve the experience for travelers with wheelchairs.

Airlines have lost or damaged more than 15,000 wheelchairs since late 2018, Hannah Sampson, The Washington Post, June 7, 2021.

Hundreds of millions of people with disabilities live in cities throughout the world and about one billion people will be urban dwellers by 2050. The UN declared poor accessibility is a major challenge. Physically disabled individuals encounter barriers such as blocked ramps, no elevators, and inaccessible bathrooms. Learning disabled individuals can be overwhelmed with loud noises, flashy lights, or environments that are sensory overload. Although there are strides made with The US’s Americans With Disabilities Act, Britain’s Equality Act, and Australia’s Disability Discrimination Act are meant to increase access, it does not always happen on the ground. Cities will benefit from accessibility. Disabled people are less likely to socialize due to a lack of accessible transportation leading to cities losing out on economic gains. Some cities are making a change. Seattle, known for its hilly roads, is not easily accessible for people with limited mobility. AccessMap was created to allow people with limited mobility to plan an accessible route, such as limiting the amount of uphill and downhill routes. Singapore’s “Silver Tsunami” (1 in 5 will be over 60 by 2030) made them aware of accessibility challenges with their aging population. The city has been praised by the UN for its universal design of a business building without columns and low concierge counters to help people with limited mobility easily move around the building. Other cities such as Washington DC’s fully accessible metro system and Sonoma’s autism-friendly design are incorporating accessibility into their city designs.

What would a truly disabled-accessible city look like?, Saba Salman, The Guardian, February 14, 2018.

Investigation:

1. What example did your group come up with to illustrate the way that social structures and environmental barriers create disability?
2. What choices have been made in the construction of our physical space to contribute to disability? For example, stairs take up a significant amount of space in a building, it would be much more cost and space-efficient to just use robes or polls to move from one level to the next but that would render a significant portion of the population disabled because they could not pull themselves up a rope ladder to reach higher levels of the building. In this case, stairs are the accommodation but that is a choice and one that continues to exclude millions of people.
3. Why is it so easy for able-bodied folks to overlook these concerns in their daily lives?
4. What can we do to advocate for more inclusive design? Why It Is Time to Make Inclusive Development Inclusive, Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo, TED Talk.

Discussion

1. In Section 3.1 (Personal, Social, and Cultural Identities) we are introduced to the three main identity categories, personal, social, and cultural. “Our social identities are the components of self that are derived from involvement in social groups with which we are interpersonally committed.” Identify a social identity that you occupy? Is your membership in this group voluntary or involuntary? Is your participation implicit or explicit? How long have you been a part of this social group? How does this social identity shape your personal identity? How would your personal identity be impacted if you were to no longer have this specific social identity?
2. “Transgender is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity and/or expression do not match the gender they were assigned by birth” (section 3.2: Gender). Increasingly transgender rights have been under a microscope as states have moved to restrict access to tans affirming healthcare, mental health services, and participation in school athletics.

At least 7 states proposed anti-trans bills in first week of 2022, Matt Lavietes, NBC News, January 7, 2022. In Texas, an unrelenting assault on trans rights is taking a mental toll, Rina Torchinsky, NPR, February 25, 2022. Alabama May Pass the Most Aggressive Anti-Transgender Bill Yet, Serena Sonoma, glaad, March 3, 2022. No person should be subject to discrimination because of who they are. What does this kind of legislation do? What is the history behind this effort? Why is this proposed legislation harmful? How can individuals help fight these bills? Dr. Rachel Levine Questions State Bills Targeting Transgender Health Care, Becky Sullivan, Ari Sahpiro, NPR, April 1, 2021.

Supplemental Materials

All Mixed Up: What Do We Call People Of Multiple Backgrounds? Leah Donnella, NPR Code Switch, August 25, 2016.

In a country where the share of multiracial children has multiplied tenfold in the past 50 years, it's a good time to take stock of our shared vocabulary when it comes to describing Americans with multiple backgrounds.

To Fix the US Coronavirus Response, Start with Culture Sarah McCool, Global Health Now, August 19, 2020. John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Culture is critical to understanding Americans’ divided response to COVID-19, but no one is talking about it.

Why do we say “Latino?”

The first thing to pop into your mind when you hear "Latino" is probably people from Latin America - places like Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, etc. But where exactly did the history of that word come from, and has it always meant Central America and South America as well as the Caribbean? Today Danielle traces the origin of the term "Latino" and the debates that still surround it as well as the term "Hispanic" and "Latinx." Created and Hosted by Danielle Bainbridge Produced by Complexly for PBS Digital Studios

Why Do We Say “Asian American” Not “Oriental”?

The word Oriental is hundreds of years old, so why do Americans no longer use the word “Oriental”? And how did the word “Asian American” take its place? Watch this week’s Origin of Everything (PBS)

Is One Of America's Favorite Founding Myths At The Root Of Our Pandemic Failure?

America's response to the coronavirus pandemic has been panned as selfish and individualistic. But has America always had a tradition of prioritizing individualism? In this episode of Think Again, NBC News correspondent Andrew Stern digs into our nation's past to investigate our present and future.

What the U.S. coronavirus response says about American exceptionalism

Coronavirus cases in Florida, Arizona and South Carolina are increasing faster than in any other country in the world, reigniting the debate over American exceptionalism. Nick Schifrin talks to former Mexican foreign minister Jorge Castaneda, former Hungarian ambassador to the U.S. Réka Szemerkényi and Maina Kiai, a human rights and anti-corruption lawyer previously with the United Nations.

Planetary

We are in the midst of a global crisis of perspective. We have forgotten the undeniable truth that everything is connected. PLANETARY is a provocative and breathtaking wake-up call, a cross-continental, cinematic journey, that explores our cosmic origins and our future as a species. PLANETARY is a poetic and humbling reminder that it's time to shift our perspective. PLANETARY asks us to rethink who we really are, to reconsider our relationship with ourselves, each other, and the world around us - to remember that: we are PLANETARY. In a stunning visual exploration, the film interweaves imagery from NASA Apollo missions with visions of the Milky Way, Buddhist monasteries in the Himalayas, and the cacophonous sounds of downtown Tokyo and Manhattan, with intimate interviews from renowned experts including astronauts Ron Garan and Mae Jemison (the first African American woman in space), celebrated environmentalist Bill McKibben, National Book Award winner Barry Lopez, anthropologist Wade Davis, to National Geographic Explorer Elizabeth Lindsey, and Head of the Tibetan Buddhist Kagyu school, the 17th Karmapa. They shed new light on the ways our worldview is profoundly affecting life on our planet.

Discussion Questions

1. A key theme implicit throughout this film is the role of beauty and appreciation for the wonder of this planet. Human civilization is responsible for causing a lot of damage to the natural world. What do you think are the benefits of reminding ourselves of the beauty of what we are destroying?
2. Planetary is an emotive film. Which parts of the film were the most powerful emotionally? Why? Were there any parts that didn’t affect you emotionally? Why?
3. Peter Russell says that the current crisis we’re in was probably inevitable as soon as we started developing tools as a species. Do you think the crisis we are in is inevitable?
4. Do you agree that one of the things we require is a shift in our worldview, a change in how we use the incredible technologies we have developed as a species? If so, what do you think are the features of this worldview? What are the attitudes and values that are required for us to develop a sustainable civilization?
5. Janine Benyus talks about the idea of humanity becoming a “welcome species” when “civilization is functionally indistinguishable from the ecosystem that surrounds it.” What do you think is meant by the phrase “a welcome species”? What do you think are the main differences between human civilization and the natural world, especially in terms of things like waste and recycling? Do you think these differences are unavoidable?