Merriam-Webster defines culture as "the characteristic features of everyday existence shared by people in a place or time." It's a bit of a struggle for me to define what exactly my personal culture consists of because I consider myself to be a fusion of many different culture groups. I'm an Indian-American with strong ties to India, I'm also a typical American youth, and I have a very diverse group of friends whom I identify with. However, I can pinpoint a few things that represent who I am including my values, what I eat, what I like to do for recreation, the languages I speak, and my belief system.
1) When it comes to values, I'm a person who believes in the importance of caring for others, giving back to society, and striving for equality. Hence, my decision to double major in Social Work was motivated by my passion for social welfare. I've volunteered and interned for a number of organizations whose causes I believe in. Refugees, battered women, rural children in India, and youth in the inner city are some of the populations I've worked with. Since I have a strong interest in empowering underserved communities, and I hope the Ghana Maymester will give me a chance to learn more about social justice. I hope to work in the non-profit sector in the future, particularly with developing nations, and I feel that this program will expose me to the realities of a career in that line of work.
2) In terms of food, let me just say I LOVE trying new cuisines. My favorite cuisines include Mexican, Indian, Asian, and Middle Eastern food. Whenever I travel to a new country, I like trying food that is native to the place. Whether it is crepes in France, paella in Spain, chana masala in India, or tamales in Mexico, I'll eat pretty much anything as long as it looks good and is vegetarian. I've heard that Ghanaian food is spicy, and since I love spicy food I'm looking forward to trying it!
3) I like doing a wide range of things for fun, including listening to music, dancing, going out to eat, shopping, reading, meeting new people, being outside and visiting museums. I'm looking forward to meeting my peers on this trip as well as interacting with the Ghanian people. I'm also looking forward to going to authentic markets in Ghana as well as attending cultural events. Since I have an interest in history and anthropology, I think it will be very interesting and a moving experience to vist Kwame Nkrumah's museum and the Cape Coast Castles. Lastly, I think it will be fascinating to experience the outdoors in Ghana, ranging from the beach and the forests to the different wildlife that inhabit the region.
4) Another important aspect of my personal culture is the languages I speak. In addition to English, I can read, write, and speak in two Indian languages: Hindi and Tamil. India has 26 national languages and hundreds of dialects, and my family speaks two of them. I also studied Spanish for six years and I reached the intermediate level of Arabic here at UT. I have a passion for languages and learning how different people communicate with one another. I understand that while Ghana's official language is French, there are many dialects spoken by people in different parts of the country. I'm interested in seeing how language plays a role in the lives of the Ghanian people and understanding language trends among different groups.
5) The last aspect of culture I will discuss is my belief system. I am a Hindu by birth, and while I believe in many aspects of Hinduism, I also incorporate aspects of Zen Buddhism into my life. Both Hinduism and Zen practice encourage taking care of oneself (hence my interest in yoga), respect for all living beings (reason for my being vegetarian), and acceptance of others. I've always been interested in world religions, as exemplified by the fact that I'm currently taking Religions of the Middle East and The Dead Sea Scrolls. Additionally, I have friends of many different religions, and it is interesting to me how religion plays a role in each person's life. Among other things, I'm interested to see the influence of religion on the lives of the Ghanian people. I learned in my Intro to Modern Africa class that there are a wide range of religions practiced in Ghana, including various sects of Christianity, Islam, and indigenous faiths. I'm looking forward to seeing how these different faiths coexist.
Ultimately, all the aspects of my personal culture influenced my desire to participate in the Ghana Maymester. Throughout my life, I have always been interested in learning about different cultures and analyzing how they are similar or different to my own. I feel that Ghana will have a lot to offer me in terms of personal growth, exposure to a new place, and knowledge of the country's history and background. From a historical and sociological stand point, this program will teach me a great deal.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Social Justice Second Entry: Who am I?
Who am I? Honestly, that’s a question I’ve been trying to answer for the past 20 years and I have yet to find an answer. As stated in Readings for Diversity and Social Justice, forming an identity is a vital part of our life experience that continues on from adolescence. As it is, finding oneself is a difficult task, however, as a member of one or more subordinate groups the process can become even more complex. While I am grateful to God for all of the interesting people I’ve met and diverse experiences I’ve had, that’s not to say I didn’t have some challenges along the way. As we discuss diversity, social justice, dominant, and subordinate groups, I’ll share a little bit about myself.
I’m the daughter of two Hindu immigrant parents from India. My dad is an electrical engineer who completed his master’s and doctorate degrees here at UT, and my mom is involved in the policy aspect of social work. I also have a fourteen-year old brother and both of my grandmothers live with us, carrying on the nuclear family tradition many Asian families have. We make frequent trips to India every couple of years and we keep the Indian culture alive in our home through food, language, and various customs.
I grew up in an upper middle class suburban, primarily Caucasian neighborhood, however, I went to a magnet middle school. When I was here, I made many friends who were African-American, Hispanic, Arab, and Asian in addition to my Caucasian friends. I also had quite a few interactions with members of the Indian community growing up. All these experiences have made me into the person I am today: An Indian-American girl who has a strong sense of Indian culture, is in touch with mainstream American culture, whose best friend African-American, boyfriend is Nigerian-American, and other friends are multi-religious, multi-ethnic, and of different socio-economic backgrounds. Not your typical cookie-cutter scenario, huh?
Nonetheless, however enriched my life is due to these interactions, there have been many times I’ve felt like no one understands where I’m coming from. For starters, I’m a woman of color with immigrant parents, I’m a different religion from most people, and I don’t have a clear cut socio-cultural identity. While I value my Indian culture highly, I find that I often times don’t fit in with other Indian-Americans. In my experience, some of them have found it strange that I also identify with people outside my ethnic and religious group. Although my attitude is American, I’m obviously not among most of the dominant groups in America. While I do have many friends of different ethnic groups, I’m not one of them either. The way I was brought up, it’s almost as if I belong everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
Thus, quite a few concepts relating to the marginalization of minorities in Readings for Diversity and Social Justice stuck out to me. Before I start, let me say I’m definitely not one of those people who play the race card when it’s not applicable to the situation. Although I feel that there are systems in our society biased against minority groups, I don’t feel it’s my place to blame all members of a dominant group for this. There are good people who belong to dominant groups and want to improve the lives of oppressed people; I recognize this. However, in the case of race and ethnicity, my own life experiences have shown me that Caucasian people do have privileges in areas where they may not even realize it.
A few of these privileges that I’ve personally noticed are: the fact that Caucasians can assume that their ideas and contributions will be taken more seriously, they don’t have to deal with constant attention to their race, and they can reasonably expect that if they work hard and "play by the rules" they'll get what they deserve (Adams, 17). I'll elaborate on specific experiences another time. For now, let me just say that I've noticed how as a member of a few subordinate groups, I just can't expect certain things. The reality of the situation is, members of dominant groups take their identity for granted while everyone else is constantly reminded of their minority status.
I'll conclude today by saying that as a person who doesn't have a clear cut racial-cultural identity, I've become more tuned in to injustices and inequalties in the world. While I would never trade the diversity I've experienced for anything else, I will say that the question of "Who am I?" will probably always be a source of confusion for me and people that are trying to form an opinion of me. Nevertheless, I hope to use my understanding of the struggles of oppressed groups in order to raise awareness about subjugation and to educate members of dominant groups about what it means to be a minority.
I’m the daughter of two Hindu immigrant parents from India. My dad is an electrical engineer who completed his master’s and doctorate degrees here at UT, and my mom is involved in the policy aspect of social work. I also have a fourteen-year old brother and both of my grandmothers live with us, carrying on the nuclear family tradition many Asian families have. We make frequent trips to India every couple of years and we keep the Indian culture alive in our home through food, language, and various customs.
I grew up in an upper middle class suburban, primarily Caucasian neighborhood, however, I went to a magnet middle school. When I was here, I made many friends who were African-American, Hispanic, Arab, and Asian in addition to my Caucasian friends. I also had quite a few interactions with members of the Indian community growing up. All these experiences have made me into the person I am today: An Indian-American girl who has a strong sense of Indian culture, is in touch with mainstream American culture, whose best friend African-American, boyfriend is Nigerian-American, and other friends are multi-religious, multi-ethnic, and of different socio-economic backgrounds. Not your typical cookie-cutter scenario, huh?
Nonetheless, however enriched my life is due to these interactions, there have been many times I’ve felt like no one understands where I’m coming from. For starters, I’m a woman of color with immigrant parents, I’m a different religion from most people, and I don’t have a clear cut socio-cultural identity. While I value my Indian culture highly, I find that I often times don’t fit in with other Indian-Americans. In my experience, some of them have found it strange that I also identify with people outside my ethnic and religious group. Although my attitude is American, I’m obviously not among most of the dominant groups in America. While I do have many friends of different ethnic groups, I’m not one of them either. The way I was brought up, it’s almost as if I belong everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
Thus, quite a few concepts relating to the marginalization of minorities in Readings for Diversity and Social Justice stuck out to me. Before I start, let me say I’m definitely not one of those people who play the race card when it’s not applicable to the situation. Although I feel that there are systems in our society biased against minority groups, I don’t feel it’s my place to blame all members of a dominant group for this. There are good people who belong to dominant groups and want to improve the lives of oppressed people; I recognize this. However, in the case of race and ethnicity, my own life experiences have shown me that Caucasian people do have privileges in areas where they may not even realize it.
A few of these privileges that I’ve personally noticed are: the fact that Caucasians can assume that their ideas and contributions will be taken more seriously, they don’t have to deal with constant attention to their race, and they can reasonably expect that if they work hard and "play by the rules" they'll get what they deserve (Adams, 17). I'll elaborate on specific experiences another time. For now, let me just say that I've noticed how as a member of a few subordinate groups, I just can't expect certain things. The reality of the situation is, members of dominant groups take their identity for granted while everyone else is constantly reminded of their minority status.
I'll conclude today by saying that as a person who doesn't have a clear cut racial-cultural identity, I've become more tuned in to injustices and inequalties in the world. While I would never trade the diversity I've experienced for anything else, I will say that the question of "Who am I?" will probably always be a source of confusion for me and people that are trying to form an opinion of me. Nevertheless, I hope to use my understanding of the struggles of oppressed groups in order to raise awareness about subjugation and to educate members of dominant groups about what it means to be a minority.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
First Blog for Foundations for Social Justice: Diversity and Individuality
Thanks to my parents, I've had the privilege of experiencing so many different cultures and interacting with people from so many different walks of life. From a young age, they emphasized the importance of diversity and percieving people as individuals. I must credit them for the fact that today, I make a conscious effort to avoid casting people under labels and get to know them for who they are instead.
For this reason, Pelton's article resonated within me. He discusses the importance of seeing someone as an individual, even though they may share a common identity with a certain group of people (i.e. race, religion, nationality, age, gender, sexual orientation, etc). He emphasizes that as social workers, it is our moral obligation to recognize that there are so many different people. Stereotypes may prevent these people from getting the resources they need. That's not to say that analyzing group patterns is completely useless---as he mentions in his article, Social Security legislation has helped the elderly population a great deal. However, in the case of mothers on welfare, casting people under a label has led to stereotyping and ultimately misinformation. Since the number of children women on welfare are thought to have isn't accurate, some of a woman's children may recieve benefits while the other children may not. Thus, the policy was formulated on the premise of a generalization. It's mind-boggling how others' misperceptions can alter the lives of so many people!
I think it is important for us, as social workers to be able to recognize individuals and their needs and only analyze group patterns to help them. Pelton eloquently states that the community's obligation is the well-being of the individual, and it is crucial that we remember this. That being said, I think that Scanlon's response offers a few helpful suggestions as to how we can use the group to help the individual. It may seem as if analyzing groups is akin to stereotyping, however, this isn't the case. Stereotyping implies a negative connotation and suggests making hasty generalizations without truly understanding the situation. Analyzing groups, however, implies genuinely trying to understand the plight of a certain group of people and utilizing research and statistics to help them further their cause. For instance, Scanlon discusses the plight of women and African-Americans throughout the course of history. By lobbying for themselves as groups, millions of individuals eventually recieved the right to vote. Thus, I'll conclude today by stating what I took from the readings---in the field of social justice, the individual comes first. The group is a tool to empower and advocate for the individual. As long as we avoid classifying people under a category prematurely, understanding the needs of different groups may help us make a difference in the lives of many individuals in the long run.
First Blog for Ghana Class
Hey guys,
I'm Natasha Sharma and here is my first blog entry. I'm looking forward to going to Ghana this summer because it seems like it will be a life-changing opportunity. As a Social Work and International Relations major, I think that this trip will be very influential and will give me a glimpse into the career setting I'm interested in. I hope to work for an international non-profit organization, and I feel that this program will prepare me for that. Additionally, I'm very excited about experiencing Ghanian culture and working with the Ghanian people.
A little bit about me:
-I love to travel! I've been to Mexico, Canada, England, Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, The United Arab Emirates, India, and Singapore. I'm looking forward to adding Ghana to this list.
-I like to read, do yoga, watch foreign films, dance, try new cuisines and spend time with friends and family.
-My interests include learning about different cultures, socializing, fashion, music, books, exercise, and discussing current events.
Looking forward to posting on this blog and getting to know you guys! :)
Tasha
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