EDUC 6164 - week 4

Where do I begin with examples of micro-aggression?

We live in a city that hosts all nationalities, and so stereotyping is inevitable and micro-aggression is a daily occurrence. Amongst friends it is accompanied with laughter, but surely there is some offense taken.

The example that I will share occurred on Thursday during our health and safety fair, at the nursery where I am director. The company promoting pool safety was staffed with three people. As I walked up to greet them, the two British men greeted me and shook my hand, but they did not introduce me to the third man who was Indian standing in the background. A behavioral microaggression that was so obvious and so offensive. I introduced myself to the Indian man and they quickly reacted with his name and an explanation that he is the one who does all the hard work for them. I found that even more offensive, especially that I witnessed him carrying all the equipment and blowing up all the balloons by himself. So in reality, he did do all the physical hard work, while they promoted their safety gates, but they did not respect his presence with even an introduction.

There are numerous examples of friends teasing each other based on their ethnic culture including habits, mannerisms and accents; but they are not offensive. It is important to point that out because banter is healthy in my opinion, within limits; and it is important to practice it on occasion so that it does not catch you off guard in an offensive situation.

I enjoyed learning about microaggression because it gave a name to something I witness all day, and it made me realize that sometimes when we have good intentions, we may actually offend someone without knowing.

EDUC 6164 week3

I interviewed three friends of mine and my son for this assignment, and found all the answers incredibly interesting. All of them were accurate, and all of them were different, all of them left out aspects of culture and diversity that we are learning about, but all of them also included most of what we have learnt.

It is important to remember that we live in a city where 90% of the population is not from the dominant culture and those 90% come from a huge range of cultures. So anyone interviewed already has a deeper awareness of culture and diversity compared to other cities in this world.

My friend X defined culture as living within your beliefs; and the beliefs of your religion. She defined diversity as living amongst cultures and being tolerant of everyone else's beliefs. When asked to describe herself, she said that she is a mother in her 40s, who has three children. She has been living in Dubai for 14 years, she is a Catholic of Jamaican Canadian upbringing with Chinese heritage and she is married to a Portuguese Canadian. To me, she is the definition of diversity.

My friend Y defined culture with a list of things: heritage, family beliefs, religion, character, moral values, food and dress. She defined diversity as all the above melted into one. She continued by explain that we don’t have to agree with others or understand them, but we have to respect others. When asked to describe herself she said she is an American who grew up in California, whose parents are divorced and remarried, she moved to Florida when she was 14 years old, is a Christian, married for 15 years and had moved to Dubai one year and a half ago.

My friend Z defined culture as a way of living, through religion, upbringing, language, social identity, education, food, clothing, dress, socializing, nationality and ethnicity. Her definition of diversity is the differences within cultures, within families, within upbringing, within school systems and within communities. She is a working mother of three, married for 19 years, born and raised in Denmark, lived in Australia for one year as a young adult, lived in Italy for 2 years and now living in Dubai for the last 9 years.

My 12 year old son saw me interview friends and volunteered, and his response was that culture is a way that a person or family choose to, or are raised to, run their life. He defined diversity as differences between people that make up an environment of a range of cultures. My son is American, with Lebanese heritage, is born and raised in Dubai, goes to a British school and has extended family members all over the world.

I am pleased that everyone has a relatively accurate and deep understanding of culture and diversity. I am curious to read about other interviews from classmates, to compare definitions around the world.

EDUC 6164 week2

It would be terrifying to have to evacuate and leave everything I love behind. Having evacuated from a war, I can almost imagine such a catastrophic situation. As I prepared mentally for this assignment, I looked around my home and work and decided that I would not miss much material things except art work and correspondence that have emotional attachments, but there were things that would be very important to me which included the people and memories of event in my life.

I would take with me photographs of my family and precious people in my life, as well as some music that lifts my mood and brings back memories, and probably my rosary inside my phone book.

The pictures will always remind me of the past with the people and places and events that shaped me. Music is a powerful way of bringing back memories and emotions and I feel that it connects me to experiences that shape me as well. My rosary connects me to my faith and gives me strength while I pray, and if it lays in my phone book then I can also take that so that I can attempt to stay in touch with precious people in my life.

I would be devastated if I had to choose one item only, and it would be a tough decision between the photographs and the phone book. They are both about the people in my life but do I keep pictures that remind me of them, or do I keep the address book to try to find them?

I have learnt that people, particularly family members, in my life are the most important to me. My family defines my culture and my past and my present. If I were forced out of my life, I would miss my family and friends the most, which includes all memories together.
This tells me that families that come to our nursery every day, possibly value their families and memories more than anything else, and so nurturing that is essential in our work.