“Empathy is the most radical of human emotions” ~Gloria Steinem

Cultural competence is foundational for positive human interaction with diversity pertaining to sexuality, religion, creeds, as well as physical and mental ability. As you already know, the US has been a final destination for various immigrants for over 200 years, contributing to a rich cultural and creative repository of music, arts, technology, governance, education, and so forth- and always evolving and changing. For more than 14,000 years ago, the original peoples of the Americas already lived in multi-cultural settings. With the arrival of Europeans, indigenous peoples often experienced environmental and spiritual trauma. With each new incomers, various cultural groups in the United States were likely to go through traumatic events, leading to pervasive intergenerational trauma. Before the 17th century, Spaniards arrived in California, Puerto Rico, and Mexico, while religious refugees came to the New World to escape persecution in England. Between the 16th and 19th centuries, Chinese, Philippine, and African people arrived under traumatic conditions, often as slaves. The effects of historical trauma are still felt today on both mental and physical health across diverse communities and groups in the US. For a brief intro into historic trauma, watch here: “How Do People Experience Historical Trauma” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjJUQlodh0g)

The US is indeed the world’s meeting point of diversity where you can encounter a broad range of human experiences in joy, pain, but also healing, and enrichment. Some might use this richness to divide people through language and pseudo-science, yet others might try to unify by celebrating and seeing value in diversity. At the end of the day, we are confronted with the simple reality of our helping profession: Acknowledging cross-cultural issues opens the mind to gain cultural sensitivity (tolerance) towards diversity in age, ethnic identity, disability, color, gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, religious/spiritual practices, or linguistic differences.

In order to encounter and respectfully meet the other, we must first know ourselves: our very own cultural biases, cultural practices, identities, and histories. How does the way we see and define ourselves change with different people, different situations, different times, and different contexts?

Instructions

The exercise below is meant to help you prepare for the upcoming assignment, “culture snapshot” (and is adopted from Lesli E. Korn, Multicultural Counseling Workbook, 2016). Please answer the following question and engage with your peers to help each other explore the rich diversity in this online community.

A. Who Am I? Form a narrative (~500 words essay) answering the following questions as a guide:

1. Where do you and your people come from?
2. What ancestors arrived before you to enable your birth and where did they come from?
3. What family stories do you know about your heritage? What is hidden or a secret yet to be discovered?
4. What rituals or traditional/religious/spiritual practices do you know/participate in? (Or try to avoid?)
5. How do you feel about exploring topics about your ancestral background? Are some areas more comfortable to share than others? Do you feel like some topics feel like “cultural baggage”?

B. Culture Suitcase Imagine you are going on a long trip around the world. You can carry ten items with you that represent your cultural heritage.

1. Describe each of the items and their functions.
2. Which item(s) would you be willing to give away? Why? Explain..
3. What does it mean to you to give it to someone? Explain.
4. What will be the title of your PSYC-490 assignment, “Culture Snapshot“? What will be the focus of your cultural investigation? What kind of literature will you use? How will you make sure that you follow APA guidelines and be objective?