Peer Discussion of Wk. 5 Nieto’s Case Studies – Fern, Marisol, James, Hoang

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Instructions for the Peer Discussion:

• Pick two of the four cases below. Post a response to the question for the two cases you chose. In your post, feel free to make connections to your own life.  Post due Thursday, April 28
• Respond to THREE of your peers’ posts. Your response can be anything – something you agreed with, something you did not think about, something you disagreed with, a connection to your own personal experience, or anything else you’d like to say. Always be respectful in your responses to your peers.  Responses due Sunday, May 1

Fern Sherman talked about feeling isolated as the only Native American Indian in her school. What stands out for you about how her experiences in her school affected how she saw herself?

James Karam, a Lebanese student, felt invisible in his school. Even though the school had a lot of cultural diversity James felt that his cultural background was always referenced in negative ways. What stands out for you about how he chose to deal with those negative experiences? For example, do you think he dealt with those negative experiences in ways that helped him have a positive view of himself and his culture? Or, was his identity hurt by those negative experiences?

Marisol Martinez seemed to have a complicated view of her background. On the surface, her identity seemed clear and strong. But there are contradictory elements to her relationship with her background, what it means to be successful, and how to be successful. What stands out for you about those contradictory elements and how they might influence her identity and whether or not she’s successful later on in her life?

Hoang Vinh talked about the differences between going to school in Vietnam and going to school in the U.S. The strong contrast between his experiences seemed to have changed his identity since he’s been in the U.S. What stands out to you about some of the differences in his schooling and how his identity has changed since he’s been in the U.S.? How might changes to his identify impact him later on in life (for example, achieving his college/career goals)?

Investigative Assignment #2 – Learn about the concept of identity  (Week 5)

Part A – Talk with three people about their background.

The goal is to learn about the many ways people define themselves, beyond just using race/ethnicity, gender, or language, for example, and to learn how social context influences identity. Identity can be personal. Your interviews might be more detailed and interesting if you talk to people who would be comfortable talking with you. Ask them the following questions. Feel free to ask others.

• Ask them to describe their background, where they grew up, including ethnic, racial, and/or linguistic background and culture.
• If you could only use three words to describe your identity, what would those three words be and why? Be sure to ask what or who has influenced their identity, for example, family, particular life experiences, friends or peers, media, educational experiences, work experiences, etc.
• Think about how you’ve changed from childhood, to adolescence, to adulthood. Has your identity changed over time? Why or why not? If yes, what or who has influenced those changes to your identity?
• Do you think, in general, that people in your life – from school, work, family, friends – see you in the same way as you see yourself? Why or why not?

Part B – Submit on Canvas via Turnitin Sunday, May 1 by 11:59PM 

In approximately 4-5 double-spaced pages with 1-inch margins, answer the following. You must use the following format.

Section #1 – In approximately 2 pages, describe who you talked to (no names, use friend, mother, cousin, husband, partner, etc.) and then summarize your conversation with each person.

Section #2 – In approximately 1 ½ -2 pages, thinking about your own identity, answer the interview questions above from your perspective and experiences. For some of you, reflecting on your identity might be a new experience. There is no right or wrong answer. Just be honest and real.

Section #3 – In 1 -1 ½ pages, use lecture material and at least one reading from week 5 to discuss what you learned about the concepts of culture, social context, and identity. You must refer to specific points in the reading and lecture. Only use readings and lecture material that relate to your interviews and to yourself. You must refer to specific points in your interviews or about yourself as you discuss connections to week 5 material. Think about whether or not your interviews (including your interview with yourself) seem similar or contradictory to week 5 material.  

Rui Yan“>Rui Yan

Apr 21, 2022Apr 21 at 5:21pm

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Fern Sherman: Fern’s experience as the only Native American in her school is not really happy even though she learns a lot of new knowledge there and is willing to go every day. Her teachers and students mostly would not listen to her unique opinions and would not believe her unique cultures. For example, when she says the real truth is that French forced Indian peopel to scalp, her teacher did not want to hear her explanation and just cut it off though there are plenty of time left for class. Her expression is not heard since she is the only one of her kind and there is no others to help her express her cultures and identities. Nevertheless, Fern’s reaction to the situation stands out to me that she insists to continue expressing herself as a Native American even there are numerous obstacles exist. She always tries to explain her different opinions and she is proud to be recognized as a Native American. She also disgusts people who try to hide their natural features just to fit in the majorities.

Marisol Martinez: Marisol’s experience contains a lot of contradicts. She strives to be a good students at school to be “successful”. However, to be successful in the school’s perspective means she has to give up some of the identities that she insists and is proud of. Furthermore, though she is proud to be a puerto rican and proud of her culture, she thinks people from her own kind has a lot of problems. She says the puerto ricans are much “badder” than the white people based on the way they fight, behave and talk. lastly, Mariso also fails to have a plan to fulfill her future and her dream to be “someone”. She does not ask for help from school and neither her parents can give her support on such aspect. I think all these contradictory elements may may cause significant dilemmas for her to choose her identity and how to become successful. She will have to figure out hwo she really recognizes herself and what’s her own definition of being sucessful.

Shiantel Chiang“>Shiantel Chiang

Apr 22, 2022Apr 22 at 8:41am

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Marisol starts our her interview with really clear defined claims over her Puerto Rican culture and identity, and she even discourages how teachers tried to tell her not to speak Spanish in class and acknowledges that that was not okay. The biggest thing that stood out to me was when she mentions how students from different cultures should be the ones to help teach their educators about their language and culture when they don’t understand it, but then goes on to say that Puerto Ricans and other cultures don’t need their own course for history, because everyone should be “treated the same.” She doesn’t realize that having that kind of history study is not special treatment for people like her, because all her history courses are probably incredibly Eurocentric. She actually doesn’t realize that this “equal treatment” is completely swayed in America, where the dominant white culture has become the norm and everything else is tangential. She might be underestimating on this kind of gradually enforced white-centric view can start to degrade her perceprtion of her cultural identity in the future, like her motivation to ‘be someone’ in this society clashing with what the society itself says about how she can ‘be someone.’ Her understanding of her identity is actually super strong through her family values and her active participation and connection with her family, but it clearly contradicts how her education system and her own community perceives her identity and her potential for success, since it seems that she is not comfortable asking her educational staff for help with future pursuits and also that she doesn’t really look up to anyone in her community. She believes her own individual determination is enough to push her future, but I see that she is one person against an entire system that chooses to work against people of different cultures than the dominant one, and that’s going to deter her success or at least cause a disparity in how she struggles to achieve that success. Personally in high school, I looked up to a lot of my teachers, but looking back, because they were all white, their seemingly rightful perceptions of the world were also clouded by their cultural values of which clashed with some of my family values. Thus, looking up to them, I would essentially reject a lot of my parents’ values, because I thought they had to be wrong since I was learning the progressive views in school. Of course there are still some views from my family that I believe are wrong, but the way my community did not represent other cultural values of minorities stripped at my cultural identity, which I think would be something Marisol will experience if she continued to absorb the ideas around her, especially without her family constantly around her.

I think this issue is tough, because James has been “successful” at building tough skin against both the invisibility of his culture in his surrounding community and the otherwise negative exposure and stereotype of his culture. But I think that regardless of that type of defensive or even coping mechanism he’s developed, this has weakened his identity—particularly how Nieto mentions that he has learned to hide his hurt feelings about these negative portrayals of his culture. I think what stands out to me is through his interview, it is very clear that he holds a strong persistence toward his educational and future success, perhaps as a subtle distraction or image to uphold in spite of the other ways his identity is beaten down. Hence, I think the ways he has dealt with his negative experiences is a forced evasion from his real feelings, and he shouldn’t have to be forced to be strong against society. Giving him more visibility in his community would give him an active way to develop that positive view of his family’s values and behaviors as well as his culture—the way he reacts about having tough skin in the interview only shows that the dominant views of his culture will continue to clash with his own strength in his identity, until he runs out of outside distractions to cope with it. Actually this is similar to Marisol, because I think that when he is eventually pushed out of the zone of his family, his values will be tested, and that will be when his identity is really challenged and hurt by his prior experiences, in which he had to impossibly balance “cultural adaptation without complete assimilation.”

Adryanna Nguyen“>Adryanna Nguyen

SaturdayApr 23 at 1:38am

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Fern Sherman

Despite being different than the rest of the school it is clear that Fern is proud of being Native American and uses her experiences in school as a way to embrace her culture. In her interview, Fern talks about how she is disgusted when “somebody with brown hair wants blond hair” because “it’s what God wanted you to have” (127). This highlights that she is proud of her culture and wants to embrace it despite being different because she is disgusted when someone tries to change something that God made. Moreover, this can be extrapolated into how she views herself in the sense that, if she were to change the way she looked or acted, she would be messing with Gods intent of creating her as a Native American. Overall, it really stood out that Fern didn’t let her experiences in school change who she was.

Hoang Vinh

One thing that stood out to me in the differences in his schooling since Hoang has been in the U.S. is when he mentions that people in Vietnam go to school to become educated people while people in the U.S. go because they want to get a good job. Another thing that stood out is when Hoang mentioned that teachers in Vietnam would give students the extra attention and help that they needed but teachers in America don’t really do that. In regards to how his identity has changed since he’s been in the U.S., one thing that stood out was that Hoang viewed himself as a good student in Vietnam but in the U.S. he doesn’t because his English is “not good sometimes.” One way that the change in the way Hoang views himself may impact him in achieving his goal of going to college is by discouraging him from asking for help when applying to college. In the section about demanding standards Hoang talks about not want to talk to his counselor because he doesn’t want them to be concerned for him or burden them. He states that his English is not good so that is one of the reasons he doesn’t want to talk with American people (176). Applying to college could be really stressful, especially if you are not from America and/or don’t understand English that well so not asking for help could serious jeopardize his chances of going to college in the future.

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Sarai Mendoza“>Sarai Mendoza

SaturdayApr 23 at 7:15pm

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Marisol Martinez

For me, Marisol’s definition of a good student is stands out because it has influenced her to mindset about what a successful person is. This has influenced her to behave a certain way in school in order to not be seen as a bad student. She has good grades but she has no pride in her culture. She has assimilated to the school’s culture of success and has disregarded her puerto rican heritage. She is successful because she has not gotten pregnant and isn’t doing drugs like some of the teenagers from her neighborhood. Apart from this, Marisol is conflicted with her background because she noted that successful in society means to abandon one’s heritage. She doesn’t embrace her culture even though she says she stands up for puerto rican students. Marisol doesn’t show any enthusiasm when it comes to discussing her culture. Part of her desire to be successful is because of her family pressuring her to get an education, but her actions to go to college or become a model contradict this. Marisol has a clear understanding of her identity is as a student but doesn’t see that she disregards her parent’s culture. She’s only successful when she isn’t “puerto rican” and this what determines her success.

Fern Sherman

It’s notable that Fern’s experiences in school did not discourage her from her ambition to do well in school. She did have a hard time being the only native American at her school and standing up for herself, but she did not let this affect her grades. She embraced her culture and accepted who she was and was not afraid to tell people that. When she did try to share what she knew about her culture, the teachers did not believe her. She would like to see more native American teachers and students in schools because this would help students feel more included. Her experience from her school in South Dakota made it evident that teachers in Springdale see students different. In her old school all the students were seen as the same but those doing bad in Springdale were looked down on. To avoid such treatment she has always done her best to do well in school and this made her feel good about herself. She did feel pressure and isolated being the only native American but she learned to live up to the expectations of not only her teachers but her father’s too. Fern stated that she has been successful in school by creating strategies to overcome the negative experiences of her school’s culture.

Bea De-Vera“>Bea De-Vera

SaturdayApr 23 at 7:54pm

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Fern Sherman

Fern goes to school in Springdale where the number of Native Americans in the city was only around 60 individuals (122). Before her move to Springdale, she attended a school that had a large number of Indian students as well as Indian teachers and an Indian club. However, in her new school, it is the opposite. What stands out to me the most about her experiences in her new school is how she states her teachers do not understand her culture. Fern was taught to correct information in history books if she knows it is wrong, however, her teachers would not believe her. As a result, she “finally shut up” because her teacher would not believe her and would cut her off (127). Being the only Native American in her school meant that she was always different and her perceptions were not always welcome and as a result added to her feeling isolated.

Hoang Vinh

Hoang was originally from Vietnam and moved to the United States. He notes the differences between the school systems in Vietnam and the United States. He says that in Vietnam, people go to school in order to be “educated people” (173). In the United States, many individuals choose to go to school in order to get a good job (173-174). He also notes that in Vietnam, they would have to remember every single word due to not having textbooks, while in the United States, students do not need to remember all the words instead students just need to understand (174). To Hoang, grades are not as important as him trying the best he can. He believes that there is a cultural difference between the two places on what it means to be educated. Vinh is also too self-reliant (180). As a result, he rarely asks for help. This attitude of self-sufficiency leads Hoang to be isolated and self-critical of himself, such as on his English skill. These changes like being self-reliant might prove to give Hoang hardships in the future because he may not get the proper help he needs if he does not want to ask. For example, to go to college he would need to ask for help in making decisions on how to get there.

Sih-kai Wang“>Sih-kai Wang

SaturdayApr 23 at 8:35pm

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James Karam:

I think his identity was hurt by those negative experience. First of all, he felt like that he is invisible in school. That is the expression of not confidence. Additionally, he felt that his cultural background was always referenced in negative ways, which means he cannot agree his identity. A racial issue is always hard for people to find agreement in their lives. As we can observe that some races, which do not have so many people in school or culture, may have hard time viewing themselves positively. They can clearly feel what is the difference between them and the others. Only by having good education and a friendly environment could release the conflicts between the identities.

Fern Sherman:

It is difficult for her to find “identity” in her school as she is the only Indian. Indeed, it must affect how she views herself at some points. She might feel lonely because she cannot find someone that has the similar background with her. As we imagine that we are the only race in an environment, we must feel some pressure about how others view us or how others will treat us. We cannot focus on our identity to our races but worry others view to us. Furthermore, she may doubts herself, wondering whether Indian is inferior in her school. Facing many different races’ majority, she has to figure out how she values herself so that she can still keep her identity clear and confident.