Critical Cultural Analysis and Reflection 1

Critical Cultural Analysis and Reflection

Rachel Neff

Pennsylvania State University

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It has always been incredibly easy for humans to look at someone that seems outwardly

different from oneself, and create a false dichotomy between the self and other. Surface level

differences ranging from sex, nationality, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and many other labels that

humans apply to themselves and others can create the impression of deep chasms between

individuals who likely share as many similarities as they do differences. Culture is a complex

and multilayered concept that changes, overlaps, and sometimes even contradicts itself, and to

further complicate the matter no single person is made up of just one cultural element. Being

able to sit down and speak to people who one sees as being different or other than oneself

allows an individual to realize the similarities that exist under the easily labeled surface traits.

Paradoxically, being able to talk to someone who seems similar on the surface will allow an

individual to discover the opposite, that a person can have a multitude of cultural differences

despite sharing a common feature such as nationality or ethnicity.

This is something I discovered for myself during my interviews with both Jungsoo (Soo)

Bae, a newly naturalized American citizen and library employee originally from South Korea,

and Linda Gehle, an ESOL teacher and born and raised American from a small town in the

Midwest. While I had not gone into the interviews with the conscious idea in mind that I would

share more common features with Linda than I did with Soo, I did find myself genuinely

surprised our backgrounds were not as similar as I had assumed they would be. An even bigger

shock came from the fact that when our differences and similarities were neatly placed inside a

Venn diagram the split between the three of us was fairly even, with Soo and Linda sharing about

as many similarities with each other as Linda shared with me. Both Soo and Linda come from

blue collared backgrounds with parents that had not received college educations, and both

women put a lot of work into their own higher educations. I was an exception in the group, in
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that I had my undergraduate college paid for in full by my parents, and as a child I grew up

surrounded by academics. To me this was what constituted normal for people with college

degrees, and to have two women I greatly respect share different stories made me realize that my

definitions and expectations of the world were based on biased viewpoints. This has been an

important step in coming to terms with some of the shortcomings in my own world views.

While no one wants to admit to buying into stereotypes, or being biased against other

people for factors they may not be capable of controlling, the fact remains that every individual

on the planet holds some bias or another. I can accept this fact with some reluctance, and instead

of trying to pretend that they do not exist I can do my best to combat my own biases. In talking

to Soo and Linda I realized the painful truth that I was already somewhat aware of, that I allow

my own life experiences to color my expectations of others. Growing up middle class and

having the expectation that I would attend a four-year college when the time came created the

belief that other college educated individuals had a similar experience. In turn, that

unfortunately led to the the belief that someone with lower socioeconomic status will not be as

highly educated. There is also the unfortunate fact that I subconsciously tie education levels and

intelligence together. None of these beliefs are necessarily based on facts. Someone who came

from a blue collared family may easily obtain a PhD, while someone from a wealthy family may

drop out of high school. Someone can manage to obtain a masters degree and still manage to be

an incredibly dull conversation partner, while someone who has never gone to college may be

well read and brilliant to talk to. Reminding myself that my biases are not based in fact, and

being aware of these biases is vital in making sure that I give all students a fair chance as

individuals, and do not let my knowledge of their backgrounds cloud my assessment of them as

learners.
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Acknowledging differences without making negative assumptions about them is not the

only important aspect of cultural teaching that I need to keep in mind as a teacher. Recognizing

similarities, and using them to bring students closer to each other and myself can also be key in

making a comfortable classroom environment. When interviewing Linda and Soo I realized that

while our backgrounds may have been different, we shared a number of life experiences,

interests and values. Linda and Soo have both been in the position of living overseas in countries

where not only the culture was different from their own, but the native language was different as

well. Lindas experiences living in Japan when she was a young mother allows her to now

empathize with many of the struggles her students currently face in America, and lets her

encourage discussion of practices, beliefs, and other cultural aspects of their home country in the

classroom environment. While Soo and I had very different backgrounds, we were both aware of

a severe level of inequality and injustice in the world from a relatively young age. However, my

realization comes from interactions with people who do not benefit from the same privileges that

I do as a white, middle class American, while Soos realization stems from her own experiences

and the monetary struggles her family suffered through while growing up, which creates a

different motivation for our activism. It may be one of the reasons Soo has been more proactive

in getting involved in causes she believes in, and why she is so active now in her church group,

while I have been reactive, and more likely to accept invitations to help causes than I am to seek

out causes to help.

One big subject that I have yet to broach in this piece is the discussion of how our

different nationalities may have affected our beliefs and life experiences, and that is in part

because throughout these writing projects I have come to realize that culture is not nationality or

ethnicity based. While nationality and ethnicity certainly do play a large part in many peoples
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cultural makeup, it is the not by any means the single deciding factor. According to Matthews

(2000) cultural supermarket metaphor, different aspects of culture can be chosen for oneself, but

there are definitely aspects of ones cultural self that are beyond our control, and ethnic

background is usually one of them. (p. 71) The extent that ethnicity plays a role a persons life is

in part controlled by the individual, however. I, for example, tend not to pay much attention to

my ethnic background, opting instead to ignore my symbolic ethnicity in favor of an identity

based in my national background. (Waters 2006, p. 643) In contrast, Soo is heavily involved in

the Korean community around her area, however she sees still herself as highly Americanized, so

while she does consider her ethnicity a large factor in her identity, she considers her experiences

an equal contributing factor. At the same time, no matter how we choose to interpret ourselves a

certain degree of a persons cultural identity is shaped by outside reactions to who we are. While

I may not consider my own ethnicity or race to be personally important to me, it has definitely

affected how others have treated me over the years, and changed the experiences I have had

while growing up. Likewise, Soo has received a very different treatment from me, especially

while in the United States, because she is not a member of what is considered the mainstream

racial group in America.

How others decide to interpret us becomes wrapped up in an overall formation of an

individual identity. An aspect that may not be important to an individual may be considered

incredibly important to others, and it may be impossible to break free of forced labels. At the

same time, an individual still does get to have say in how they interpret themselves, and there are

many cultural aspects they decide for themselves if they will partake in them or not, allowing for

two people with very similar backgrounds to have incredibly different cultural views of

themselves. The complexity of a cultural identity can be staggering at times. The questions of
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who decides culture for an individual, and what parts of their cultural blends make up their

individual cultural identity are complicated, and subject to constant change based on a multitude

of factors. Culture is not in any way, shape, or form static and unchanging, and the constant

evolution of an individuals culture creates the need for a general sense of cultural

consciousness. (Kumaravadivelu 2008, p.7)

Kramsch (2011) discusses the idea of the third space, where a language learner will move

to a space or understanding that exists somewhere between their native language and native

culture into a second language and second culture. (p. 354) Kumaravadivelu (2008) takes the

idea of a third space and expands on that with his idea of critical cultural consciousness, where it

is not only important to understand and navigate the space between ones culture and the target

culture one is learning about, but to be able to understand how to navigate cultures in general, so

that a general global understanding of cultures can be formed. Cultures are complex and

multilayered, and because they cannot be narrowed down to definitions based on one country of

origin or homogenous ethnic group, it is nearly impossible to accurately claim a full

understanding of a countrys culture. The critical cultural analysis that Kumaravadivelu

recommends teachers partake in shines a light on that fact. In examining both my own culture,

and the culture of two other individuals in depth it quickly becomes clear that a mesh of ideas,

values and practices can exist in one individual, and that over time these ideas, values and

practices can change as a persons situation changes. Ending my knowledge of an individual

students culture at one moment in time will not help me as a teacher when within a few years

several altered parts of their life may create a different set of cultural needs. Being able to

examine and alter my own approaches in teaching is key to providing a cultural sensitive

environment in which my students can learn.

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Being able to understand the complexities of changing culture is also important on a

larger scale as well. As the world globalizes at an increasing rate, cultures are also beginning to

shift and change in accordance to it. Soo and Linda are both examples of women affected by

globalization, where their experiences living in other countries have influenced the way they

think of themselves, and how they approach dealing with other people. I have also had many of

my views changed over the years by heavy Internet usage, and the exposure to different media

and news from other countries, and more important by direct immediate conversations with

people all over the globe. Being able to have real time conversations with people from countries

like Australia, Japan, and the Netherlands has really afforded me an insight on aspects of culture

in other countries I would not have without the Internet. The exchange of ideas the Internet

creates also allows for an exchange of cultural beliefs that can deeply affect all members of the

conversation, and has helped add culture onto the list of traded goods. Business and politics

have been tied to a globalized world for some time now, and while products created in one

country might be shipped off to another, media also streams freely back and forth across the web,

allowing a popular cultured flavored glance into what a country has to offer. The big giants in

media branding, such as the United States, are not the only ones to be able to slide their cultures

and ideas out into the world market either, Roland Robertsons idea of glocalization really comes

to life in how easy it is to watch shows and listen to songs from countries all over the world

regardless of if one can locate the country on a map or not. (Kumaravadivelu 2008, p.44)

Popular culture is not the end of the glocalized exchange either, while it can often be a gateway

for a country to get their media goods into cross-national markets, home remedies, personal

stories of interest, and support networks can spring up across the world regardless of national

borders.
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Every day I have the opportunity to learn a little more about the world at large thanks to

the country and family I was born to. I have been fortunate enough to have unhampered access

to information in the forms of Internet access, books, and higher level educational classes I have

taken. I have been able to freely meet people from all over the world from many different walks

of life, and had the chance to learn and grow from the encounters I have had with these people.

My desire to keep an open mind and learn more about other cultures while working to change

any flaws or narrow minded thinking in myself existed long before I began conducting critical

cultural analyses, but the analyses I have done has helped to broaden and expand my views

further. In pinpointing biases in my thinking, and exposing me to a new way at looking at

individuals that I did not know before, I believe that I have taken a step forward into achieving a

critical cultural consciousness that will benefit all current and future students of mine. In the

future I hope to be able to relate and empathize with my students the way that Linda does, while

still being able to recognize their differences, and tailor my teaching to their needs better. While

I still have a long way to go as a teacher, I am confident that the skills I have gained in my

studies about culture as an entity will make my own future learning and teaching endeavors

proceed a lot smoother than they would have before.

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References

Kramsch, C. (2011). The symbolic dimensions of the intercultural. Language Teaching, 44(3),

354-367.

Kumaravadivelu, B. (2008). Cultural globalization and language education. New Haven: Yale

University Press.

Matthews, G. (2000). Global culture/individual identity: Searching for home in the cultural

supermarket. New York. Routledge, 71-72.

Waters, M. C., (2006) Optional ethnicities: For whites only? Learning Power. New York.

Teachers College press, 642-651.