mulat-mata (eye-open[er])

Practicing Awareness of Microaggresions

This is just the first time that I have heard the term microaggressions and I am very much interested.  Watching the video made me realize that I am sure that I have used microaggressions in different situations before and I felt very uneasy.  According to Dr. Sue (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011), usually microaggressions happen with good intentions in mind.  I was then reminded by an very recent incident.  


I am currently 5 months pregnant and have never felt better.  I get to exercise 3-4 times a week and find myself very active.  A group of members from our church contacted me to again volunteer as a preschool teacher for a missions bible camp this month like I have done in the past years.  Wanting to serve, I immediately agreed.  But when one of my would be co-teachers (male), found out, he immediately said he thinks it would not be wise for me to teach since I am pregnant.  I then told him that I was feeling great and believe that I will be able to do all tasks assigned to me 'despite' being pregnant and even added that in my previous pregnancy I even taught preschool and hosted large group functions until my 9th month.  He immediately told me that I cannot be sure for all pregnancies are different (which I knew was correct but I thought I knew myself better and know my limitations too). 


Then when we all met together to discuss tasks to be assigned, I volunteered for some that I knew I could perform.   But every time I volunteered for a task, I was immediately shot down by him... he kept saying (in Filipino), "not you, because you're pregnant".  At the end of the meeting, I felt like I had no task to do even though I kept saying I could handle it.  I felt so useless and unheard.  I know deep in my heart that he had the greatest of intentions; that he was just looking out for my safety and did not want me to get tired.  But I felt at that moment that it was a 'disadvantage' to be a pregnant woman which I am sure should not be in this circumstance.  It made me feel uncertain of my own skills and awareness.  I really want to serve and perform the tasks I volunteered for but felt powerless to do them.  


Others may say that my example may not be as powerful as racial discrimination and such, but this is my experiential reality now.  This is my able-ism experience.  Because of being the target of microaggression, I got to see how it is t be on the other side... it made me promise myself that I have to pay extra attention and care to the things I say.   I need to think first of what I say and how I say it for it can truly be oppressing for the recipient even if I have the best of intentions in heart.  

posted by Elizabeth King Santos @ 5:47 PM 2 Comments

PERSPECTIVES ON DIVERSITY AND CULTURE

I asked a couple of my friends and relatives to share with me their definition of culture and diversity.  However, I was only able to receive three responses (by the due date).

1. The first person I asked is a cousin of mine who is in her early 40's, an American Citizen and lives in the USA.  Her definition of culture is "is the artifact, rituals and language that reflect a group. It can reflect an ethnicity, like the food and art of a specific group, the language, and holidays, the dances or it can reflect a social trend, like post-modern fiction, which is international.".  Diversity for her is "that a variety is represented. In the US, we usually use it to mean ethnic, gender or religious diversity because we have such a wide variety of ancestry. It might mean that an organization seeks to reflect a wide variety of people: they seek to hire gay and straight, black, white and Asian, Jewish and Christian and Atheist. OF course, it can mean anything, not just groups of people, a diversity of opinion, of cloth from all over the world, of types of olives."

 2. The second person that replied is a friend, she is a Filipina Surgeon in her late 40's.  The definition of culture that she gave was that it "means a pervading spirit of a certain people group that has been passed on from generation to generation. It manifests itself in varied art forms such as music, dance, the visual arts and even in literature."  She defined diversity as " a branching out of a differing personality, character, flavor or style". 

3. The third person that provided a reply is a former colleague in the early childhood department I worked at before and is now a consultant for an international Non-Government Agency.  She is in charge of  child survival programs in Asian countries.  She is in her early 30's.  She said that for her culture is "what defines a nation, an organization, any group of people e.g youth, ethnic, interest groups, etc. The culture is their set of behaviors, traditions, beliefs and way of doing things." Diversity on the other hand is " is a variety or the differences that exists among cultures, people, creations, thoughts, ideas, etc. This is a by-product of the uniqueness the Lord has in each of His creation. Diversity adds color and life to what would seem dull and plain if all is just similar Because of diversity, it is a given that there is always the presence of challenges, which can be turned into opportunities, which make human of diversed groups/cultures develop."


 I noticed that most definitions provided referred more to what is called 'surface culture' (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010). Examples of these are artifacts, music, literature, holidays, and dances. Which is to be expected as like what Gonzalez-Mena said, we often just see the tip- the iceberg (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). One of the respondents however, was able to include beliefs, behaviors and ways things are done in her definition. This then refers to what we call deeper culture (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010). Gonzalez-Mena also said that culture is something we learn from people around us and one of my respondents indicated that culture is passed on. Meanwhile, all three respondents defined diversity similarly as branching out or a variety of differences. My cousin, however, knowing that we live in different countries, gave me what she thought diversity means in her country. Another respondent, being a Christian, added how she thinks diversity is related to her object of faith, God.  


Based on the answers I got, I was able to see that indeed different people have different thoughts, ipinions and definitions. These differences are of course influenced by their identities, their culture, their geographic location and personal belief systems. This jst makes me see how important it is to find out and learn from other people. As one of my respondents stated, differences can be turned into opportunities.

posted by Elizabeth King Santos @ 7:33 AM 6 Comments

MY FAMILY CULTURE

If my family and I were evacuated to another country and could only bring 3 small items that will represent my family culture, I would probably bring the following:


1. My photo album - this is an album I did when I was still single which compiled pictures of myself with my family throughout my life.  This will be able to show my family, occasions and traditions we value and celebrate together.  It will even show how we dress, our clannish tendency, our affectionate ways and the hugeness of my family.  Filipinos are typically very clannish and I also love my family beyond words.   


2. My ipod - I will bring my ipod because it contains my collection of Filipino and American songs that I use to teach preschool children and sing for and with my own child.  This item will not only be able to let people hear our language, it will also help my son remember his native language.  I can also use it to teach and expose my would-be preschool students to a different language/culture.  


3. My bible journal - This item will represent one of my social identities, of being a Christian.  It also has my notes about things that happen in my life daily.  This item will also be able to show how I make decisions, my perspectives and my values.  


If upon arrival I was asked to give up two items, I would really be very emotional.  It would add to the fact that I was leaving my country behind; I would also be leaving a part of myself.  It would be very difficult to choose among the three items I identified.  


For this exercise, I found choosing just 3 items to represent my family culture very difficult.  This is because 3 items will never be enough to represent our culture which is basically everything my family and I do.  There are far too many dimensions in culture.  I then realized that immigrant families go through something very similar to this exercise.  Yes, they could bring more than 3 items, but the difficulty in choosing which ones to bring and the fear of losing and leaving behind a part of themselves is too real.  I applaud the courage and the strength of immigrant families.     

posted by Elizabeth King Santos @ 6:51 AM 3 Comments