Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

 

My husband is someone that experiences microaggression often. Cedric, my husband is an African American male that often gets asked if he is Polynesian.  Because of his broad shoulders and facial structure is the reasoning behind it most of the time.  But those that ask are very consistent with saying there must be somewhere in the blood line Polynesian.  My husband just brushes it off but as I look at him I can see that he gets tired of answering that question.  I feel that sometimes as human beings we are so curious that we do not think before we speak. 

I do not feel that this certain microaggression was instigating discrimination, prejudice, but for stereotyping this could be seen as the first step in that process.  I wonder if it would be stereotypical to assume all Polynesian people were tall, broad shouldered, with broad noses.  I want to think my husband gets tired of defending his race as many are in the United States.  It is important to educate others on microaggressions and remind them that having those feelings of others should make a person feel hurt or feel inferior to them.  That could be dangerous to themselves and others.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

Everyone has their own perspective on diversity and culture.  I spoke to a few of my colleagues about this subject this week just to see how they defined both.  My colleagues and I work for the military and see both diversity and culture as a challenge at times because of the melting pot we live among.  A percentage of our families are single military personnel or dual military.  I know when I tell anyone that we have single families, we have some rolling of the eyes, but being a single military personnel is very difficult and is challenging to the service member because of the long hours and dangerous aspect of their job.  Military culture is one that I have written about before in previous classes and I love to elaborate about this culture when I am able to do so.  All members of this community take care of their own.  The military base that work with is very large but still small enough for each member to know of each other.  The military culture can almost sound fictional until you experience it yourself.

Displaying respect for each other’s own culture can be a challenge with our families and with the classroom environment.   One example of this is when advertised holidays such as Halloween is brought up in the center.  Out of respect for our family’s culture, we do not promote the special effects that come with the holiday.  Witches, ghosts, and jack-o-lanterns are not appropriately defined well and are not included in the celebration that we do for the month of October.  Because we are nervous about inclusion with diversity and other cultures, we will omit celebrating them.  We need to stray from that feeling.  For anyone involved in the early childhood education field should be aware of each family member’s home life and ready to include it in the classroom environment.  When we plan activities in the classroom educating our children about diversity and culture, we assist with teaching children to live in harmony and to respect others. 

My Family Culture

A major catastrophe has almost completely devastated the infrastructure of your country. The emergency government has decided that the surviving citizens will be best served if they are evacuated to other countries willing to take refugees. You and your immediate family are among the survivors of this catastrophic event. However, you have absolutely no input into the final destination or in any other evacuation details. You are told that your host country’s culture is completely different from your own, and that you might have to stay there permanently. You are further told that, in addition to one change of clothes, you can only take 3 small items with you. You decide to take three items that you hold dear and that represent your family culture. 

This took some time, but I finally have come up with my three items that I would bring:

·         Copy of King James’ Bible; to continue to read and praise my glorious God

·         Photo album; looking at pictures of my family brings me a sense of hope and joy

·         Credentials; I worked very hard to get where I am and I take pride in my work.  Hopefully this would assist with working in this foreign land

I hold my faith in Jesus Christ to a level that I do not demonstrate to others often.  I attend church often and pray every day with my family.  Having a copy of the bible with me for some reason assures me that my faith will never guide me down a difficult path. I was brought up in a home that did not speak of or encourage the belief in a God, but I thank my husband and our friends for introducing me to word of God. 

My photo albums are just a reminder of the joy we had in our home.  Reminiscing about my family; the birthdays, vacations, sporting events, etc. are memories I never want to forget.  My credentials have nothing to do with my culture, at least I do not feel that it has any connection.  I have worked very hard to get to where I am with my education.  Putting myself on the back burner for my family has happened way too much; never realizing until I was later in age that in order for my family to have a better quality of life I need to better myself.  I have done so in the last ten years and I pray daily for all that has come to my family and I. 

If I had to pick only one of my items to keep, I would choose my bible.  That bible defines my family and I.  We stand strong with our belief in Jesus Christ.  My family culture is one that is not defined by what my family culture that I have created with my husband and children now.  I have traditions that we have adopted and some that I have not adopted.  This exercise has had me reflect on issues that I have not necessarily thought about in years.  If this was to really occur I am confident that I would still grab the items that I listed.

 

When I think of Research....

At the beginning of this research class I thought I was going to be a pro at the subject.   I was fooled.  I did not realize that there were so many elements that bring it to a full circle.   As Rolfe & Mac Naughton (2010) state in their first chapter, “Research is about uncovering and enabling the emergence of new understandings, insights, and knowledge.”  I find researching any subject to be challenging at first but once you get in depth and have an understanding of the subject, it becomes interesting and wanting to know more.  I made this statement in my first discussion and my thoughts on this research class have changed since then.   This class was extremely challenging and I feel that I would have been a better student if I had been sitting in front of my professor.  There’s always a first time for everything I guess.

My perception of an early childhood professional has been modified for the simple fact of the different responsibilities of this field.    Research is relevant to young children, their families, and all those around them that support them.    As our families entrust their children with us they also entrust that we are continuously researching new methods, technology, or new subjects in regards with improving the quality of life with their children.  

In my line of work, research is needed to improve the quality of care for our families.  Part of research is collaborating with other professionals; reading other research articles and papers are a great help with the understanding of what really belongs in research.  Is there a wrong way to research?  I do not believe so.  You have to want to know more about the subject and enjoy the research.  Having an interest in the subject is also a must.   I have a better understanding of what is expected with research.  The outline is the skeleton of the research and keeps you on a track without straying off into another subject.  As week 8 ends I wish the rest of my colleagues the best of luck and hope to use the words of wisdom they shared on the discussion board in future experiences. 

 

Mac Naughton, G., Rolfe, S.A., & Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2010). Doing early childhood research: International perspectives on theory and practice (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.