Guiding+resources

Cultural Identity Guiding Resources:

Wikipedia has an entry for ‘cultural identity,’ and please check it out as you start thinking about what ‘cultural identity’ is, but you also need to go beyond that to look at the implications (both general and personal) are for how cultural identity is defined. The point of the resources below is not to provide answers, but to raise questions, to be thought provoking.

1. Program: Muslim Women and other Misunderstandings http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/muslimwomen/ Feel free to explore this more, but the portion we are suggesting here is the section in the middle of the page entitled: “Unheard Cuts: Arab Identity and British Colonialism" (10:24, RealAudio)

This clip was not included in the final broadcast. In it you can listen to Leila Ahmed discuss the creation of Arab identity as a legacy of British colonialism, and the similarities with the perception of Muslim identity in our age.”

As you listen and after, consider how things, people, and events define us and change how we may identify ourselves?

2. Washington Post article on Obama, “He’s not Black”: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/28/AR2008112802219.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

3. “Cultural Identity,” a chapter from A Guide to Culture in the Classroom  by Muriel Saville-Troike (National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education, 1978): http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/pubs/classics/culture/identity.htm Part of a website (National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition and Language Instruction Educational Programs) hosted by George Washington University

4. iTunes U video clips (all are FREE): http://deimos3.apple.com/indigo/main/main.html?v0=WWW-AMUS-ITUNESU070521-N48LX

a. Title: “12 Gender Identity” (3:46 minutes) Artist: Dr. David Schultz Genre: UMBC PSYC 200… Focus: child development and gender roles

b. Title: “Introducing the Roman World” (7:06 minutes) Artist: Open University Album: Culture, Identity, and power in the Roman Empire (the above title is one of 6 available tracks) Focus: The diversity of groups within the Roman Empire and how the identity of those groups and the identity as a Roman citizen meshed, how the differences of time (and the issues of identity related to generations) also changes how scholars approach what is known.

c. Title: “Asians in "Yellow Face" - David Henry Hwang” (5:19 minutes) Artist: Asia Society Focus: On a play and asking what does it mean to be Asian or to be White in today’s world.

5. Youtube…if you search with the term “cultural identity” you will get a ton of hits!

6. "Race: The Power of an Illusion" DVD in Cooke Library; the DVD may be checked out, so you can also learn more about this by checking out the website created to support the DVD: http://www.pbs.org/race/000_General/000_00-Home.htm

7. “Race: Are we so different” (a project put together by the American Anthropological Society): http://www.understandingrace.org/home.html

8. Marotti, Arthur. "Reading with a Difference." Focus: Talks about gender and race, and how if one changes, it totally alters how people look at you and "label" you