Summary: We studied and discussed the layers between identity and culture, as well as the multiple dimensions of diversity and culture, and your own identity. You also learned more about your classmates and me. We reflected on the dimensions of our identity and culture.

Features of Culture Statements: 

• No one is exactly like me.
• I have many things in common with the members of my family and community.
• Every person in the world needs some of the same things I need.

Features of Culture Questions:

• Celebrations: What kinds of celebrations are important in your family? In your country?
• Greetings: How do you generally greet people you don’t know?
• Beliefs about hospitality: How do you show hospitality in your community? In your school? In your home?
• The role of family: Is there a particular age at which you celebrate an important event in your life with your family or community?
• Attitudes about personal space and privacy: How important do you feel it is to have your own space and privacy?

Framework and Standards: 
Everyone has a culture(s). It shapes how we see ourselves, others, and the world. 

Essential questions: 

• How does culture shape the way we see ourselves, others, and the world?
• How does my culture shape me?
• Why is it important to understand culture?

Lesson adapted from Peace Corps: Features of Culture

Class 02 Homework on Your Identity and Culture: Please take 3-4 pages of notes on two readings or viewings from the offerings below in keywords and use summarizations as much as possible. Whenever you can, especially using “direct quotations,” note the page and paragraph number to help you know where you got the information. These actions will also help you avoid plagiarism.

Please edit the information in each reading or viewing according to the example below as accurately as possible. I can help edit. Here is the list of all the readings and viewings for Cycle 1. Feel free to find your own identity as well, but please let me know the source by sharing the URL so that I can share it with the class.

This homework is due before the third period at the end of lunch on Friday, before Class 03, by taking notes and inserting the photos you take of them in your Google Doc.

Sample of Note-Taking Related to Identity 1

Sample of Note-Taking Related to Identity 2

Homework References for IBIL Cycle 1: Identity

Me (Self)

Adkins, A. (2015, August 12). Who am I? A philosophical inquiry [Video]. TED Ed.

Ferrera, A. (2021, July 10). Your identity is your superpower [Video]. TED.

Health Assured Team. (2022, May 20). Building a healthy self-identity. Wisdom Wellbeing. https://www.healthassured.org/blog/building-a-healthy-self-identity

Palandurkar, J. (2020, October 6). Importance of self-identity and its benefits. Medium. https://medium.com/@jpalandurkar2001/importance-of-self-identity-and-its-benefits-1633763926c3

Psychology Today Staff. (2025). Identity. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/identity

Reilly, E. (2024, December 5). Performing Identity: Exploring self-expression in Japan. Medium. https://medium.com/texas-immersive/performing-identity-exploring-self-expression-in-japan-b93edf92f525

Wallace, K. (2021, May 18). You are a network: You cannot be reduced to a body, a mind, or a particular social role. An emerging theory of selfhood gets this complexity. AEON. https://aeon.co/essays/the-self-is-not-singular-but-a-fluid-network-of-identities

Both

Ahluwalia, J. (2020, August 14). Both not half: How language shapes identity [Video]. TEDxChandigarh.

Japan Documented. (2024, December 26). A Japanese-American’s perspective on culture gaps, identity and beauty standards [Video]. Japan Documented.

Matsumoto, T. (2021, November 25). New film “whole looks at daily struggles of mixed-race Japanese. Nippon.com. https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-topics/c030148/

Thompson-Hernadez, W. (2019, February 20). Chicano subculture in Japan [Video]. Youtube. The New York Times. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8bMLcCxxAA&t=6s

All

Lyon. M. (2016, May 16). Is your identity given or created [Video]? TedXExeterU.

Nimenya, S. (2016, December 24). We are not all that different: Race and culture identity [Video]. TEDxSnolsleLibraries. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QuAok_Xiyg

Sechrest-Ehrhardt, L. (2023, August, 25). Social identity and social interaction [Video]. TedxGeorgeMasonU. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29C3ts4YxAA

Wallace, K. (2021, May 18). You are a network: You cannot be reduced to a body, a mind, or a particular social role. An emerging theory of selfhood gets this complexity. AEON. https://aeon.co/essays/the-self-is-not-singular-but-a-fluid-network-of-identities

Note: These are the readings and viewings to use for your homework for this course. You can use others related to identity, but please email me the URL and include it in this document, so I can format it and share it with other students, as they might want to read it.