Premium Essay

Personal Narrative: Moving To My Personal Identity

Submitted By
Words 763
Pages 4
As we grow up we take what we have learned from our families into our own lives as well as adapt to our own personal identity which is where we will use our morals and our values that we were taught growing up. Sometimes we may not have been brought up in the healthiest of environments but have the willingness to change. Growing up I really never had the chance to be around a diverse culture. In my small community we had an African American family move in when I was in middle school but that was not diverse enough to have the understanding of what it meant by white power or even their culture. When I moved to the bigger city to attend college it was then that I learned about diverse populations. At first I was very scared and had no trust for …show more content…
My parents always had this way of pushing me to do what I believed in, even now that I am 43 years old I am told to never give up and set out to reach your goals. As a child, my parents would empower me to go to church, do good in the community and make the best out of my life. Church was a huge factor in growing up in our household. It was every Sunday from 9-10:15 a.m. and then Sunday school following. As I grew within the church I was then confirmed and even taught Sunday school. The church not only taught me to be understanding of other cultures and religions but also to those who are oppressed in our society. It was all about giving; we should always be willing to help others in their time of …show more content…
Zastrow and Kirst-Ashman (2016) define ethnocentrism based on the belief that one’s own group is superior” (p. 255). Any minority groups that would have moved to our community would have had a hard time fitting in especially if they were not of the Christian faith. According to Newport (2011), “During the Christmas season, 78% of American adults identify with some form of Christian religion. Less than 2% are Jewish, less than 1% are Muslim, and 15% do not have a religious identity; that means that 95% of all Americans who have a religious identity are Christians” (para. 1). Today in our society people have to be more open minded in regards to other cultures and diverse populations as we are surrounded by them no matter where you go. By learning more about other cultures I believe it would cut down on some of the stigmatisms that many people face on a daily basis. Cultural competency is something that a social worker must take very seriously and do everything they can to learn about as many cultures as possible to effectively work with their clients. As a social worker we are bound to follow the Code of Ethics. These Code of Ethics has six core values that we are expected to

Similar Documents

Free Essay

The Makings of an Outsider

...the outsider identity may be thrust upon the individual, the individual himself/herself may hinder his/her assimilation and therefore be the cause of his/her own isolation. In both Margaret Atwood’s poem collection Journals of Susanna Moodie and Maria Campbell’s narrative poem, “Jacob,” protagonists Susanna Moodie and Jacob struggle as outsiders in their respective Canadian environments. Both protagonists are outsiders as Moodie is an outsider to the wildlife environment of the Bush and Jacob is an outsider to his Indigenous community; however, Moodie’s outsider status is a result of her personal fear of the unfamiliar, while external societal forces create Jacob’s outsider identity. Both outsider identities, while differing in causation, illustrate the negative impact Western ideology has on the new settler and Indigenous populations as the former’s preconditioned Western beliefs turn Canada’s natural environment into an adversary and the latter is pressed to abandon its unique cultural traditions. Through strategic word choice, both Susanna Moodie and Jacob are established as outsiders in their respective natural and social environments; however Moodie’s personal barriers cause her outsider identity, while Jacob’s outsider status is forced upon him by societal factors, providing a commentary on the destructive impact of Western ideologies. Atwood manipulates words to situate Moodie as an outsider to nature as she writes, “The moving water will not show me/ my reflection./...

Words: 2126 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Tim O Brien Trauma

...an insight into the physical and emotional burden experienced by the soldiers in the war, however in the concluding chapter “The Lives of the Dead,” it takes a different direction. Instead of focusing on the realities of combat, this chapter focuses on the childhood memory of the narrator and author O’Brien, showing us his first love, Linda, and how she had a tragic death. This departure from the war narrative is not a distraction but a deliberate choice that serves to connect the pain of losing his first love, Linda, with a broader theme of trauma. Through this chapter, the narrator proves that trauma is a persistent force, deeply embedded in memory and integral to human experience. In "The Lives of the Dead” O’Brien reflects on the impact that Linda had on his life. This personal loss marked his first encounter with death, a theme that resonates throughout the whole...

Words: 715 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Heritage Language

...Whenever a discussion on identity is introduced, the most-cited poem in Korea is “The Flower” by Chunsu Kim. He sings of being himself as becoming a colorful and fragrant flower. To be the flower that will rightly represent his identity, he needs someone to call his name. In this poem, identity is not seen as something that is solid and concrete but as something that is situated and constructed by others, a glimpse of poststructuralist view on identity. Recently, language learning has been seen as participation and negotiation of self (see Higgins, forthcoming; Kinginger, 2004; Lam, 2000; Morita, 2004; Ohara, 2001; Pavlenko & Lantolf, 2000; and Solé, 2007 among others). The trend is resonated in the growing interest in language learner identity and the studies in narratives. In this paper, a case of heritage language learner will be investigated upon the theoretical frame of poststructuralism. Narrative inquiry will be used to analyze how she negotiates her learner identity. The purpose of this paper is two-fold: First, by looking at the struggle a language learner makes to acquire her heritage language, I reclaim the centrality of identity in defining heritage language learners. Second, to widen the horizons of narrative studies to the cyber space as it provides an ample source of easily accessible data and it has become one of the commonplace media of daily communication. Heritage Language Learners and Identity To refer to the Heritage Language Learners (HLLs), various...

Words: 4079 - Pages: 17

Premium Essay

Studies in Professional Life and Work

...STUDIES IN PROFESSIONAL LIFE AND WORK Mike Hayler University of Brighton, UK Autoethnography, Self-Narrative and Teacher Education examines the professional life and work of teacher educators. In adopting an autoethnographic and life-history approach, Mike Hayler develops a theoretically informed discussion of how the professional identity of teacher educators is both formed and represented by narratives of experience. The book draws upon analytic autoethnography and life-history methods to explore the ways in which teacher educators construct and develop their conceptions and practice by engaging with memory through narrative, in order to negotiate some of the ambivalences and uncertainties of their work. The author’s own story of learning, embedded within the text, was shared with other teacher-educators, who following interviews wrote self-narratives around themes which emerged from discussion. The focus for analysis develops from how professional identity and pedagogy are influenced by changing perceptions and self-narratives of life and work experiences, and how this may influence professional culture, content and practice in this area. Autoethnography, Self-Narrative and Teacher Education Autoethnography, Self-Narrative and Teacher Education STUDIES IN PROFESSIONAL LIFE AND WORK The book includes an evaluation of how using this approach has allowed the author to investigate both the subject and method of the research with implications for ...

Words: 18203 - Pages: 73

Premium Essay

Roth And Kepesh

...In My Life as a Man and The Professor of Desire, Roth offers a smaller amount of commentary on love. In both novels, the solution of a character’s problem comes from the character’s ability to love another independently. Claire Ovington, from The Professor of Desire, is a woman whom David Kepesh can ultimately love without feeling guilty. Kepesh declares that “Claire is enough”, and he will not try to change her as he attempted to change Helen. This represents the power of true love, because Kepesh has gotten over his desire for a woman “who denies him the emotional attention that his ego-ideal demands” and has learned to love Claire for who she is. Similarly in My Life as a Man, Roth reflects the same ideal in Tarnopol’s final words to Susan when he says “You being you! And me! This me who is me...

Words: 993 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Shards of Memories, Fragments of Sorrows: Mothertongue Transforming Spaces Occupied by Women in South Africa Through Theatre

...Africa through Theatre This paper sets out to explore how processes of theatre making employed by The Mothertongue project, provide spaces for women to remap their personal narratives. Mothertongue works from the premise that the development and subsequent performance of stories in theatrical processes affords women the opportunity to re-write and remap their personal narratives and in so doing insert their voices into the landscape of South African Theatre. In an attempt to redress the gender imbalances and androcentricism prevalent in post-apartheid theatre, this paper speaks to the relationship between theatre, liminality and communitas. I am interested in unpacking how collaborative processes of theatre-making provide spaces for women to remap their personal narratives. Remapping in this instance refers to processes of transforming lived experience through story. I address how, through engaging in ritual activities that are central to the stories performed, actors, audiences and the owners of the source stories are invited to physically participate in remapping and transforming lived experience. Linked to this is the choice of form(s) and how this affects or impacts on the performed stories as well as on the construction of performed rituals and ultimately on the processes of remapping personal narratives. I focus specifically on Mothertongue’s 2004 production, Uhambo: pieces of a dream. The production was an integration of theatre and visual art in the form of performances...

Words: 7672 - Pages: 31

Premium Essay

Wife by Bharathi Mukherjee

...University of Tennessee, Knoxville Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Masters Theses Graduate School 5-2010 Bharati Mukherjee and the American Immigrant: Reimaging the Nation in a Global Context Leah Rang University of Tennessee - Knoxville, lrang@utk.edu Recommended Citation Rang, Leah, "Bharati Mukherjee and the American Immigrant: Reimaging the Nation in a Global Context. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2010. http://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/655 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact trace@utk.edu. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Leah Rang entitled "Bharati Mukherjee and the American Immigrant: Reimaging the Nation in a Global Context." I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, with a major in English. Urmila Seshagiri, Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Lisi Schoenbach, Bill Hardwig Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official student records.) To the Graduate Council:...

Words: 30269 - Pages: 122

Premium Essay

Readers Response to the Change in Ontological Levels in Metafiction

...do readers respond to the metafictional work? Can this response change when a different media is being used? These questions must be evaluated first in order for the metafictional to be comprehended in the second reaction. After the reader has had time to pose certain questions it will help them understand the work of leiterature. Using reader’s reactions to Beckett’s “A Text for Nothing, Number 4,” “The Magic Poker” by Robert Coover and Virginia Woolf’s Orlando , we can evaluate the responses to these works and acceptance of the evident fictional world. In the first round of reading Samuel Beckett’s “A Text for Nothing, Number 4,” the reader might start off with more questions than answers. In the beginning the narrator asks himself personal questions of preference that we often find ourselves asking. “Where would I go, if I could go, who would I be, If I could be..” are questions the reader relates to having asked themselves the same thing at some point in life. These questions give a base for the reader to feel that they will connect and...

Words: 3057 - Pages: 13

Premium Essay

On Being Authenticity Analysis

...The narrative concept has several consequences. For example, the first one can be described that even though other can influence us, “it is up to us to make something of ourselves in what we do” (127). The second and third theories deal with materialistic things and our social clock. Additionally, there is a question about owning our lives, “In fact, the entire idea of owning my life beings to look suspect” (142). It questions how it is even possible to know that our lives are our own. If we can explore and look through all different life stories. No story is truly ours because others can reach it too. Lastly, it talks about how our selves can lacks the forces to determine what we are. This idea means that what we know as self-making is considered a hoax and cannot truly be down. “The whole business of authenticity begins to look like a set-up for disappointment”...

Words: 623 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Avante Garde Film

...very strong foundations. The very nature of Avant-Garde film requires it to be at the forefront of experimentation. As new techniques are explored and boundaries are broken down, what may have been at the forefront of experimentation in the Fifties for example, may be one of the most used techniques in Hollywood by the Seventies or now. This gives the impression that to remain innovative, Avant-Garde directors must change style to fit what is required of them during their particular time period. The mention of Hollywood hints at the relationship it has with the Avant-Garde. Murray Smith describes Avant-Garde as a ‘personal mode’, and goes on to say the films are made by, ‘filmmakers alone or in combination with private patronage and grants from arts institutions.’[2] It seems easy to glean that Avant-Garde cinema works outside the Hollywood community. This ‘personal mode’ gives filmmakers a chance to make films for reasons beyond money. To test limits, reaction and technique is more important. Perhaps these films are made not for an audience, but for the pleasure of the filmmakers themselves. Smith does not mention funding...

Words: 3950 - Pages: 16

Premium Essay

Narrative for Lifespan Development

...Narrative of Adolescence Years Abstract This paper is a narrative of my adolescent years from twelve to eighteen. I label these years of awkwardness and pain off a hit show from the early nineties called, “The Growing Pains.” Similar to the characters in the show I struggled creating a personal identity and had difficulty blending in with societal norms. As a result I suffered from much insecurity, false conceptions of beauty, and depression. Up until writing this paper I felt these ideologies and feelings were better left in the past. However, I now understand these experiences shape my current beliefs and will affect my identity as a counselor. Therefore I must address these experiences and deal with them emotionally. As I relive these moments I will correlate my development with the research of the following theorist: Piaget, Erikson, and Seltzer. By showing correlation of my development with their theories I will prove many of experiences as an adolescence were typical of an American teenager. Looking into the mirror I was frustrated. Why isn’t my hair pretty? Other girls wear their hair straight. Why did mine always have to be braided? Why couldn’t I have a relaxer to smooth out my curls? I shook my head in frustration and began to look for the hot comb. On my first day of middle school I was going to look pretty like everyone else. I was going to have my hair straight and laid to the side. My mother usually kept the hot comb under the kitchen sink...

Words: 1877 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Term Paper

...Upon completing the course of biblical foundations, it has widened my understandings of biblical knowledge and has given me incite on what God expects of us, what he has planned for us and how we need to act on his word to acheave our salvation. By taking this course, I have been able to open my mind to exploring new concepts and theories from creationism to the theories of evolution and intelligent design concepts , I have been able to gain comprehension of biblical passages through critical thinking and analyzition of passages with deep meaningful messages. I have also been able to take my first step into starting my path to soul searching as well as becoming closer with our lord and savior. By reviewing the meta-narrative of the bible I have been able to more closely and attentively delve into the would of Christianity. This has propelled my thought process as to better analyze each passage and thus creating a better understanding what what was being proclaimed in the biblical scriptures. Before starting this class I would read the scriptures and have a vague understanding of the message hidden in the words. After reviewing all of the video lectures and hearing what the professor has had to say about the meanings of each passage, I have been able to redirect my though process to that of biblical understanding. Recalling week one of our biblical passage analysis, after reading the given passage I received and comprehended very little information on the passage. I began to...

Words: 1821 - Pages: 8

Free Essay

Art and Story Proceedings 2004

...Carrier SECTION TWO: Film and Video Narrative Brief Narrative on Film-The Case of John Updike……………………………………. Thomas P. Adler With a Pen of Light …………………………………………………………………… Michael Fink Media and the Message: Does Media Shape or Serve the Story: Visual Storytelling and New Media ……………………………………………………. June Bisantz Evans Visual Literacy: The Language of Cultural Signifiers…………………………………. Tammy Knipp SECTION THREE: Narrative and Fine Art Beyond Illustration: Visual Narrative Strategies in Picasso’s Celestina Prints………… Susan J. Baker and William Novak Narrative, Allegory, and Commentary in Emil Nolde’s Legend: St. Mary of Egypt…… William B. Sieger A Narrative of Belonging: The Art of Beauford Delaney and Glenn Ligon…………… Catherine St. John Art and Narrative Under the Third Reich ……………………………………………… Ashley Labrie 28 15 1 22 25 27 36 43 51 Hopper Stories in an Imaginary Museum……………………………………………. Joseph Stanton SECTION FOUR: Photography and Narrative Black & White: Two Worlds/Two Distinct Stories……………………………………….. Elaine A. King Relinquishing His Own Story: Abandonment and Appropriation in the Edward Weston Narrative………………………………………………………………………….. David Peeler Narrative Stretegies in the Worlds of Jean Le Gac and Sophe Calle…………………….. Stefanie Rentsch SECTION FIVE: Memory Does The History of Western Art Tell a Grand Story?…………………………………… Eugene E. Selk Storylines………………………………………………………………………………… Bozenna Wisniewsak SECTION SIX: Art and Identity Two Late Crisis Paintings by Van...

Words: 117240 - Pages: 469

Premium Essay

Into the World

...this view with reference to your prescribed text and at least ONE other related text of your choosing. The concept of ‘Into the World’ invariably involves the transitions of individuals into new phases of life, worlds and experiences in order to attain growth, maturation and emotional development. During this transition individuals may encounter obstacles, but also gain personal rewards resulting in growth and maturity. The prescribed text, novel ‘The Story of Tom Brennan’ written by JC Burke and two related texts, film ‘The Black Balloon’ produced by Tristram Miall and ‘The Road Not Taken’ written by Robert Frost, clearly display these misadventures and the rewards achieved once overcoming them. In difficult times individuals have must leave behind their old life and the safety it once provided in order to fully accept and enjoy their new life. In the novel ‘The Story of Tom Brennan’, Tom’s family is forced to leave the comfort of their hometown Mumbilli and move to Coghill due the selfish actions of his brother Daniel. Symbolism throughout this novel highlights the suffering of Tom and his family. “My father closed the door…for the last time”, this symbolic act and the secrecy in the way the Brennan family leave Mumbilli reveals the families remorse about the situation, they are not only closing the door of their old home, but the respectable life they once had, ruined by Daniel. “The silhouettes of houses slipped past before I could catch them and remember the people we...

Words: 1059 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Analysis of Where the Gods Fly

...Stella Vallik Christianshavns Gymnasium November 2012 Analytical Essay Jean Kwok: Where The Gods Fly Imagine permanently moving to a country where the language, the culture... everything is foreign to you. This is the reality of most immigrant parents, who try to raise their children safely in a foreign country, where strong influences can strip a person of their cultural identity. This is the exact situation we are dragged into, in the short story 'Where The Gods Fly' written by Jean Kwok. Here we meet a Chinese mother's unwelcoming approach, towards her daughter's passion for the arts of ballet. The story is told by a first person narrator, from a mothers perspective. Her, her husband and her daughter migrated from China when her daughter, Pearl, was still a child. We notice - while reading the story - that the narrator shifts in the grammatical tense, which is what structures the plot of the story. In the present narrative tense, we find the mother in some sort of religious state of mind where she prays to certain gods and spirits, for example: “Ah, Amitabha, Buddha of great compassion, I whisper...” (P. 1, L. 24). While she finds herself in this state, she is reminded of their, her family's, life since they moved from China to America, these parts of the story are, obviously, told in the past tense. The story begins in the present tense, as a sort of exposition. We are introduced to the narrator's situation, the main conflict of the story: she wants to take her daughter...

Words: 1294 - Pages: 6