Microaggression Awareness

A new term began at my current workplace and I had a few new students joining my class. When talking to a parent, I was eventually asked where I was from. I answered "Sweden," not going into much depth about my background as I feel that those types of questions are appropriately answered with a simple reply. The parent's response to my answer was "Oh, your English is very good!" as an expression of shock. The microinvalidation conveyed towards me was an unintentional insult to my culture and an insinuation that Swedish people tend not to speak with a "clean" accent (Potts, 2014). The comment, I assume, was in relation to my accent and not my use of vocabulary, proper grammar, or knowledge of the English language. I have received similar shocked expressions previously and have come to accept the comment, smile politely, and answer with a simple response explaining that I was raised bilingual in a predominantly English speaking household. Such microaggressions I find do not necessarily stem from racial prejudice but more from a lack of knowledge and an inclination towards stereotypes.

Learning about microaggressions has developed my knowledge about discrimination, prejudice, and stereotypes with regards to their origin and individual biased outlooks. As it is often the subtle insinuations (that sometimes go unnoticed by the person making the remark) that cause the most harm, it is important to limit personal bias and automatic assumptions based on stereotypes by gaining more knowledge about other's cultures and surrounding ourselves among individuals of different backgrounds. In order to reduce microaggression in the classroom, all students should receive high expectations from their educators regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, disabilities, or background (Potts, 2014). Also, it is important that when discussing identities and issues related to specific groups one should not focus solely on a child that one thinks represents that group because it makes an assumption about the children's identities and can put that child on the spot. 

Resources:
Potts, Z. (2014). Microaggressions. Fordham University: Center for Teaching Excellence. Retrieved from http://www.fordham.edu/academics/office_of_research/research_centers__in/center_for_teaching_/the_art_of_teaching/microaggressions_89343.asp

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

My maternal grandmother was born in China and migrated to Singapore with her grandmother and brother (her mother was already living and working in Singapore) when she was 12; in 1944. She was raised baptist, as her mother was, and practiced until the day her mother died, in 1962. As I spoke to her (with the help of my mother as a translator), she described culture as a combination of tradition, folklore, language, festivals, and literature. She also defined diversity as a place of origin, differences in culture, and religion. 

My grandmother's definition of culture included both surface and deep culture where festivals are what can be seen and is easily represented whilst traditions, folklore, and language are elements that relate to the  intangible essence of culture that can vary for each individual (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010). Although our background of each element that she described differ from one another, the idea of culture still has the same foundation. In describing diversity, the elements described do represent diversity but are not limited to these for an individual. I do not believe that my grandmother would, for example, include sexual orientation in her description of diversity but it does contribute to a part of diversity in our society, especially now when it is a topic that is more widely recognized. Inquiring about other's definitions of diversity and culture, it is often that the aspect of religion is brought up. I had not realized the extent to which many classify religion as a large part of their own diversity. With this in mind, I now value the importance of religion not only to each individual but to society as a whole because religion often provides foundation for many customs and traditions that we practice in modern society even if we, like myself, may not be religious per say. 

References

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Learning about culture, language, & fairness. Anti-bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves. (p.56). Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children. 

Family Culture (Exercise)

If, after a major catastrophe left me and my immediate family needing to take refuge in a country with vastly different culture, I would choose to bring with me a recipe book filled with local Singaporean cuisine, photo album that has a record of my time spent in Singapore, and a cheongsam.

Singaporeans take their food very seriously and will seek out the best for one particular dish. Food is an important part of Singaporean culture and connects people from different backgrounds living in Singapore. I would be able to recreate dishes, such as Laksa, Chicken Rice, and Popiah that would give a sensory understanding of a combination of flavours that stem from Chinese, Malay, and Indian influences, to name a few. The photo album would depict different building structures, the nature, and varying people of Singapore that would be able to capture moments of importance, such as Chinese New Year or Vesak Day that are major festival celebrations in Singapore. The traditional Chinese outfit, cheongsam, is something that I wear every Chinese New Year when visiting my Chinese relatives living in Singapore. Bringing this, I would be able to describe the customs that come with it and the celebratory days.

Being able to only bring one item upon arrival in the new country, I would choose to keep the recipe book because the Singaporean cuisine is something that I greatly appreciate, is a large part of friend and family gatherings, and can be recreated for other people. I have discovered that I consider Singapore a very large part of my identity and that my Swedish culture is ingrained in me through traditions and experiences that do not require items in order to symbolize my Swedish culture. 

Research Competencies Summarized

Learning about different methods of research and problems that can occur during the research design and process has allowed me to better understand the necessary qualities that are required in a researcher to produce effective studies. Initially, I thought the idea of research was straight forward and, with an appropriate study topic, it would be relatively easy to implement. However, I have realized that it is an intricate method that requires excessive amounts of organizing, planning, and consideration. I learnt that bias and creating validity are difficult and highly important components to planning, designing, and conducting research in early childhood in order to produce accurate results that would benefit early childhood professionals as well as children. When formulating my own research simulation, my greatest struggle was discovering the various variables that I would need to control and ones that could potentially arise. As a result of undergoing the course on building research competencies, I have come to understand that there are many areas of early childhood that still has not been discovered or fully researched and that early childhood professionals, not only have the duty to educate and mold young children but also to help provide more information about their development and other necessary details about children that we, as a community, need to discover.