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Okay, now that we have all that information
about social location and identity,
I think we should try a little, um, activity
which involves mapping individual social location and identity,
and I’m going to begin by showing you my map.
Um, if you look at it closely you can see that there are two aspects.
You know at the centre there's me, and under me you will see
my self-identity, locations and positions.
Um, a- and the me on the right you would see things like
my social identity locations.
Um, so it's very clear you know, family is important to me.
Religion, and under religion I have beliefs, practices, values.
You can see that I’m very interested in all kinds of learning,
but I have a particular passion for things like church history,
world history, world religion, music and art.
And, uh, under my social identity categories,
you can see how others have sort of constructed me,
and how those aspects have become part of me.
Uh, you can also see there's some agency
because education is also involved there,
and in many ways you can choose that as well.
Um, education, class, race, gender,
*** orientation, notice that there is a difference
between gender and *** orientation.
And, um, you can see as well that's somehow related
to the passions that I have personally –
church history, world history, world religion, music and art.
I also share in the community and in society,
a passion for social justice activism.
So, my map and the slides
record my personal and social identity locations.
Um, even though I have included everything in the map,
not all of them carry the same significance to me.
For example, a family is more important to me certainly,
um, in... the social class even, you know.
Um, self-identity markers are weighted in my map,
a little more heavily than the social-identity ma- markers
because they are the things that I find valuable.
They are things of lasting value and importance to me.
However, um, there are some identity markers
that are fixed and unchangeable.
There is at least one of them that cannot be changed.
Um, I am just wondering if you would be able to find that one
that cannot be changed?
Uh, if you look at the map again, it may help you to find the one
that cannot be changed,
um, and come to some conclusion, and maybe we can talk about
why it cannot be changed, okay?
But there is at least one there that cannot be changed.
So, a little activity –
I want you to try to create your own map of identity markers.
I want you in a very similar fashion to what I have done,
is to consider all the aspects that inform who you are.
You know, things like race, family, gender, religion,
ethnicity, education, social class.
All the beliefs, values, passions,
you know, what are some things that are really important to you?
Uh, as an activity,
and for the purpose of sharing with the class,
you are to make your map an image
that you can upload into the Adobe Connect share pod,
and in the tutorial session,
you will be discussing the map with the class.
Finally, I think we should look at some Synthesis Questions
because now we are coming to the end
of our discussion around identity and social location.
And I found this wonderful website from the New York Times,
and I am using some of their questions,
that I have actively a- adapted to suit our own purposes,
but I found they're very useful.
It says, it asks, which aspects of your identity,
roles, experiences or relationships are most essential to your sense of self?
So you can see why is it that I included that in my own map.
What elements you think may increase and decrease
in importance for you over time?
So for example, some people might think class is a category
that will certainly become much more significant for them over time.
Um, how might your social location map change?
Um, social class could change tremendously for some people,
unfortunately things like family issues, uh, change,
but it could also be very positive – things like education.
All right?
Uh, do any of these items c- conflict with others?
Um, it doesn't do that necessarily for me,
except that I exist at the intersections of many of those categories.
Let me explain – uh, race and class is very connected in the literature,
alright, around identity and location,
and as a woman of colour,
obviously race and class becomes an issue, okay?
How do I navigate those conflicts and stay true to myself?
Well, it's difficult and that's some of the things
we are going to talk about in this course.
You know how when you are judged and your abilities are judged
because of your- the saliency of skin colour,
how do you negotiate that?
Um, how, how does who you are change depending on the situation?
And I can expand on that really very much so,
and I hope to do that in one of the tutorial sessions with you.
Uh, how much control do you have over your own identity?
The question of agency, can we do anything?
People can see clearly for example,
that you know, the more education you have,
the more opportunities you have for social mobility.
So you can certainly change and develop your social class.
Uh, that's one area that you have a lot of control over.
Okay, uh, it's when those intersections do not work for you,
where for example, you don't have access to the education
or you don't have the opportunity, or you are judged by other categories,
such as racial bias, et cetera, that can work against you, okay?
Um, and finally, how can we convey to others
our sense of our own identity?
Because that is important.
Um, people very often, as we have learned,
um, judge you based on assumptions
about what they believe to be your own worth.
Um, the best way you could counteract that
is to, um, project an image of who you are,
and how important these things for you.
And saying that, I have to stress
that we have to make sure that there are adequate opportunities
provided for one to do so –
for example, through the process of schooling.
So I think that these questions you know, should lead us
on to our very next topic in the course
where we are going to talk about prejudice and discrimination,
and how the identity markers that we have identified
in this particular part of the course,
how those identity markers can often become
sites of prejudice and discrimination.
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