Maria and Alex – Maria is a 24-year-old, second-generation Argentinian woman living in Canada who came out as a lesbian last year. Her parents are devout Catholics and opposed to homosexuality, and she feels they have not fully absorbed her sexual orientation&emdash;they see it as a “phase”. She feels they are very gradually adjusting, but is concerned that announcing the plan to move in with her partner Lisa would disturb the current peaceful equilibrium in their relationship. Maria is getting pressure from Lisa, but is concerned that moving in would be extremely upsetting to her parents, and she is stuck as to how to go forward.

Anita and Lee – Lee is a 22-year-old college student who moved to North America from rural China with his parents when he was 13 years old. He is feeling isolated and stressed by his studies. Lee is living in residence, but characterizes himself as introverted and is not engaged in the party scene there. He enrolled in engineering and is struggling with the course load. As the first member of his family to enrol in university, Lee is feeling pressure from his parents to succeed.

David and Meena – Meena is a 24-year-old woman who was adopted at birth by parents of East Indian origin after they arrived in North America as immigrants. Meena’s father died when Meena was in her late teens. She has been experiencing stresses at work, as well as ongoing tensions with her mother. Meena says her mother regularly urges Meena not to let go of Indian traditions, and dispenses often unsolicited advice. She also has a tendency to “dismiss” Meena at times, which leads to Meena feeling hurt and underestimated. Meena feels conflicted&emdash;while she cherishes her East Indian roots, and prefers an intimate relationship with her mother, the tensions between them often get in the way. Recently Meena had a dinner with her mother and her boyfriend Jeremy that went better than usual. (*Note that more than one graduate student plays Meena in these roleplays)

Pierre - Pierre is a gay man who lives with his partner, Mark. He is just recently coming off an extended period of time in which he was unemployed and mostly confined to his home by his own choice. When Pierre was a child, he was bullied at school. Brought up Catholic, he has since left the church due to its position on homosexuality. A psychologist diagnosed Pierre with Agoraphobia and named some of his bouts with anxiety as “ panic attacks”. Earlier in his life he was also diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder. Recently, Pierre took on a job as a bicycle courier, and has been struggling to keep up with the workload. His boss has expressed sympathy, but has indicated that she will need to lay him off if he is not able to increase productivity. She recommended that he see a counselor. (see also Pierre monologue in Chapter One of video resources)

In this clip, Alex is transparent about what he perceives as cultural differences between himself and Maria. Based on the use of the term “culture” introduced in Chapter One, which cultural subgroups does he point to in naming potential differences? Besides raising the perceived differences, how does Alex turn it back to Maria? What impact do you see this exchange potentially having on Maria’s impression of Alex’s openness to her unique experience? What aspects of this practice might you have done similarly/differently?

Analysis

Alex here refers to differences in ethnic cultural backgrounds as well as sexual orientation and gender. Of course it does not go without saying that differences in their participation in these various subgroups will have a bearing on the work with Maria. However, by naming these and inviting Maria to comment, he gives her a chance to register her concerns and is also conveying an openness to discussing perceived cultural differences if she would like at any time to address them.

In this exchange, Anita hears Lee’s reluctance to share his distress with his parents as associated with his membership in the cultural subgroup of men. In other words, she hears him as a somewhat “typical” male who is not inclined to share his feelings. Lee understands it differently. To what does he ascribe his choice not to disclose to his parents? How does Anita respond to Lee’s clarification on this topic and what impact does the exchange have on their quest for mutual understanding? What aspects of this practice might you have done similarly/differently?

Analysis

Lee’s situations has various cultural currents running through it. As a second generation immigrant, he is well integrated into dominant society and at the same time has a foot in his parents’ country of origin, China. And while Anita also is a second generation immigrant, her East Indian heritage differs from lee’s Chinese background. At the same time, Lee is a man and Anita ia woman and this introduces a second cross-cultural dimension to their conversation. A third distinction which arises elsewhere is that Anita comes more from an urban, middle class context while Lee’s parents were poor farmers before emigrating. Anita and Lee must negotiate these various contextual differences as they seek to understand each other.

Inhabiting multiple cultural contexts can be rich for the diversity of experience it brings, but it can also come with tensions. In this exchange, Meena describes how she straddles two sets of values/lifestyles—one more aligned with mainstream North America, and one closer to Indian traditions. How does this tension play out in her life? What effects does it have? What indications do you see here that she doesn't want to simply replace one set and reject the other?

Analysis

The identification with the cultural subgroup involves more than merely a feeling of “belonging”. Cultures can be characterized by the dominant beliefs, stories, discourses, and so on that predominate within them. Besides providing shared values to rally around, these also come with a certain degree of pressures to conform with cultural prescriptions. Here, Meena can be seen being pulled in both directions. There are values she admires and strives for in both traditional Indian and contemporary North American culture. As well, there are ways of being which come “recommended” with each cultural group that don't fit for her, although she feels somewhat pressured to conform to them. In this respect, much of the work that David does with Meena is to help her “locate” herself among her various cultural identities.

In Pierre’s brief monologue, see if you can detect ideas, beliefs, stories, and values associated with certain cultural contexts that influence how he makes sense of who he is.

Analysis

Identities are cultural artefacts in the sense that our views of who we are are inescapably influenced by the repertoires of ways of “making sense” available to us. This repertoire comes from the wider culture, and is not uniform. Different cultural institutions generate different vocabularies, different ideas, different values. In the course of our lifetimes all of these have an impact on our views of ourselves.