Assignment:
Now that you have at least fifteen names on your ecological systems map, let's get systemic. Last week we asked for you to complete a demographic survey in which you named how you identify with regards to your gender identity, ethnic/cultural/racial identity, sexual identity, social class, and age and life stage. Looking over your list of people at each level, to what extent do you see windows and mirrors in your map.
For instance, with regards to gender identity, how many people on your map share your same identity? What percent of the people you listed is this? 100% 80% 50% 5% 0% Reflecting on this percentage, how does realizing this make you feel? Is this something you knew before? Or something that you hadn't considered before?
Repeat this line of questioning with your ethnic/cultural/racial identity? (We recognize that these might be distinct or plural identities for you or your ethnic, cultural, and racial identities or all tied together or the same.) How are you feeling? What are you thinking?
Repeat this line of questioning with your sexual identity? Please consider what you know about other people's sexual identity and what you assume that you know. What percentage of the people on your map do you not know?
Repeat this line of questioning for your social class identity. This might be more challenging because social class is often more fluid of an identity than the prior three. To what extent have you felt as if you were in the same social class as other people? Or different? Were there ever differences in what you perceived versus the way that they treated you?
Repeat this line of questions for your age/life stage identity. Age is the only identity we'll take up this quarter that is guaranteed to change for us. Consider to what extent the people who've been your ecological system have stayed stable across your life as your age has changed. How have your relationships changed with age? How has the balance of people with shared or different ages than you changed over time?
Choose any of these elements to add to the discussion board below. Read and respond meaningfully and respectfully, remembering to speak from the "I."