Reflection Paper #2

Ashley Kunz
Professor Godana
Communications 211
Reflection Paper #2

Chapter 5: Identity and Intercultural Communication

While this chapter deals with identity, rather than defining what identity is, chapter 5 demonstrates the multi-facets that make up what someone considers to be their own identity. The idea of the self comes from every aspect of our life such as nationality, culture, race, gender, sexuality and so on. It was interesting how self identity is not only different in each country, but also how it changes regionally and is constantly changing. 

The idea of the self is often seen as an individual idea, it is what one person thinks of themselves, but when the idea of the one is put into a collectivized culture the self matters in relation to others. I found it interesting that unlike modern America, one may choose to identify themselves as a "mother or I am the youngest child in my family" rather than adjectives that describe the individual traits like "kind" or "outgoing". While this is a cultural concept it has a historical background where in Europe in the 1600s transitioned from close knit rural communities to urbanized industrial cities that no longer needed a group effort to maintain society. 

I also found it interesting when talking about gender identity, Martin and Nakayama made the distinction between gender and biological sex and sexual identity. Normally we consider all three of these concepts as one but its interesting to see how gender is uniquely different and is becoming more of a fluid concept in modern society. The concept of what is attractive is changing with time and is also more gender specific and I found it interesting how to be considered "male" one of the most defining qualities is to not be "female". I had never thought about it this way before because the reverse isn't necessarily true, femininity isn't defined by its lack of masculinity. It was intriguing to see that identity isn't only shaped by what we are, but is also defined by what we are not. 

Questions:

1. Is identity something that is sometimes socially unacceptable, or taboo, when talking about race or ethnicity?

2. How does being from a majority identity affect how you see minority identities and vice versa?