Of the two articles, the one that stood out the most to me was Glazier and Seo’s article “Multicultural literature and discussion as mirror and window?”. This article stood out to me because it mentioned that one of the students this teacher was teaching, Mark, “had difficulty identifying his culture”. (Glazier and Seo, 2005). When reading this, I actually found comfort in this realization because I, too, am not sure how I would respond in regards to my specific culture. The articles discussed the importance of exploring your own culture and what makes it significant or separate before reading about and contrasting differences between another culture. In the article, Mark stated he learned new things about other cultures through reading the book (Glazier and Seo, 2005). Therefore, Mark used the text as a “window” to another culture and to learn about a different culture, but he was not able to use the book as a “mirror” to learn about his own culture and make connections between his culture and the one read about in the text. I find that I, too, often use cultural books as a window but am learning on how to use them as a mirror and make connections as well. The aspect that caught my attention in Glazier and Seo’s article was the inclusion of how difficult it can be for the majority to define and name their culture. This brought me back to an idea I learned in a previous course regarding the multiple identities each individual owns, regardless of cultural identity. For example, your gender, age, education, faith, roles in family/society, etc. So my question to you is, what multiple identities can you clearly align with?
Resources:
Glazier, J., and Seo, J.-A. (2005). Multicultural literature and discussion as mirror and window?. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy.