Understanding Identities
How the Essence of Identity Influences Tutoring Within the Writing Center
Our identity is the essence of who we are. Who we believe ourselves to be and how others perceive us is a core and inevitable part of our lives. The concept of self is often a confusing and very complex notion to wrap one’s head around. There are so many moving parts; even aspects of your life that do not seem to have any effect on your identity actually do. This in turn is how each and every person is so unique. Everyone brings their own knowledge and identities to whatever new experiences they choose to endeavor. However, a specific aspect of one person’s life or identity can have a contrasting impact on another person, in terms of magnitude, relation to other statuses, and many others. This idea of distinctiveness and that our actions shape our identity which in turn our identity shapes our actions can be applied to academic experiences and specifically the ability to tutor in the writing center.
In my own self reflection, I have found that there are specific categories in my life that seem to influence my perceptions of the world as well as my school experiences greater than other identities. These statuses include being a female, the geographical region that I identify with, and my family structure/ethnicity. While structuring this reflection it was interesting to contemplate how each of my different identities influence who I am, who I perceive myself to be, and how others distinguish me from everyone else in their view.
I think that one of the most critical yet simple aspects of my identity is being a female. There are many factors and circumstances that I feel I need to consider before acting or writing or even speaking, that those of different genders do not. I believe that society idealizes the appearance and the perception of women as opposed to their actual sustenance. People seem to judge women more harshly than other genders on how they look or how they appear to be rather than what they actually say or do. This is why I feel that I constantly need to shift my outward self to fit whatever situation or group that I am in, in order to “fit in” or be considered normal in the eyes of society. Additionally, women have many stereotypes, stigmas, and injustice that we have to overcome every single day. In terms of my academic life, I feel like when I am reading or listening to a speaker, I am able to recognize sexism or inequality more easily than others because I am constantly aware of how I am being treated or being perceived, every single day. This could translate into my tutoring in the writing center by being able to inform the writers on how a particular argument or phrased sentence could come across as biased, even if the writer did not even realize it (because they are not continually aware of the discrimination). I feel as if I have to be more critical and observant of these comments or arguments because they impact me and many others in a substantial way.
Another identity that is significant to my categorization of self is the geographical region that I grew up in. I lived in Arlington, Virginia which is just outside of the capital of Washington, D.C. I feel as though the values and concerns of this area have really shaped the person I have become. Because D.C. is home to the White House, Congress, the Supreme Court and countless other bureaucratic and legislative institutions, one can imagine that these practices directed some of the actions and activities that I participated in growing up and in school. Being politically active and politically informed is a staple in order to live in Arlington. In school, we had mock presidential debates and had a whole class period devoted to registering to vote. So, when I left for college you can imagine my shock meeting people that had no opinion on the election or on a new bill proposal, because that was simply the norm in my area. I think that because of this concentrated, intense politically charged area that I grew up in, I tend to always have in mind the legal or governmental consequences or perspectives when I read an article or write a paper. This is also applied to the way I approach tutoring because all of the people I grew up around were liberals with a very politically active side, so reading and helping a writer on a paper that has conflicting values than those I learned to make important, could be potentially challenging for me.
The final and most influential status of identity that I considered is my family structure and ethnicity. My family on my mother’s side of the tree is very reserved and introverted when compared to my father’s side. This side is made up of many, many family members (not all directly related to me, but we call each other cousins anyway), the majority of them Polish and from Pennsylvania and New Jersey. While these more extroverted family members are great, they tend to be much louder and overwhelming compared to what I am used to at home and with my other side of the family. I think that because I am exposed to a more restrained and quiet attitude more often (my mother’s side all live within an hour of each other), I tend to identify more closely with them. So, when I do see my father’s side of the family, I feel as if my more introspective and soft spoken qualities are heightened. In this light, I think that when met with a person who is more outgoing and loud, I tend to be more defensive about who I am and tend to listen more while the other person speaks, as contrasted when I am met with another introvert, I seem to relate to that person more and interestingly, I seem to become more of the talker as opposed to the listener.
