CR#3 Who am I?

“Who am I?” is the question, I asked myself for the past several years. I identified myself as a Vietnamese- American who was born in Vietnam. However, my self identified persona is different from what people have in their mind. The Americans think I am more Vietnamese than American, the Vietnamese people think I am more American than Vietnamese; in their definition of me I am a lost soul, I do not have my own self identity, my own culture. I feel lost all along trying to identify myself with either American or Vietnamese, I dont have enough American or Vietnamese culture knowledge because I wasnt growing up in America and I left Vietnam to early to understand any Vietnamese culture.

What? How are dominant and subordinate identities defined in Tatum’s article? What is the power relationship between the dominant and subordinate groups according to Tatum? (Remember to use textual evidence).

Tatum identified the dominant identities as the one who hold the power over the subordinates. “The dominant group holds the power and authority in society relative to the subordinates and determines how that power and authority may be acceptably used. Whether it is reflected in determining who gets the best jobs, whose history will be taught in school, or whose relationships will be validated by society, the dominant group has the greatest influence in determining the structure of the society.” Tatum also gave example of dominant and subordinates as men vas women and Caucasian people vs people of color. I agreed with Tatum about his definition of dominant and subordinates identities, if you were born as a white, straight, christian, muscular, smart and rich male, you are automatically became the dominant identity in the US. You are most likely to be a person hold the authority and power in government, jobs, and organization. However, a person of color, gay, poor female would have more tough time to find a place in this society. Many recipients from Health Hub are people of color, immigrants, and less educated because most of them are subordinates identity. If we look at other aspect of our culture such as prison, bad neighborhood, homeless, and poverty, we will see that majority of the people are people with subordinates identities. However, if you look at the “good” aspect of our culture, the rich neighborhood, the educated, the politicians, majority of them are with the dominant identities. Our culture is only design for the people with dominant identity if you are not dominant identity, you will have to work so much harder than the one with it.

So What? How could the unequal relationship between the dominant and subordinate groups change for the better? Based on your reading of his NY Times article, what do you think Abraham Verghese would suggest?

“There, again, he waited. He shook his head in disbelief, smiling though. ‘Doc, they treat refugees in other countries better than they treated us.’” I want to discuss this quote from the patient, is it wrong for the American to treat other refugees from other countires with humanity? I personally disagree with the patiene, it is nothing wrong to treat the refugees with humane condidtions or according to him “better”. I get angry when the doctor, in a way, agree with him (the patient) that the Americans treat refugees better, in my understanding his agreeing with the patient is indirectly saying we should not care about the refugee from other countries.

It is hard to change the dynamic between the dominant and subordinates group because it is such a oart of our cultures. However, i think we could start by giving equal education to everyone. It mean that the education the poor neighborhood will be equal to the rich neighborhood, there need to be equally in school programs and funding. Abraham Verghese would suggest education, listening and real action to fix the dynamic.

Now What? Referencing Calderon’s article, talk about how the perspective-taking can influence or even change the dominant-subordinate dynamic? And do YOU have anything to suggest from your own life experiences? (Remember to use textual evidence).

Mrs. Elder’s approach is how we as a culture should have done to chanege the perspective of dominant-subordinates dynamic because she did not believe in the structure (you live in American, you need to speak English). Instead, she valued José Calderón’s culture and language: “Mrs. Elder responded with empathy, sacrificing her afternoons to teach me English. What’s more, in seeking to create a similarity between us, she began our lessons by asking me to teach her Spanish.” I think her way of taking on the challenge is a start where we should begin already. When I moved to the US, I did not speak any English, I know I was subordinate to the one who speak better English because they can communicate to the teachers better and understand the materials. However, many of my teachers would help me with the language part, they would teach the materials slowly so I can understand it better.