Practicing Awareness of Aggressions

There are so many ethnics in my country, but we are not immigrants; we are one coming from the same country. Thus, racial diversity is not a serious issue here. Although fights happen among tribes or ethnics, but we commonly live harmoniously from day to day. The unique one is the Chinese people whose ancestor migrated to Indonesia hundred of years ago, and they have become Indonesian Chinese now. They do not speak Chinese nor do they seriously or obviously follow their heritage. What sometimes happens is that these Indonesian Chinese people tend to socialize close from each other. That is why we have housing complex, offices or schools dominated by the Indonesian Chinese, and it is just common and accepted. Since they consider themselves Indonesian, they do not feel insulted when people say about Chinese. Ethnics often become jokes here such as Bataknese people talk funny things about Chinese or Chinese people talk about Sundanese, etc. So it is kind of hard to observe microaggressions. There is no such hard feeling about racism because we are all Indonesians, and although we do have people from other nationalities like the Americans, Indian, Australian, etc, but they live and socialize exclusively among themselves. One rumour but cannot be proven is that some Indonesian Chinese people reject applicants from other ethnics in their business, but I cannot put this as a microaggression because the truth cannot be professionally observed.

However, I have examples more on acts of "-isms"especially the ones related to religion-ism. It just happened in my school this week that an applicant for Indonesian language teacher came for an interview. She is wearing a veil, and it is certainly not permitted in a Catholic school. We have Budhist  and Moslem teachers, but not the one wearing a veil. So, in order to reject her, we created reasons. I would certainly feel humiliated, unwanted or unfair if I were the teacher and knew the reason was just because of my veil. It is indeed unfair to judge people based on their religion or the attribute they wear. I know what the school has done is so bias. Margles and Margles (2010) describe about institutional oppression. I think this is an example of oppression in the form of religion-ism”.

From this week reading and the observation I see and experience, I conclude that reactions towards discrimination, stereotype, prejudice are much influenced by the community’s cultural characteristic at the place where they happen. From the readings and colleagues’ discussion, I find what is considered to be an act of microaggressions or “-isms” in America, it is just fine in Indonesia. This means, any professional in early childhood has to first understand the rules of culture applied in the place. The theories about microaggressions or “-isms” in diversity should be treated as a guideline to professionally decide when or where to and not to say or judge about someone, especially a child.

Margles, S., & Margles, R. M. (2010). Inverting racism's distortions. Our Schools/Our

Selves, 19(3), 137--149. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Education Research Complete database: http://ezp.waldenulibrary.org/

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

I interviewed my friend Cindy, a Chinese who migrated to Indonesia and married an Indonesian 12 years ago. She said culture is what people wear, say and do which may be different from other people. The difference is the culture diversity which is based on where the people come from. She notices the significant difference is in the language because not many people can speak Mandarin. It is kind of hard for her to learn Indonesian, but luckily, her husband speaks Mandarin and Indonesian, so she has been learning to speak Indonesian from her husband, and both of her children become bilingual.

Another friend is Joe, an Indonesian with Bataknese ethnic (one tribe out of more than 300 tribes). He grew up in the family where parents speak both Indonesian and Bataknese, and he followed so many Bataknese traditional routines through their family’s weddings, funerals and other gatherings when he was a child. He cannot speak Bataknese but understands some. According to Joe, culture is the actions that people do, and diversity is the different way of thinking that people have which results in different actions. Different routines from what other neighbors or friends did with his family that he experienced in his childhood were the results of different way of thinking that his parents had.

The third person is my daughter, a teenager who thinks a culture is a routine that people do influenced by their environment, family and nationality. She notices and experiences the difference, but cannot define what diversity is.

One similarity from those three people and the aspects I have learned about culture and diversity is the actions or things that people do. This confirms that when people have to think of what a culture is, they tend to name the surface culture, the actions that people do or can be seen. They do not seem to include religion, family relationships, ideas, emotion, etc. as part of culture. My Chinese friend included language, the deep culture because it is the most significant diversity she is facing, but she did not include her Chinese values that I believe must be very much different from what the Indonesians believe.

From what they have in mind about culture and diversity, I become more certain that people in general have similar perspectives on culture and diversity, but for those who want to better understand other people, their perspectives on culture and diversity should be broader and deeper. Culture includes someone’s values, emotion, and other unseen aspects. We have to deepen our perspectives on culture in order to better understand about diversity. 

 

Visitor must wear a 'sarung' (white piece of clothes like a skirt) when visiting Prambana temple to respect the Hindust culture 

 

I am wearing a 'kebaya', a traditional gown often worn by women when attending a traditional wedding party

 

My Family Culture

My Family Culture

Basically, My family or I do not really have objects to hold as a remembrance of our culture. We do certainly have things represent our culture, but it is more in a form of memory. Since I have to think of representing it, there are 3 items that I would keep with me if I had to be moved to another place which its culture and tradition was totally different from mine.

First, it is a photo album in which I keep the family photos that I think are historical or will always remind me of my family unity or togetherness. It has a photo of our first house, my children first day when they were born, and some photos of our very unforgettable trips to Brisbane and Beijing.  

                               1st House, 1st Child and 1st Dog

Second, I loved to listen to my mom’s bed story when I was a little kid. Many times she told me about her stay in Paris when she was just 23 years old, and the unforgettable moments she experienced when she went to the top of Eiffel Tower alone, and how it was nice and a must for me to go there. So, when I for the 1^st time went to Paris, I was obsessed to do it, as well. To keep it in memory, I bought 3 souvenirs of miniatures of the Eiffel Tower. Every time I looked at those souvenirs, I remember our beautiful bed time story.

 

The third is a wrist watch. There is an agreement in our family, especially between my husband and me to never be apart for more than a month. So, when once my husband had to stay in Australia for 3 months, my children and I once went to visit him to spend the time together. When I arrived, he gave me a wrist watch. To me, this object reminds me of how hard for us to be apart for a long time and how getting together once a day even at a short time means a lot for each member of the family.   

 

 

 

           

 

 The third is a wrist watch. There is an agreement in our family, especially between my husband and me to never be apart for more than a month. So, when once my husband had to stay in Australia for 3 months, my children and I once went to visit him to spend the time together. When I arrived, he gave me a wrist watch. To me, this object reminds me of how hard for us to be apart for a long time and how getting together once a day even at a short time means a lot for each member of the family.