Who are you?
Who are you? At first glance, this seems like a rather simple question. You may identify yourself by citing characteristics such as gender, race, or age. You may list your life roles, such as a parent, child, student, sibling, or employee.
WHO I AM VIDEO
Who are you? At first glance, this seems like a rather simple question. You may identify yourself by citing characteristics such as gender, race, or age. You may list your life roles, such as parent, child, student, sibling, or employee. While these may certainly describe you, they don’t necessarily get to the heart of your cultural story—the history, influences, identities, and characteristics that make up who you are today.
Here, you record a video introducing yourself and sharing details about how you identify culturally. Note that throughout the course, you will deepen your understanding of who you are and what kind of cultural story you are telling. This Discussion is just the start.
RESOURCES
Be sure to review the Learning Resources before completing this activity.
Click the weekly resources link to access the resources.
To prepare:
- Ask yourself “Who am I?” and “What is my story?” Use these questions to assess who you are culturally and how that identity connects with social work practice. The purpose of this Discussion is to prompt how you describe yourself instinctively.
BY DAY 3
Record and post a 4- to 5-minute video sharing your personal story with your colleagues. In the video, answer the following questions:
- What do you want others to know when you think of yourself as a cultural being?
- How does your own cultural story influence your ability to work in cross-cultural situations? What are you bringing to the social work profession?
- How does this connect to your desire to become a culturally competent social worker?
- Why do diversity, equity, and inclusion in social work matter to you?
Note: To upload your media to this Discussion thread, refer to the Kaltura Media Uploader section of the Classroom Technologies guideLinks to an external site. for more information about how to upload media to the course.
Include a transcript and/or edit closed captioning on your video to ensure that your presentation is accessible to colleagues of differing abilities.
BY DAY 6
Respond to two colleagues:
- Identify something that resonates with your own story.
- Ask one additional question you would like to know about their experience.
Note: The Who I Am video is a required Portfolio item. It should also be uploaded to your Diversity Portfolio.
References
- Marsiglia, F. F., Kulis, S. S., & Lechuga-Peña, S. (2021). Diversity, oppression, and change: Culturally grounded social work (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.
- Chapter 1, “Culture” (pp. 3–28)
- Tatum, B. D. (2003). The complexity of identity: Who am I?Links to an external site. In Why are all the Black kids sitting together in the cafeteria? (Rev. ed., pp. 33–39). Basic Books.
- Walden University Career Planning and Development. (n.d.). Social work diversity portfolio guideLinks to an external site.. https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/ld.php?content_id=70729399
- Download this guide and use it as you log in and build your Diversity Portfolio in the SkillsFirst system.
