J.H. Wasillewski Resources

Seelye, H.N. & Wasilewski, J.H. (1996). Between cultures: Developing self-identity in a world of diversity. Lincolnwood, IL: NTC Publishing Group.

OVERVIEW

By the 1990s, the cold war between super-powers was over. That global crisis was replaced by ethnic struggles as people fought over ethnic political goals. To understand the world today and to deal with the great shifts in ethnic populations, we need to understand our diversity. This book is about reducing the stress of multi-cultural living and helping those with multi-cultural backgrounds develop a strong personal identity. A beautiful Foreword is written by LaDonna Harris, President of Americans for Indian Opportunity:

I identify with this book on many levels. The daughter of a Comanche mother and an Irish father, I was raised in Comanche culture by my Christian grandmother and my Eagle Medicine Man grandfather. Both of my Comanche grandparents were born to intermarriages between Comanche and Spanish or Mexican Indian captives. I married my high school sweetheart, Fred Harris, whom my family called, with some concern mitigated by amusement and affection, "poor white trash." We had three children. My youngest daughter married a lawyer whose father is Eskimo and mother is German. Their child calls me Kaqu, Comanche for grandmother. He calls his German grandmother, Oma. From the age of five, my grandson has said that he belongs to "five tribes: cowboy, Comanche, Irish, Eskimo, and German." I want to help create a world where he can live comfortably in all "his tribes" (p. xii).

About this book the authors say:

If you find yourself with each foot in a different culture, this book is for you. You may feel, sometimes, the disorientation of the shipwrecked, pulled by churning cultural currents.

Perhaps you came by your multicultural credentials by being raised in a home where the language or culture differed from those of the "mainstream" society. Maybe each of your parents came from a distinct culture, or you yourself are married to someone from another culture. Perhaps you are living in a culture other than your "home" culture, maybe as an immigrant or refugee, or you have lived abroad for years, maybe as a part of the family of a transnational business person_Perhaps you are a global nomad_spouse or child of a global nomad, a "third-culture" or "Euro-kid," or a "military brat." Perhaps you don’t consider yourself multicultural but work or live in an atmosphere of cultural diversity_

(This book) attempts two things. The first is to dispel the confusion and clarify the stresses and anxieties common to those who cross or live on cultural boundaries. Even those who have lived for years in different cultures fall victim to clashes in cultural values. Things are done differently, and people think differently, but it’s hard to pin-point exactly what the differences are, and what they mean. Discerning cultural patterns can seem an unending and at times frustrating endeavor. But when a pattern emerges, it’s like turning on a light. This book will help throw the light switch on.

The second objective of the book is to help those caught between cultures craft an identity that will help them live life to the full and enjoy the riches of multiculturalism. The big drawback to being multicultural is that you do not fit into most people’s pre-set categories. Your are neither fish nor fowl, but both. The challenge is to be fully aware of your own complexity, and the task is to be able to articulate that complex reality to other people who do not share the same background. (p. xviii)

Chapters in this book discuss "Boundaries of Blood_ribbons that bind in family, clan, band_surviving in diversity and valuing multiculturalism." Boundaries of nationality and ethnicity in village or city is also discussed_to which is added a chapter on boundaries created by body image and "race." Chapter 5 looks at language boundaries followed by a chapter on "Culture, the Mother of All Boundaries." Then Chapter 7 considers "Boundary Strain_Is Multiple Socialization Inherently Stressful?"

The book concludes with a story of Japanese anthropologist Kunido Miyanaga asking defender of her master’s thesis (1992), Nancy Yamada: "_So, which world is real, the men’s or the women’s world?" To which Nancy Yamada replied: "Why, of couse, they are both real!"

If this is true of gender-based worlds, then it is true for larger cultural worlds as well. Dealing with this multifaceted reality is, of course, the main task for our multicultural selves_Is it worth the effort to become multicultural—assuming you have a choice in the matter? (pp. 191-192)

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

1. How do you see your ethnic identity? If this question is not clear or seems irrelevant to Euro-Americans, what does that mean?
2. How important is it for you to become bi-cultural or multi-cultural? What will it take in your personal life to make this possible?
3. What in this document do you find offensive or highly enlightening? Why so? What most impresses you here?
4. In what context would you like to discuss this book? How would you begin and proceed?
5. Would you care to get this book and read it?

IMPLICATIONS

• Schools and communities still find themselves segregated. "Integrated" university campuses still "self-segregate." Church time Sunday mornings is still the most segregated time in our public life. These facts point to unfinished business.
• Globalization, immigration, urbanization, and technology that brings all the world closer together demand that we learn to live together whether we call this process multiculturalism or something else.
• Those who work with young people have a special responsibility to deal with these issues.