My life has been greatly affected by my positionality, particularly with regards to race. Growing up in a predominantly white suburban area of the United States, I was often made aware of the subtle ways that racism operated not only in my environment but at large and how it shaped one’s experiences and opportunities. This became even more apparent when I attended college as there were suddenly many people around me from different backgrounds who had their own stories to share about being discriminated against or feeling like an outsider due to their race or ethnicity.
In the reading “Multicultural Education, Transformative Knowledge & Action,” the author Dr. James Banks discusses the notion of what is called “positionality,” which has to do with social markers such as our race, gender, class, age, etc. Based on this concept, how has your life been affected by your “positionality?” Which of the five characteristics of culture discussed in the reading “Introduction to Intercultural Communication” do you find most relevant? Although not mentioned in the readings, what impact has the rise of social media had on popular knowledge?
Finally, the rise of social media has had both positive & negative implications popular knowledge. On one hand it provides unprecedented access vast amounts information previously unavailable such as news events happening far away or peer-reviewed scientific research—this makes easier than ever before stay informed about what’s going on world while also gaining new insight into topics you had no prior experience with before. On other hand though its easy become inundated with too much information (especially if coming from untrustworthy sources) & not actually learn anything meaningful because so overwhelmed everything presented online – making important discriminate between reliable data fake news before accepting any claims as true without further research/verification first!