Overview
This portion of the Cultural Immersion Project Assignment includes two interviews focusing on the identified cultural group. The first interview will be with an employee or representative of an agency/organization which engages in social justice work with your chosen population. The second interview will be with an individual or married couple from the selected cultural group in order to develop an understanding that helped shaped that individual’s or couple’s cultural identity. These interviews are significant part of the immersion project as you get to hear the voices and listen to the hearts of those involved with the population.
Instructions
Please utilize the guidelines noted below in completing this assignment:
- This paper should be approximately 2,500 words (around 10 pages). Please note that the quality of your answer is important, and use the approximate words count noted in each section as you craft your responses for each section.
- Please use current APA style which is the 7th edition of the APA publication manual which includes information on appropriate formatting for section headings (Chapter 2), levels of headings (Chapter 2), in-text citations (Chapter 8), and references (Chapters 9 and 10). In addition, review the sample professional paper on page 50 for more information.
- Scholarly sources utilized for research and event portions can be used for this portion as you address the prompts below. Take note that at least two (2) scholarly sources should be used for this assignment.
- Acceptable sources include journal articles, scholarly websites, one (1) pertinent chapter from the McGoldrick et al. supplemental e-book.
Possible themes that can be explored (but not limited to) during the interviews include:
- Earliest memories of recognizing membership in a culturally different group
- The role of religion/spirituality
- Immigration experiences
- Similarities/differences between the individual’s or couples’ interactions in the U.S. to the interactions with others in their own culture
- School experiences as a member of a cultural minority
- Experiences with subtle racism or discrimination
- Experiences with overt racism or discrimination
- Ways the person/couple chose his/her/their career(s) or made career choices
- The experience of being different from the majority culture
Agency/Organization Interview Prompts
- What is the purpose/mission statement of the agency/organization? (approximately 100 words)
- What services are offered to the identified population? (approximately 100 words)
- How are members of the population made aware of available services? (approximately 150 words)
- What are the areas of greatest need not only for the agency/organization but also within the population? (approximately 150 words)
- What are some of the more significant challenges for this population that is served? What are some steps that have been taken to address these challenges, if any? (approximately 175 words)
- What is the importance of social justice within the agency/organization community and for the cultural group that is served? (approximately 125 words)
NOTE: Information for the above should be from an agency/organization representative or employee and not from a website. Indicate the individual who was interviewed by using the personal communication citation, and review the APA manual on how to format this type of citation.
Individual or Couple Interview Prompts
- Share some of the background of the interviewee(s). What is the story of their background? (Use some of the prompts noted above to help gather information about the background of your interviewees.) (approximately 300 words)
- What are some of the key cultural events for this person/couple? Some examples of key cultural events include interactions with the majority culture, experiences of racism/discrimination, positive experiences with the majority and other cultures, holiday/religious celebrations, or festivals. (approximately 250 words)
- As the person/couple shared their story, what was your emotional reaction to the story especially with the key cultural events? Why do you think you responded this way? (approximately 125 words)
- Based on the interview experience, what knowledge about this cultural group was added that you did not learn from the previous parts of this immersion assignment? (approximately 150 words)
- From the Gracism readings, remind yourself of the seven (7) sayings discussed in the book. From your interactions with your chosen cultural group, which of the seven sayings apply to your population or do you think are applicable? What other Gracism principle(s) do you think also apply? Based on your experiences from this immersion experience, what are specific ways that you can engage as a Gracist with this population and how would go about doing it? (approximately 200 words; cite and reference the Anderson book)
Summary Section
After completing the interviews, write a summary of your reactions to the interviews to include the following:
- Compare and contrast what you learned in the interviews to the information learned from the research and event portions of this immersion project. In other words, what did you note as the similarities and differences between the research/events and interview portions of this project. (approximately 200 words)
- What are two things that were the most surprising about the information gathered from the interviews? Elaborate as to why they were surprising for you. (approximately 100 words)
- Identify three ways of how you were impacted personally from this experience and how you have changed. In other words, what has changed for you as a result of having this immersion experience? (approximately 200 words)
- What are three general insights that you learned about interacting with a different population? In other words, how has your perspective of working with culturally different individuals changed because of this immersion experience? How will you apply these insights and new knowledge in your future work with culturally different clients? (approximately 200 words)
Note: Submit your paper in the course and in Tevera/LiveText:
- If you are a School Counseling student, please submit to LiveText.
- If you are a Clinical Mental Health/Professional Counseling student, please submit to
Tevera.
Note: Your assignment will be checked for originality via the Turnitin plagiarism tool.
