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This blog invites you into a space where you can share, analyze, and respond to how the public sphere use language--and other signfying practices and representations--about disability, culture, and gender.

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?

http://www.sesamestreet.org/parents/diversity

During our Culture Unit, we've discussed race and not much else. There is more to a person's culture than the color of their skin or what ethnicity they choose. Yes, I said choose for a reason. I took a Language and Society course during my undergrad and we discussed that race and ethnicity are based on a person's perspective of themself. I could call myself Black/African American if I wanted to, but then during converstation I would need to be prepared to say why I associate myself with this race. On to Sesame Street. Sesame Street has a section within their website dedicated to Diversity. Some of the different topics include who makes up your family, what holidays you celebrate, and why we all look different. These factors, along with others, create diversity between all individuals. There are non-traditional families (single parent, adoption, and interratial, etc). We celebrate different holidays (Easter, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, Rhamadan, etc). Physically, we all look different- even identical twins have individual features and personalities for others to tell them apart. Ernie explored why we all look different. He used an example with 4 red, identical, ball-shaped "people." Ernie couldn't tell them apart, and they couldn't identify who the mother, father, son, or postman was. Each "person" knew his or her own identity, but it was not apparent to anyone else. Ernie's point through this was if we all looked exactly the same, how would I know if the person next to me was my mom, relative, friend, or a stranger? Diversity and culture create our identities. Sometimes these identities are positively perceived and sometimes negatively. You can't change who you are (well.. you could but that's more related to the Gender Unit or Michael Jackson).

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