Cultural Identities

Although the term culture has many definitions, it is generally understood to include the beliefs, traditions, rituals, knowledge, morals, customs, and value systems—among other essentials of social life—of groups and of the individuals who form those groups. In its most general sense, then, the term cultural identities refers to the way that individuals or groups define themselves along the spectrum of these elements. The term has taken on increasing importance in the field of curriculum studies for a number of reasons. For one, the demographic shifts in population throughout the globe have resulted in vastly different societies in terms of race, ethnicity, and culture than was true even just a few decades ago. Most Western nations are now highly diverse, and even the most homogeneous non-Western nations are undergoing important demographic shifts. Second, and related to this diversity, classrooms around the world are now populated by children of tremendously different backgrounds, but the preparation of teachers, the climate in schools, and the curriculum to which these students are exposed have yet to catch up with the growing diversity. In order to be prepared, educators need to understand the meaning of cultural diversity, the development of cultural identities, and the implications these processes have for classroom and school curricula.

Developing a cultural identity is both a psychological and a sociopolitical process. A number of psychologists have created theories explaining individual cultural and racial identity development. At the same time, developing a cultural identity is a sociopolitical process in the sense that it is profoundly affected by the social, political, historic, and economic context in which one happens to live. Power, institutional arrangements, and the ideologies of one's society also have a powerful impact on the development of cultural identities.

Culture is sometimes viewed as an unchanging part of one's makeup in much the same way as height or skin color. Yet culture is dynamic. It is not something that one simply inherits or possesses, but rather something that one learns and creates. Thus, cultural identities are socially constructed—that is, they develop out of a particular social context. People create their cultural identities through interactions with others in the group or groups in which they participate. Nevertheless, culture does not determine one's identity, although it can certainly influence it. In a related vein, cultural identities are created through negotiation—that is, culture is not simply imposed on us; it is through the give-and-take of social relationships that we develop our identities.