Beyond First Impressions – What I’ve Learned Before Soliya

I have been reflecting on identity, empathy, bias and understanding others who are different from us throughout this course. What I really liked the most, was that we learned by reading, watching videos, also by playing games/activities, discussing, annotating and interacting. As I am getting ready for Soliya, I want to think about what I am learning, and how I can use it when interacting with others from other cultures or perspectives.

To begin with, An important lesson I have learnt is basically that identity is not as simple as nationality. When I read the article How African Is Northern Africa? in order to write a blog post, I thought of the idea of how one person can have multiple identities. A quote that really stood out to me was that “Identifying as an Arab does not prevent one from also identifying as an African.” I started to wonder why sometimes we think that people can only be part of one identity, one culture, one religion, etc. but they actually can be part of more than one!

An activity that made me think about myself was when we were asked to write something about ourselves that people would be surprised by. I was surprised that I couldn’t think of an answer as I thought I knew myself so well! That made me realize there are some things about myself I haven’t explored fully yet, and that it is important that I take time to reflect on myself and how others may view me.

One of the other main discussions was the difference between sympathy and empathy. In our discussion and classroom game about our Hypothes.is notes/annotations on our reading of War in Translation, I realized that it is not possible to feel sorry for someone without trying to understand what he/she has gone through (feeling sorry for someone is actually very different from actually trying to understand what they have experienced). I also had to consider the hard choices people have to make due to conflict or economic pressure on their situation with games such as Syrian Journey or Spent.

Furthermore, I learned about the four I’s of oppression which simply helped me better understand the many ways in which inequality can be manifested. Ideological oppression is a belief or stereotype that implies that one group is better than another; institutional oppression is when a system or organization discriminates against a group. Interpersonal oppression occurs when individuals interact with others in discriminatory ways, and internalized oppression is when people internalize negative stereotypes about their own group. In class we engaged in a few interactive activities to help us identify these different forms of oppression in real life scenarios, helping me to understand the differences between each of them.

Building on this understanding of oppression and inequality, In addition, I learned about this from Binna Kandola’s Diffusing Bias, which prompted me to think about the need to be aware of your own biases and to question whether you are being fair or not (instead of basically assuming that you are always being fair). The thing I found most interesting was when Kandola explained to me why we feel more comfortable with a person who is in our group. This made me think that sometimes I feel more comfortable around other people who are just like me, or have similar views, without realizing it, I also learned that it is interesting that he explained that it is important to be aware of our biases first before changing them. It made me question whether some of my everyday decisions are influenced by assumptions I don’t even notice.

We also discussed microaggressions, these are behaviors that could be unimportant/ or insignificant on the surface but could lead to feelings of judgment, or stereotype. One thing that impressed me was that someone might say something with good intentions, without realizing that their words could hurt/ offend another person. If for example, you believe that someone is not from a particular country based on their looks, this can definitely leave them feeling that they don’t belong. This made me realize that our intentions are not always the same as the impact of our words! It also made me realize that I really need to think more of how I interact with others, and be more aware of making assumptions about others based on their identity or background.
Most of the time I walk away from class with a very clear understanding of the discussion and topics, but I still wonder how people from other cultures would basically detect bias and what they would think of as fair or not. I truly hope to explore these questions through real conversations with Soliya.

In addition to acquiring the knowledge of these concepts, I have also gained some insights/reflection into both myself and how I see others, and I noticed that one’s own background and experiences shape one’s view of others. I also found myself making assumptions on a regular basis without knowing someone’s entire story. Our conversations made me consider the following ideas: I should basically question these assumptions rather than simply relying on the first impressions (which is inaccurate).

I also discovered that I like to know/explore other people’s points of view, particularly from being able to participate in interactive tasks and talking with my classmates. One of the things that I’m still interested in is how I perceive myself and how I feel others perceive me. I will have my own culture in my mind while I am participating at Soliya, but I want to be open-minded to different viewpoints that may differ from my own. I hope this will basically allow me to get to know myself better and identify biases I may not have been even aware of.

When it comes to communication, these reflections have really impacted how I both communicate and interact with other people. I think one of the most important things that I took away from it is that it’s not just about me giving my opinion, it’s about being a good listener too. The Danger of a Single Story talk was very informative, as it revealed to me how easily stereotypes are created when judging someone through one perspective. Adichie’s African upbringing and experiences as a Black woman shaped her identity and story, showing how our different experiences make each of us unique. I learned that people can read the same text and have various or different interpretations of it, and when they offer ideas I notice myself seeing things I hadn’t before in our classroom discussions.

Looking ahead to Soliya, I believe that to be a better global citizen, you must show respect for differences, challenge stereotypes and attempt to understand experiences as opposed to feeling sorry for them. I still wonder how to respond when someone’s beliefs strongly conflict with mine, but I’m hoping that through Soliya, I’ll be more at ease having these conversations with other people by asking good questions, and listening without immediate judgment.

These particular skills should be particularly helpful in areas where there are differing opinions on sensitive matters. If Palestine or the current conflict between Iran and the Middle East would have been mentioned in Soliya, I’d expect the conversation to be emotional, as there may be many different experiences, opinions, and ties to these things.

If I’ll be the one directing the discussion, I would definitely call upon everyone to share their perspectives with respect and without any arguments, but also to listen to the human sides of the conflict, because behind news reports and statistics there are real people with feelings, memories, and personal stories. For me, I think that I would want to have someone who could help to keep the discussion going, and keep it respectful, this would definitely be needed if the discussion started to become tense. Most importantly, I would want everyone to feel heard without being judged or stereotyped.

In a nutshell, throughout this course, I’ve learned to judge beyond appearances and be more conscious of my interactions and how identity, bias, empathy, etc. impact my interactions with others. I really liked the games, interactive activities we do in class, outdoor activities and discussions as this makes the lessons more meaningful. I hope Soliya will be a chance for me to put my learning into practice, gain new insights, and learn more about myself.

References

Adichie, C. N. (2009, July). The danger of a single story [Video]. TED Conferences. https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story

BBC News. (2015, April 1). Syrian journey: Choose your own escape route [Interactive feature]. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-32057601

Egbunike, N., Nyamishana, P., Chala, E., & Gharib, R. (2018, May 28). How ‘African’ is Northern Africa? Global Voices. https://globalvoices.org/2018/05/28/how-african-is-northern-africa/

Kandola, B. (2014, February 11). Day of Learning 2013 – Binna Kandola: Diffusing bias [Video]. Facing History & Ourselves. https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/day-learning-2013-binna-kandola-diffusing-bias

Mounzer, L. (2016, October 6). War in translation: Giving voice to the women of Syria. Literary Hub. https://lithub.com/war-in-translation-giving-voice-to-the-women-of-syria/

Urban Ministries of Durham. (n.d.). Spent [Interactive game]. https://playspent.org/html