Cultural Diorama

In my SCED 353 class, Multicultural education, for one of our assignments we put together a cultural diorama. This diorama consisted of three "artifacts" that represented each of us socially, culturally and ethnically. These artifacts should be objects that we have in our home that represent our background, traditions, and daily activities. "Culture" is more about our daily life and values rather than quirky or strange things about us.

We then had to have some way of presenting it, so I chose to post mine on my blog, here it is:

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"White Woman from Western Washington"

My first artifact is a picture of me, and a group of my friends from Washington who all attend BYU. 

This picture represents me socially. Although I come from western Washington where there are many Asians, I really didn't have many friends who weren't white. It's hard to tell in this picture, but there is one Asian standing in the back, Steven. He's part Asian, part Caucasian. This lack of diversity socially is also a symbol of my personality. Although I hate to admit it, I fall into that all too common characteristic of being afraid of things that I don't know. This includes different kinds of people, events, activities, foods, and just about anything that I am not familiar with. This will be a difficult barrier for me to over come when I am a teacher, but I know that I must over come it to be successful. 

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My second artifact is a picture of me and my husband in front of the Seattle Temple after we were married.

This picture represents me culturally. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints. Although the culture of western Washington isn't LDS, or even necessarily religious, my religion still had the most impact on my culture. I was blessed to have friends who weren't LDS, but did understand how important my religion was to me, so they didn't ever try to impose other things on me that they knew I wouldn't like. When they did participate in activities more common for people my age (partying, boys, hanky panky and who knows what) they knew I would not be a part of it. Being a part of the LDS culture affects me daily because I use principles from my religion daily, like scripture study and prayer. Being a member of the church has shaped my life because I chose to go to BYU because I wanted to be at a school filled with students that shared my beliefs, and once I was at BYU I met my husband, who is also a member of the church. In a less obvious way, being a member of the church has shaped my life because it makes me want to be a better person. Specifically in the background of this picture is the temple. The temple is a symbol of my culture because it is a wonderful symbol of the church.

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My third artifact is a picture of me, my sister, Christie, my mom, Rebecca, and my grandma, Nadine. 

 This picture represents me ethnically. I come from two Caucasian parents who both come from two Caucasian parents who also both come from two Caucasian parents. Because I have always grown up around a lot of white friends and classmates I haven't really considered the importance of my ethnicity. My ethnicity represents where I come from. I am proud of my family, and therefore, proud of my ethnicity. I was blessed to be born into the family I am in. My grandmother and mother have shaped my ethnicity in an obvious way, because biologically, they made me who I am. But they also have helped me understand what a good family I come from.