Hi, all!
So in the waking world, I'm a German Education major at Bowling Green State University, and I have a course titled "Education in a Pluralistic Society". One of my assignments for this course involves finding someone whose culture is very much different from my own and conducting an interview with them, in order to (as one part of our assignment description puts it) "help us become culturally connected teachers who are sensitive, receptive, knowledgeable, and empathetic to cultural identities and ways of life that are different than our own."
My course is currently defining culture as follows:
"Culture consists of the values, traditions, worldview, and social and political relationships created, shared, and transformed by a group of people bound together by a common history, geographic location, language, social class, religion, or other shared identity. Culture includes not only tangibles such as foods, holidays, dress, and artistic expression but also less tangible manifestations such as communication style, attitudes, values, and family relationships (Nieto & Bode, 2012, p.158).
After carefully thinking about the above definition, I have decided that it would be a good idea for me to interview a Hindu, ideally one who was brought up in the religion and/or has been Hindu for a number of years. The interview would be conducted over Skype or other online calling software, and would last approximately 45 minutes to an hour. With the consent of the interviewee, the interview itself will be recorded so I can eventually write a paper about it. Any personal information you give will be kept strictly confidential, and will only be seen by me and my professor, and will not in any way be disclosed to the public. When writing about the interview, I will use a pseudonym instead of your real name so that your identity remains unknown. This interview involves no risk of personal harm to you and will be conducted in a setting and a manner that is most comfortable for you, but if at any time during the interview you begin to feel uncomfortable or unsafe, let me know and we will stop the interview immediately.
If time zones become an issue in setting a date and a time for the interview, I am willing to work according to your schedule.
Thank you in advance! I look forward to hearing from you.
So in the waking world, I'm a German Education major at Bowling Green State University, and I have a course titled "Education in a Pluralistic Society". One of my assignments for this course involves finding someone whose culture is very much different from my own and conducting an interview with them, in order to (as one part of our assignment description puts it) "help us become culturally connected teachers who are sensitive, receptive, knowledgeable, and empathetic to cultural identities and ways of life that are different than our own."
My course is currently defining culture as follows:
"Culture consists of the values, traditions, worldview, and social and political relationships created, shared, and transformed by a group of people bound together by a common history, geographic location, language, social class, religion, or other shared identity. Culture includes not only tangibles such as foods, holidays, dress, and artistic expression but also less tangible manifestations such as communication style, attitudes, values, and family relationships (Nieto & Bode, 2012, p.158).
After carefully thinking about the above definition, I have decided that it would be a good idea for me to interview a Hindu, ideally one who was brought up in the religion and/or has been Hindu for a number of years. The interview would be conducted over Skype or other online calling software, and would last approximately 45 minutes to an hour. With the consent of the interviewee, the interview itself will be recorded so I can eventually write a paper about it. Any personal information you give will be kept strictly confidential, and will only be seen by me and my professor, and will not in any way be disclosed to the public. When writing about the interview, I will use a pseudonym instead of your real name so that your identity remains unknown. This interview involves no risk of personal harm to you and will be conducted in a setting and a manner that is most comfortable for you, but if at any time during the interview you begin to feel uncomfortable or unsafe, let me know and we will stop the interview immediately.
If time zones become an issue in setting a date and a time for the interview, I am willing to work according to your schedule.
Thank you in advance! I look forward to hearing from you.
