Running head: ABC PROJECT

ABC Project: Cross Cultural Analysis Between Two Different but Similar Individuals
Derek Smith
University at Buffalo
ELP 582: Multicultural Education- Theory and Practice
March 24, 2016

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Todays society is becoming more diverse than ever. It is even more important now as
educators that we provide the opportunity and foundation for students to learn about their
identities and how they are similar and different than others. In this paper I will first discuss my
life journey followed by an interview with my participant named Katie. I will then complete
the paper with a cross-cultural analysis of both of our experiences in relation to relevant
literature.
Autobiography
My name is Derek Smith and I was born and raised in Southern California. I am from a
small city in Orange County, named Fountain Valley. My family is very complex because of my
parents divorce at an early age of five years old. My mother is Greek and Spanish and my father
is African American. I have a biological older brother who is a teacher, a half brother who is just
starting college, and an older step sister who is in medical school. With my parents divorce at an
early age, I was able to develop a close relationship with my stepmother and stepsister which is
important within our family dynamic. The divorce at an early age shaped who I am as a person
and how I view many of the relationships I have, interactions with people, and compassion for
certain things. Most people see me as only being African American based on my skin color, but I
really do embrace my other identities that people do not know about me, and not necessarily just
race and ethnicity. Being multiracial has been a challenge nonetheless. As a child, I immediately
knew I was different than everyone else because of the fact that my brother and I were the only
people of color within our extended family. We were not really accepted because my mother had
children with a black man and that was not accepted or heard of within her family. Interracial
marriage and couples were not mainstream and something very taboo. I also experienced this
feeling of being different in high school. I went to a predominately white high school in Fountain

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Valley, California. My societal surroundings shaped who I had become as a high school student,
it influenced how I acted, what brands of clothing I bought, what latest gadgets I wanted, and
some of my personal interest. This created an internal conflict with myself as well as an external
conflict with peers. For myself, I struggled in trying to fit in with the dominant majority group of
students. Externally, the white students saw my skin color and did not embrace me as one of their
own. Similarly, the African American students did not think I was black enough to be a part of
their crowd. I would constantly hear things such as why are you trying to be white? Why do you
have on skateboarding brand clothing? Why dont you listen to rap music? However, those
experiences allowed me to be in the middle and come to the realization now that there does not
need to be a side to be chosen. Growing up, I was heavily involved in sports-basketball,
baseball, soccer, karate! For me, being involved on different sports teams was the first time that I
actually got to interact and make the connections that I did with people that were different from
myself and the first time that I actually understood what it meant to appreciate and be
understanding of different cultures. I attended undergrad at California State University, Fullerton
where I obtained a degree in Business Administration. It was at Cal State Fullerton where I really
came to understand what it truly meant to be appreciative of differences on a deeper and more
intentional level. Through my involvement in the Associated Students Incorporated, one
particular experience transformed my view of how bias I was of certain people and
circumstances without fully being aware of it. Through my experience in student government in
interacting with a diverse student population, it has led me to pursue a career in higher education.
Knowing that I can create environments on a campus where students can feel safe, welcome, and
appreciated through initiatives and policies that I can be involved with was something that
intrigued me. After my undergrad, I made the move across the country to attend the University at

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Buffalo for my masters degree in Higher Education-Student Affairs. Prior to attending the
University at Buffalo, I had no idea what to expect. I was told however, to move far away from
home when getting my masters degree so that I could learn more about different students, learn
about myself, and make more connections. To date, those have all been true. Being in Buffalo
has been a rollercoaster of a ride but it has taught me to recognize differences amongst students
that I would have not been able to, if I stayed home in California. I have learned so much about
being independent and how my family values and past experiences have shaped the way that I
continue to live my life. Growing up in a poor-middle class household, we were never allowed to
use the dishwater for it would waste too much water and the water bill would be too high to pay.
Although as a child, I would long for the day to use a simple machine that would clean the dishes
for me, instead of washing them by hand, I find that I still have the same mentality unknowingly
that my mother had once instilled in me. Little reminders of how I operate can be traced back to
the environment that I was once brought up in.
Being in a position where I am a multiracial male has surprisingly given me instances
where I have experienced privilege as well as times that I have been marginalized. I have been
privileged in the sense that I can pass meaning I can get by using the color of my skin to get
away in certain circumstances that individuals darker than me wouldnt normally have the
privilege to. Being with my mother who is fair skin, green eyes, English speaking, and able
bodied has allowed me to associate myself with groups that I believe individuals of color would
not have been as privileged to. In high school, I had the opportunity to attend an underprivileged
high or a high school that was more privileged. Through an interview screening I honestly think
that because of the way that my mom looked, I was able to attend the more privileged high
school. Being a male has also given me a lot of privilege. Walking to my car late at night after a

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10 oclock class does not make me anxious in which I question my surroundings and my safety
because I do identify with being a male. This differs from classmates who identify as females
who have personally asked for a walking partner to their cars because they are scared of being
attacked or feel uncomfortable and vulnerable. One particular instance where I have been
marginalized that stands out, was a trip that I took to Greece. Given that I am part Greek, I was
excited to explore where my grandfather originated from. However, I got a rude awakening when
I was walking down the street and some lady called me a nigger straight to my face and gave
me the middle finger. I think this particular instance resonates because although I am part Greek,
again she judged me and marginalized me for my black identity.
Biography: Katie (pseudo name)
Katie was born in Skenetichedy NY June 10 1993 where she lived there for three years.
She then moved to Clarence in Buffalo in 1997 where she was about 2 years old. Katie then
spend the rest of her life in Clarence NY. In Clarence there are two types of people, the inner part
is really rich and materialistic and care about belonging and status, whereas the outer edge, upper
middle class, people were more genuine, less materialistic and hardworking. The outer edge
folks of Clarence, NY do not care about brand name items. Associated with the town of Clarence
is a bad reputation as being rich, snobby, and racist. This is the reason why Katie says she is from
Buffalo and not Clarence to avoid the stereotypes. Katies Grandparents on fathers side is 50
percent Irish and they are really into Irish culture. OHammills were switched to Hammills,
when her family first came to America in which they were forced to drop the O to assimilate to
American culture. Katies mothers side of the family is a mixture of nationalities. Her mothers
side of the family prides themselves on being Native American because the family history and
traditions have been passed down from generation to generation. Katie mentioned that she does

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not really relate to any part of the ethnicity strongly and that she is open to learning about other
cultures. She does not have a sense of pride with her own ethnicity which makes her not closed
off from learning about others. Her identity does not affect world view, as she likes learning
about other cultures. She stated I am not connected to Irish like I dont say Irish are the best
its not like that. Katie was referring to her celebrating Irish traditions but not feeling like she is
better than anyone because of her ethnicity. Katie discussed her childhood and mentioned that
she was a member of 4h, a youth organization for boys and girls that focused on developing life
skills. Her organization met once or twice a month to do projects that revolved around life skills
such as sewing, cooking, wood work, and electricity. A large part of the life skills was public
speaking where they prepared demonstrations about their life skills project and they got
critiqued. A lot of the 4h was also community service, which was a really awesome experience
for Katie. She also raised lambs and took them to the fair and sold them for meat. She is the
person she is today because of the service work she participated in. She fell in love with the
human relations and people field because of 4h. Katie loves music and was given the opportunity
to play the piano and cello. Katie attended SUNY Fredonia and was a psychology major to help
people, but as graduation got closer she did not have a passion for psychology and ended up
getting involved with the student affairs field through being a Resident Assistant and found her
path and calling and dedicated everything to that career goal moving forward.
Educational environments before college presented her with some challenges.
Elementary and Middle school were tough times because her teachers were awful. Katies
brother got teachers he wanted which provided him with a different experience. Katies parents
helped with homework and giving her extra homework so that she would stay on track within her
grade level and if not push her ahead of her class- they wanted her to continue learning even if it

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was outside the classroom. Katies parents bought math workbooks to help supplement her
learning and she knew how to work independently because her teachers did not teach her. Katie
attended Clarence High School which to her was clicky. She mentioned that the girls were
very catty and her parents never liked her high school friends because she had to prove her
friends to parents. In high school she surrounded her self with the guys to avoid the conflicts
with girls.
Reflecting on her high school days, Katie mentioned that it was a great experience looking back
but she wasnt in the greatest environment because everything was competitive and cut throat
and she could not be herself until college.
Katies home life was great! She had her brother and great circle of friends. She was apart
of a lot of the same clubs as her brother and drove to school together, they even ended up going
to the same college. Her parents were wonderful and as a family they would eat dinner at the
dinner table every night and have conversations about everyones day. Her parents came to every
musical concert and were very involved with the schools. Her mom was involved in all aspects
of her life which contributed to her close family dynamics. Katie learned French and was really
great at it pursued it in grades 7th, 8th, and 9th and dropped it because she got into the highest
chorus group at Clarence high school and she did not want to pass up that opportunity. In college
she took a language for requirements and took Spanish and did not find a connection or enjoy it.
She went abroad twice and did not use it the first time. She went to Paris the second time and
used the French language she learned when talking to the natives.
Katie worked a lot growing up. She started at a family-friends ran farm. She did farm life
tours and shared agriculture facts to showcase the life of a farmer. She also worked as a cashier
at the farm. For five years she worked at a pizzeria and it was awful because the people were

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duds and on drugs and it motivated her to continue her college degree and they took advantage
of her. She learned to stick up for herself through that experience. Managers took advantage of
her because she was reliable and would get things done. She learned when to say no and on a
professional level she got what she needed to learn. She also was a Resident Assistant through
college. She worked on six different staffs and she learned to work with everyone she didnt like
which led her to her professional goals.
Katies beliefs and values were influenced by different environments growing up. Church
and religion was a huge belief in her family and once she got to college it was out the window
because she didnt have the need or want to go to church service. Freshman year, she did not
have a group to go with. During her sophomore, junior, and senior year her social life was more
of a priority. Reflecting back she mentioned that she was involved in church because of the
people- so it was mainly social and once she started college she felt no obligation because of no
friends to attend with her. Katie values family and friends a lot! In addition, she values life long
learning and open mindedness. Katies real world experience with friends were tough. She was
hurt by many relationships and thats why she values her family because they are the stability in
her life. Losing friends in high school and finding her people, she was overjoyed when she found
people who liked her for her -its a true friendship that she hadnt had. Her life hash tag:
whatever you are be a good one. She follows this through her lifes journey.
Some major life events that have contributed to who Katie is today is the passing of her
moms best friend. Her moms best friend had a lung transplant which did not work. Katie was a
sophomore in high school and was not okay with the whole situation and she was scared. Her
mothers friend called the house to talk to her mom and she pretended not to know who was on
the phone. It was the biggest regret in her life which changed her mindset. This is why she is an

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open book and why she makes the most of the situation and why she tells everyone what is going
on.
Katies grandpa passing away was another life changing event which brought her closer to her
grandma because she was depressed at the time. They could talk for hours whereas before she
and her grandmother would not have talked. Her residence life staff at Fredonia is another big
influence on her life. During her freshman year of college she didnt have the greatest group of
friends. Her first Resident Assistant staff pointed that out. Her life changed in so many ways
because she started breaking the rules it really allowed her to explore herself and build
relationships with other people and dating for the first time. She went through a lot of difficult
situations with them. Katie likes to keep an open mind and that helps with strangers and that
gives people the benefit of the doubt and she likes learning and hearing peoples stories. It allows
her to be open and have a great time with people. Katie is very loving and over the top and her
friends know how she feels about them but also if she doesnt like someone she will be open
with them.
Cross Cultural Analysis
In relation to myself the interviewee grew up in a predominately Caucasian area where
most of her neighbors were wealthy and considered themselves middle to high class. The
privilege of being able to attend a school in a wealthy area provided the interviewee with many
more opportunities such as new equipment in the classrooms, new books, and after school
programs and resources. Different from my own experiences in where the school I attended had a
lack of funding to provide such resources-it was more difficult. In general, higher class status
correlates with high levels of educational attainment (Knapp and Woolverton, 1999). The
interview was consistent with data from both of our experiences. A cross cultural analysis

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highlights the key points of access. Having more access in a wealthy area in turn provides these
students to succeed by providing them with better resources. Whereas, less resources and access
to information does not stop one from succeeding. However, it puts up barriers to people to
succeed. For Katie, the opportunity to study abroad in high school was another opportunity of
privilege based on resources that she was offered. Her study abroad experience in France gave
her so much insight as to other opportunities and ways of life that one would not have gotten
elsewhere. Class plays into the ways that we are taught in terms of content and style and
classroom control (Knapp and Woolverton, 1999). In the cross cultural analysis it was interesting
to see that although Katie did not have a great experience with her in class learning, she was still
provided the resources outside the classroom to succeed with the purchase of extra books and
materials. Classism was a big factor for Katie. Although she grew up and was provided with
more resources than I did because of her families wealth, as an adult she prefers not to identify as
being wealthy. The way in which we differ is that I would prefer to identify as being middle class
because of more opportunities whereas she does not want the negative stigma associated with
higher class folks which I think is very interesting.
For the interviewee growing up in an Irish and German household, was very influential
on her upbringing when thinking about her values and beliefs. She had a two parent household
were both parents worked and instilled religious faith into their everyday life. They would attend
church together, eat dinner as a family every night, and attend faith based classes during the
week (interdependence). Gorski (2008) discussed the myths of poverty in which one being the
lack of involvement amongst poorer households because they do not value their childrens
education. In analyzing both Katie and Is experiences, given that I was raised by a single parent,
my mother was constantly working to support the household. Therefore she was not as involved

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as Katies parents who went to every school performance or volunteered in the classroom. My
mother worked late hours and was not as involved with my daily homework because as a family,
we were trying to make it financially. One of the values that was instilled in me as a child was
the value of education which proves to show that the reality of parental involvement is a
challenge when access and societal barriers are in place for families trying to survive. The
importance of sitting down and eating dinner as a family is a reality for many. The simple fact
that as a family Katie was able to converse and feel the presence of her mother, father, and
brother every night at the same time is a sense of privilege. Growing up in a divorced household,
it was tough not having a fatherly presence constantly around. It was difficult when teachers in
elementary would portray the stereotypical household of a mom, dad, and child as an example of
the perfect household when that was not the case for me. Another difference is the influence of
family on religion. The literature on religion by Gollnick & Chin (2008) discuss the individual
identity. Although we were both brought up in a religious household, it was interesting to see
how Katie did not feel pressured by her family to practice her faith once she started to discover
who she really was as a person.
Although Katie is white, her grandparents were forced to assimilate into the American
culture when they came to the United States. They were forced to drop the O in front of their
last name. In relation to myself, it was very similar in the way that my grandparents were forced
to take the last name of white slave owners in the south. I think this was a great point to analyze
because many will think that because Katie is white that she was never oppressed or never had
any struggles in life. Although her privilege has given her some benefits over someone of color,
her family too had struggles. The article by Schmitz (2004) titled Womens Studies and
Curriculum Transformation in the United States presents a cross cultural analysis in a new way.

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In tying race and gender into the analysis we cannot simply categorize every white person and
say that they have privilege and have never been oppressed which goes for the same as gender
within specific ethnicities. We cannot simply just say every womens oppression is the same as
each other. As researchers and educators we need to understand the struggles of oppression
within each contextual identity and not label one another.
As a women, Katie constantly would have people doubt her and her abilities. The
participant contributed this to her dualistic mind frame of taking everything in and not
questioning reality. In relation to Clinchy (2002) Womens Ways of knowing, the Received
Knowing person takes the information as is and as face value. Katie discovered who she really
was while attending college and engaging with others different than her own which changed
what she actually valued in life, which is to appreciate others. In relation to myself, I too was a
received knower through a very different experience of playing sports. On a sports team, I was
always told which play or strategy that we needed to do from the coach. In a sense we were both
sheltered from thinking multiplisitcally. For myself, it was not until college where I started to
shift away from the received knowing phase and started to accept and question things that other
peers contributed to.
One obvious theme that Katie and I differ upon is perceived race. My skin color is a lot
darker than her although I have some European ancestry in me as well. I am constantly thinking
about my race and ethnicity everywhere I go. For Katie, her race and ethnicity has never been an
issue, but class has. In tying into the linguistics color blind and Katies awareness of class, it has
led me to draw that she has the privilege of saying that she is middle class when in reality she is
upper class and would prefer not to talk about it. She has the privilege of not discussing class
with folks because she can move up and down the classism spectrum-it is still a privilege that she

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has. A poorer person will have a much harder time identifying as upper class when in reality they
are not (Bonilla-Silva, 2002). The way in which this ties to the race literature is that people who
are color blind to race and avoid terminology or use it in a way that makes them seem not a part
of the certain group when in reality they are.
Conclusion
The experiences that both Katie and I had in our life journey presented many similarities
as well as differences. The way in which we view and analyze certain experiences in more depth
through a cross-cultural lens highlights the deeper meaning behind those experiences. Having a
deeper understanding then leads us student affairs professionals to work with students across a
broad spectrum and have the ability to make connections amongst individuals who may seem
different then us on the surface level but similar once we are able to understand their lifes story.

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References
Bonilla-Silva, E. (2002). The linguistics of colorblind racism: How to talk nasty about blacks
without sounding "racist". Critical Sociology, 28(1-2), 41-64.
Clinchy, B. M. (2002). Revisiting women's ways of knowing. In B. M. Hofer & P.
R. Pintrich (Eds.), Personal epistemology: The psychology of beliefs about knowledge
and knowing (pp. 63-87). New York: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Gollnick, D. M., & Chinn, E. (2013). Religion. In Multicultural education in a pluralistic
society (9th ed., pp. 236-277). New York: Pearson Education.
Gorski, P. (2008). The myth of the "culture of poverty". Educational Leadership, 65(7), 32-36.
Knapp, M. S., & Woolverton, S. (2004). Social class and schooling. In J. A. Banks & C. A. M.
Banks (Eds.), Handbook of research on multicultural education (2nd ed., pp. 656-680).
San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Schmitz, B., Butler, J. E., Guy-Sheftall, B., & Rosefelt, D. (2004). Women's studies and
curriculum transformation in the United States. In J. A. Banks & C. A. M. Banks
(Eds.), Handbook of research on multicultural education (2nd ed., pp. 882-905). San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.