LASA 1: Cultural Autobiography Discussion

The purpose of this assignment is to illustrate recognition of your own cultural background and how your worldview has been shaped by your family, role models and life experiences. This autobiography will help you express an appreciation for your own cultural identity and discover potential areas of development.

Begin by defining individuals that you consider family members. This includes, for example, parents or guardians, siblings and/or grandparents. Important information about these individuals includes places of birth, travel (if any), age, spiritual/religious beliefs, occupation, educational history, ethnicity, birth order, etc. In this description include the cultural heritage each individual and summarize the belief system of your family in general, including specific family values, religious and cultural practices, ceremonies, beliefs, and holiday celebrations. If possible, interview these individuals in an effort to gain new insight into your cultural heritage.

Next critically evaluate experiences in which you feel have had significant relevance in your multicultural development. Include both positive and negative experiences if applicable.

After taking a look at these influencing factors, critically examine and discuss who you are as a cultural being, including your racial identity. Think about your own development, functioning, values, behaviors and worldview and how you feel your family history, chosen role models, and experiences have shaped you. Describe how your life would be different had these cultural influences not been there. Be sure to include a description of interpersonal expectations for yourself and lifestyle choices. Finally, having taken a close look at your cultural autobiography, include potential biases which may influence how you interact with others. This could include, for example, favoring individuals of your own heritage or unconscious biases towards a certain cultural group.

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You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.