Race and Ethnicity
My ethnicity is the social grouping that I belong on the basis of language, ancestry, culture and national heritage. In most cases, my ethnicity is linked to my country of origin. Other people thus view me as a representative of that country in the social group that I find myself in. One distinguishing factor about my ethnicity is the fact that it is inherited. That means my family’s country of origin is included. Furthermore, my ethnicity is grounded in the society in which I live.
A multiethnic background is all about having a mixed background. In other words, it is about having parents from different racial or national origins. While the world is fast moving towards a more fluid society where racial lines are not necessary, I do not consider myself multiethnic.
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In most of the times, I find myself interacting more with people from my ethnic group. However, that does not mean others I do not interact with those from other groups. One of my friends is German, and another is Spanish. The issue of ethnicity does affect our interactions. I guess the things that we have in common such as our perspective regarding our ethnicity in relation to the global society is what makes us tick.
Cultural competence is a common term in literature discussing contemporary workplaces. Essentially, working with people from diverse backgrounds adds value to a group - in this case, fellow workmates. There is a strong emphasis for future employers to recruit culturally competent candidates. Therefore, it is imperative for one to be competent in working within a multicultural environment. In spite of this, our society is increasingly becoming culturally and ethnically diverse. This means that people are now living in a society where people from different nationalities, cultures, and social experiences are now living together. Therefore, most of us are now prepared to work within an increasingly diverse workplace. For example, my interaction with my best friends that are from Germany and Spain is without challenges. The issue of apparent differences never comes up. What matters is what we share in common. How we can be of help with each other in reaching common goals and appreciate each other. I think the requirement for cultural competence and our now diverse society has prepared me to work in a diverse workplace.
There are several steps I can follow to be better prepared to interact with individuals from different backgrounds in my profession. The first step is making decisions to start friendships with people from diverse cultures. This includes joining sports teams or move to a neighbourhood with people from a different culture from mine.
The next step will be to place myself in situations that I will meet individuals from a different culture. The best one is where I will be the minority. This can be celebrations or religious meetings of the groups I want to know. Doing this several times will ensure I understand them and be able to appreciate them better.
Lastly, I can examine my biases and determine where they originate from. No one can say they do carry misinformation about people from other cultures. In most cases, this misinformation is from our upbringing. Among the best way to interrogate the biases is to discuss them with others from my culture; how the stereotypes were acquired and how to best deal with them.
