Who am I? Identity Dialogue

Subgroup Size

Small Group

Duration

1 hour

External Cost

No

Lesson Plan

Source

Adapted by Chuck Calahan from Ting-Toomey, S. & Chung, L. (2013, July). Who am I? Identity dialogue [Workshop]. Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication, Portland, OR, United States.

 

The origin of this activity is debated, but what appears to be an early version is available in the following:

Paige, R.M., Cohen, A.D., Kappler Mikk, B., Chi, J.C., Lassegard, J.P. (2002). Discovering your cultural diversity. In R.M. Paige, A.D. Cohen, B. Kappler Mikk, J.C. Chi, & J.P. Lassegard (Eds.), Maximizing study abroad: A program professional's guide to strategies for language and culture learning and use (p. 187). Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition.

Tags:

  1. identity
  2. leadership
  3. self-awareness
  4. values

Mick Vande Berg has a similar activity called "Identity: My Culturally Diverse Heritage." The Instructions and Handout for this activity are also included in Downloads. They are titled as "Identity Circle Activity Diagram" and "Identity Circles."

Students sometimes struggle to come up with 12 identities for this activity. To help them better conceptualize their own identity markers, facilitators may choose to show them the YouTube video titled "Before You Call the Cops - The Tyler Merrill Project" (Links). Facilitators can also use this video as a way to discuss how minority identities are often perceived in a way that is dangerous and discriminatory.