Cultural plunge

For this assignment, you will engage in a “cultural plunge.” This is an opportunity to gain awareness and exposure to a diverse group or culture that you are unfamiliar with. Broad definitions of culture apply race, ethnicity, religion, class, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, ability, religion, gender identity, national origin, and others.

It should involve some type of exposure and direct involvement with the cultural group that you chose.  It is expected that you will feel outside of your “comfort zone” by this experience.  For example, attend a religious service of a different faith, go to a neighborhood festival, spend the day with the homeless, go to an LGBTQ event, attend a cultural festival or parade, etc.

1. Select one cultural group of interest to “plunge.” “Culture” can be defined in several ways. You will select cultural groups that are most different from your own, or a group to which you have been least exposed.
2. Exploring a culture different from your own can be a culturally enriching experience. It can encourage you to explore a cultural group that you have always wondered about but have somehow never had much chance to interact with.

Discussion Presentation: Answer the following questions:

(1) why you chose this cultural group and experience; (2) a brief description of the experience; (3) information about the selected cultural group; (4) biases, opinions and/or misconceptions you had about the culture before the cultural plunge, and how these may have changed afterwards; (5) your reactions before, during, and after the experience; (6) what did you learn? (7) how this learning may be useful when functioning as a human services professional in an agency setting.