Julie Steinberg

September 18, 2014

C&T 5037
Reflection: Identity Map

Spaces, Places, and Identities: Mapping My Identity

I have to admit, when given the assignment to make a map of my various

identities across the contexts I pass throughout the week, and to read three important, yet
quite long professional readings, I jumped into the map first. I was excited to think about
who I am in different spaceshow I see myself, and how others may see me.
I started mapping simply by thinking about all the roles I take on in my new life
as a teacher, who is now a student again, in a brand new place: New York City. Putting
these roles on paper helped me to think about where and when my identity and roles
change and where they seem to be very much intertwined. At the top of my map, I
showed that across all contexts I identified with the same few characteristics: young,
white, adult, woman, privileged. However, as I thought more deeply about the ways I
actually feel when in different places, I realized that from one context to the next, the
meaning of some of those identities changed. For example, this identity of young, white,
woman, and privileged holds trueits how I see myself as I walk down the streets of
New York City. But, as I strive to look and act confident, this identity as a young, white,
woman often causes me worry and insecure feelings of vulnerability. However, once
inside Teachers College, this identity remains the same, but instead becomes comfortable.
I realize that part of the comfort could be that here at Teachers College, I also become a
teacher, student, learner, thinker, and reflector, like so many others around me. After
reading McIntoshs White Privilege and reflecting on my map and these feelings, I
further considered why my feelings change in certain spaces. If I was walking down the

streets of New York City and everyone was a woman, I would not feel vulnerable.
Perhaps, as McIntosh discusses, in my other daily experiences and spaces I may be taking
my privileges for granted.
After reading I also began reflecting on the roles I listed as comprising my own
identity, in comparison to the somewhat heavier influences of race, gender, and as
Gonzalaz discusses in Beyond Culture, the varying definitions of culture. I thought
about our class discussion last week related to culture, and how I have always felt that I
was not one with culture, compared to others. I considered my religion my culture, and
I stuck Jewish on my map. Being Jewish is an identity I feel at home with my family,
and somewhat at Teachers College too, since sharing the meaning of my name with my
colleagues.
It was through our class discussion I realized we all have culture we just need
to shift our thinking from the existing norms about what is different and what is
culture. When reading Gonzalezs article, I was able to reflect more about the
implications of this shift in thinking related to my teaching. I found it particularly
powerful when Gonzalez said, we, as teachers, have to lay out these implications and
think deeply and thoughtfully about the ways in which our use of theory [of culture] will
affect real students in real classrooms. . . and called this our ultimate responsibility
(Gonzalez 40).
Maybe the identities we give ourselves help us belong in the spaces we pass
through, or inversely, can make us feel like outsiders. I wonder about Christina, from
Zachers article, and the ways she identified to gain a sense of belonging and power in
her world. Connecting to my map and my identities across the week, I thought about

how and when I do the same: try to belong as my identity, or feel safe and comfortable in
that I do belong.