Interviewing Katie

Rhianna Solida

SOWK 331-001

Bree Alexander

November 6, 2022
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Reflection of Interview

a. Interview questions (See Appendix A)

b. Interview Content

Through this interview, I was hoping to learn more about how my friend perceives her

own social identities and what she considers to be the most influential identities in her life. I

asked her several questions about her experiences and how they have been formed by her

multiple social identities and how these identities intersect to allow her either privilege or

oppress her. Further, we discussed any challenges or benefits that she has gained through her life

due to these identities and which identities she finds to be the most integral to her personality,

her family, and professional and school lives. Finally, I asked her about what identities she is

most comfortable with, and which ones make her uncomfortable or are most difficult to speak

about. I also asked her to walk me through her thoughts about the Critical Incident Inventory and

how she responds to triggers as well as working through the Social Group Membership profile

and Identity Wheel.

c. Critical Incident Inventory and Trigger Responses

Initially when showing Katie the Critical Incident Inventory, she had a lot of thoughts

about a lot of the questions. Katie identifies as an outspoken individual and states that she prefers

to speak out against injustice rather than avoid any conflict. When asked to tell about a time that

she took action against oppression, she told me that when she first came to college she

experienced a group of white guys talking about a girl who went to school with one of their

friends at The Citadel. They were saying very derogatory things about this girl and expressing

how they wanted her to drop out of school, and one even went so far as to say they hoped that
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she got hurt. This happened at a party and around a lot of people that Katie didn’t know, but she

still chose to speak up. She did tell me that she often lets her anger get the better of her and this

sometimes doesn’t allow for productive conversation, and she did end up yelling at this group of

boys. She said that while she understands this may not have been the most effective way of

fighting this form of gender oppression, she “did her best to make sure that everything [she] said

was more to make them understand how those kinds of things are what gets women killed and

how women deserved to be anywhere they did and how it wasn’t their right to decide where a

woman does and doesn’t belong,” (Nguyen, 2022). She said that while they seemed to be

defensive at first, they eventually sought her out and apologized for their comments, and that she

hopes she could have at least changed the way that they were thinking about that specific

situation.

When I gave Katie the trigger response sheet to look at, she decided that her initial

response to triggers is shock. She said that it tends to catch her off guard when she witnesses

ignorance in 2022. After the initial shock of the trigger, she tends to turn to attack and

confrontation, which can be seen in her answer in the critical incident inventory. She describes

herself as a very headstrong person and as someone who does not back down easily. She stated

that her ideal response would be discussion and that she sometimes is able to accomplish this,

but other times she realizes that her initial reactions get in the way of this.

d. How do my identities influence my understanding of Katie’s social identities and experiences?

While I share some of the same social identities as Katie, there are some social identities

that I will never be able to understand. Katie and I both identify as bisexual, gender conforming

biological females, and young adults, so I relate to her on some of her experiences, but others are

harder for me to understand as we have vastly different experiences and she experiences different
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intersections between her identities as I do. While I am a white woman and I experience

oppression because of my gender, I have privileges because of my race that are not provided to

women of color. Katie is Vietnamese and Korean, and her parents are immigrants. I will never be

able to relate the individual experiences that Katie has encountered due to her race, her parent’s

immigrant status, or her intersectional identity as a woman of color. While I am fully able-

bodied, Katie experiences some disabilities that also affect her work and school lives differently

than I do. So, while we have several similar identities that have allowed us to become such close

friends, there are many different identities that prevent us from being able to fully to comprehend

the specific experiences that have shaped us to be who we are.

Katie’s Social Identities

a. Social Group Membership

Katie identifies as an Asian woman as her parents are immigrants from Vietnam and

South Korea. She identifies with her biological sex, meaning that she is a gender conforming

biological female, who also identifies as bisexual. She identifies as upper middle class because of

the hard work of her parents has provided them with a lot of wealth. Katie is physically able-

bodied, but she is diagnosed with autism and identifies this as a mental disability. Katie says that

she identifies as Buddhist while she does not practice strictly. Katie is 21, meaning that she is a

young adult.

b. Target/Agent Group Status

Katie’s race as an Asian American and gender as a woman provide her with a target

status in these identities. Her sex as a gender conforming biological female and her status as
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upper middle class provide her with privileges which make her an agent in these identities. Her

autism diagnosis and Buddhist identities cause her to face oppression, which makes her a target

in these areas. Her age as a young adult and her sexual orientation can provide her with both

oppression and privilege which makes her both and target and an agent, or a part of the border

group.

c. Identity Wheel (See Appendix B)

d. Self-Awareness of Each Social Identity

Katie says that she is most aware of her identity as an Asian and a woman, and this is

because of her target status in these identities. She says that her next most aware identity is her

identity as a young adult due to the fact that she feels a close connection with other young adults.

Her next most aware identity is her identity as an individual with a disability, because it affects

her when operating at school which is a large part of her life. Next, she is most aware of her

identity as a member of the upper middle class. She says that this identity allows her with

privileges, but that she is not always able to point them out in the moment. Her next most aware

identity is her identity as a bisexual. She did not speak much on this. Her least aware identities

are her identities as a gender conforming biological female and her as a Buddhist. She says that

her identity pertaining to her sex does not make much of a difference when it comes to her

everyday life, and her identity as a Buddhist only matters to her while she is at home.

Integration of Course Concepts

a. Discuss connections between the interview and course content

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Katie’s experience with her religion is one of religious oppression. We learned that

religious oppression could manifest in several different ways, one being a lack of representation

in one’s community and in society. This lack of representation is something that Katie says that

she experiences regularly, and it massively affects her feelings towards her religion and her

capability to practice. Katie is also experiencing marginalization because of her race and her

gender. Her experience in her school makes it hard for her as an Asian woman because her race

and gender are underrepresented and not necessarily taken into account all of the time. Her

ethnicity has also caused her to experience some prejudice that she shared with me. She told me

that some of the things that she participates in because of her Vietnamese culture can open her up

to rude comments or responses be people who do not understand her culture. She also

experiences strain because of her disability. She has a nonvisible disability, and it affects her

experience with school although she does receive accommodations through the disability office

at Clemson. Because her disability is nonvisible, she also struggles with people believing her

because they cannot immediately identify her disability. This is a form of ableism.

Reflection of Assumptions About the Interviewee’s Social Identities

a. What Kind of Assumptions or Biases that I had Before Conducting the Interview and How it

Influenced the Interview Process

Before conducting this interview, I knew that many of Katie and I’s experiences would

be different. I was afraid that I would not understand many of the struggles that she may have

experienced because I have not experienced anything similar. I did expect us to have similar

awareness when it came to our social identities because of how well we get along, and this kind
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of changed how I led that portion of the interview. I talked to her about awareness of identities

under the impression that her awareness would be close to how I understand my own identities,

and I was surprised with how they were similar or different and the conversations that this

activity led to. I also obviously knew that Katie identified as Asian and a woman, and I was right

to assume that she would have experiences that I could not relate to because of my whiteness and

some that I could relate to because of my identity as a woman. I feel like this changed how I

approached the interview because I was more comfortable in asking the questions about the

identities that I can relate to and had a harder time vocalizing my questions about the identities

that I was ignorant about. I also realized my ignorance when it came to some of her experiences,

especially because I have never asked Katie these kinds of questions before, and in fact I tended

to avoid some of these topics in order to “be respectful”.

b. What Kinds of Assumptions that Katie had Before Conducting the Interview and How it

Influenced the Interview Process

Katie said that, like me, she assumed that I would not be able to understand some of her

experiences because of the differences in our social identities. I feel like this caused her to be

clearer about the answers to the questions where we held different identities. This did not affect

me negatively and I actually really appreciated it. She also seemed to be pretty coy when it came

to talking about her financial status, and I believe that to be because she knows that I grew up

with a much different experience in this regard. Because of this, we did not really talk too much

about her social identity when it came to this status.

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Appendix

Appendix A

How do you describe your social identities and which of those social identities are you most
aware?

Which social identities do you think have shaped your experience in society the most and
were those experiences positive or negative?

How aware are you of other social identities that don’t apply to you and how have your
social identities shaped your interactions with those of other identities?

What are some challenges you have faced because of your social identities?

Which of your identities are you most comfortable with and which are you least?
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Appendix B

Gender Conforming
Bio Female-A

Buddhist-T

Asian-T

Bisexual-T/A
Woman-T

Up Mid Class-A

Disability-T Young Adult-T/A