Chapter One
Who You Are Is How You See Others:
Understanding Your Identity and Working Scross Difference

Your identity is always evolving and changing. Attending university or college, for instance, may have changed the way you think about yourself and who you are. Similarly, participating in an international work, study, research or volunteer experience may have given you new perspectives on who you are. Your identity is comprised of both cultural and social elements. Cultural elements are related to shared group norms often passed on from one generation to the next, whereas social elements are related to socially constructed groups you identify with. Most overlap to a certain extent. Ethnicity, as an example, combines both cultural and social elements.

While travelling abroad, some aspects of your social-cultural identity may shape your experience in unexpected ways. For example, they may influence how you are treated and perceived abroad or shape your sense of belonging. Black students going to study in Ghana may have a whole different experience of their racial identity than when they are in Canada. A Queer student in Iceland during Pride week may discover a new sense of belonging in their host community.

By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:

1. Define culture and intercultural competence.
2. Discuss how various aspects of your social/cultural identity have influenced your career development, planning, and decision making.
3. List your identity elements and describe how identity influences how you see others and how others see you, and your ability to value and navigate differences in the workplace.
4. Reflect on your social/cultural identity and how your identity affects your ability to value and navigate differences.

We’ll explore identity and its connection to intercultural competency skills later in this chapter, but first, let’s talk about what we mean by culture.