Jamierin Walters

TnL 339
Campus Survey

Question 1: How do you define “culture”? What defines your culture?

Question 2: How do you define “race”? What is your race?
Question 3: How do you define “ethnicity”? Of what ethnicity are you?
Question 4: Define “stereotype.” Describe some stereotypes you have about people from other
cultures, races, or ethnicities. Where did you learn these stereotypes?

Person 1:

1. Culture is a set of practices and norms by a certain group that creates a sense of
commonality and shared identity. What defines her culture is difficult for her because she
is biracial and third gen and her parents were so far from their culture.
2. Race is a socially constructed process that is used to categorize people. Filipino and
Black.
3. Ethnicity is closer to culture. She considers herself mixed.
4. Stereotypes are biases towards a certain group that is not necessarily true for everyone.
Some stereotypes are none. She is a CES major so she knows better than to believe in
stereotypes.

Person 2:

1. Culture is something that you were raised in which contains your beliefs, and religion.
What defines her culture is a variety of foods, family, music, and Catholicism.
2. Race is where you were born and where your ancestors came from. Hispanic.
3. Ethnicity is going back to the culture you were raised in and where your parents came
from. Mexican.
4. Stereotype is categorizing people because of their religion, ethnicity, race, what they look
like and sexual orientation. How they look, tries to guess what race/ethnicity they are.
Learned them from society.

Person 3:

1. Culture is something that defines a person through what they practice, their beliefs, their
traditions, and even what they eat. What defines his culture is how his parents raised him
and how his family’s beliefs and traditions shaped who he is today.
2. Race is what you are made up of, where you can trace your ancestors to. French and
German.
3. Ethnicity is what you identify yourself as a whole. European.
4. Stereotypes are preconceived ideas and opinions towards a certain person or a group of
people. Some stereotypes are that Asians are typically smarter than any other races.
Learned this from society.

Person 4:
 1. Culture is your surroundings that make up your personality. What defines her culture is
the people that surrounds her and the traditions that she holds.
2. Race is what you identify with on a national level. White/ American/ Caucasian.
3. Ethnicity is where you come from based on ancestry. European and Jewish.
4. Stereotypes are the ideas that people associate with you before knowing you. Jewish
people are greedy with money, Americans are all fat and loves guns, South Americans
love to party, and Asians are good at math. Learned them from word of mouth, social
media, people that the stereotypes affected.

Person 5:

1. Culture defines who someone is based on their experiences dealing with traditions,
beliefs, and many other things. What defines her culture is her religion and continuous
influences provided by her mom.
2. Race is a key aspect in being able to trace their ancestry and where their family first came
from. Filipino, Chinese, English, French, and Czechoslovakian.
3. Ethnicity is what defines you as a whole. What defines someone on a bigger scale.
Filipino American.
4. Stereotypes are predetermined ideas towards an individual or group of people that may
not be true. Some stereotypes are that Filipinos are great at singing, Germans are scary,
and Asians are smart. Learned these from society and social media.
Reflection:

From all of the people that I interviewed, the responses to the questions were basically on

the same page. Although the first person I asked, had more precise responses due to the fact that

she is a Comparative Ethnic Studies major so she has learned many concepts dealing with this

topic. For some people, it was more difficult to articulate what their definition of culture, race,

ethnicity, and stereotype. Or how to differentiate race from ethnicity because it is typically the

same thing since it is referring to what you identify as. Culture was easier for people to define

because it is based on your surroundings, how you were raised, and the foods that are always

made within the household. When it came to stereotypes, there was a more diverse definition

coming from the people I interviewed but they were basically the same answers, just worded

differently. Within society, there are many stereotypes towards everyone whether it be their race,

what they look like, or what they act like. Stereotyping usually happens because people lumps

everyone with the same characteristics to make identification easier although it is incorrect on a

case by case basis due to everyone is not the same (Andrews 131). When I asked where everyone

got these stereotypes from, the majority responded saying that they learned the stereotypes they

know of from either society aka their surroundings or they learned it from watching TV. TV has

a huge impact on daily lives and what people say because of the over generalizing of each race

within the shows or movies. Also TV brings forth trendy language that viewers gain and the

overgeneralization of each type of person and race (Andrews 106). Overall, depending on who

they are and how they were raised, they have different views and concepts dealing with race,

ethnicity, culture, and stereotypes.