Microcultures

At the international school where I work, I recently noticed an interesting phenomenon.  There are three female friends who don't fit the usual patterns.  Now, normally the students group themselves according to language or level.  For example, either the Koreans hang out with other Koreans, or the low-level English speakers stick together.

Not with these three.  Two are low-level English speakers, one is advanced.  One comes from the Dominican Republic, one from Portugal, and the other from Mali.  Two are in their 20s, one is in her 30s.  Two are Christian, one is Muslim.  There are other Spanish, French, and Portuguese speakers around, so why do these three hang out together?  If you saw them, you might understand.

They are the only Black girls in our school.

Now for some reason, their commonality of skin color and gender has overcome the usual social and language barriers.  Something about the experiences they share draws them together, and it's enough to start a friendship.

Think Small
Over the past couple of years, I've developed the concept of “microcultures.”  We generally talk about cultures and subcultures (like the American culture and the African-American subculture), but working with international students has shown these divisions to not be sufficient.  There needs to be one more level of division.

We all belong to multiple microcultures, and just like cultures and subcultures, each microculture influences us in different ways.  For instance, my WASP background gave me one set of values, while my experience as an ESL teacher gives me another.  I'm a college graduate and tend to associate with other educated people, but at the same time, I lived in Brazil, so I love to hang out with the Brasileiros, educated or not.

There are two teachers at our school that I often talk to.  One is a recently-married White American male who has no kids.  The other is a single Black female from the Bahamas.  Which one do I gravitate towards?  Although my life experience has been very similar to the male's, I feel a deeper kinship with the teacher from the Bahamas.  Why?  Because we are both Gen-Xers who are borderline Millenials.  We both remember G.I. Joe and Transformers as cartoons.  We remember the fall of the Berlin wall.  The other male teacher is about 5 years younger, and it's enough to change the dynamics between us.

What am I?
So which culture do I come from?  A better question is which microcultures.  I'm not just a White American.  I'm also a college graduate, Humanities major, ESL teacher, advisor, middle class, married, Oregonian, Gen-Xer, male, small-town type, mountain unicyclist . . .  All of these have influenced me in different ways, and are part of my personal culture.

What does this have to do with job hunting?  I'll explain that in another post.  For now, just ask yourself, which microcultures do you belong to, and how have these influenced you?