Intercultural Analysis on Race and Skin Color

This paper analyzes the issue of race and skin color in an intercultural context. It includes an interview with a black student who was adopted by a white family and lives in an all-white neighborhood. The analysis covers issues of identity, language barrier, and discrimination.

Running head: INTERCULTURAL ANALYSIS 1
Intercultural Analysis
Institution’s Name:
Student’s Name:

INTERCULTURAL ANALYSIS 2
INTRODUCTION
Race and Skin Color
We live in a world today where we find ourselves in situations that we might find compromising
or not fair to ourselves at all. The idea of intercultural is a human being able to live with or be
around people whom the person thinks is somehow different from himself perhaps due to the
skin color, gender, religion, physical appearance, and other factors. This paper is giving an
analysis of a situation of the race where a student used to conduct an interview gave his remarks
on his opinion over how his skin color has made him different in the eyes of everyone.
The issue of racism around the world does not come as a surprise. This is because many parts of
the world have experienced the cases of racism whereby majority discriminate the rest due to
their skin color. My analysis comes from conducting an interview with a black student who lives
in an all-white neighborhood as he was adopted by a white family from Africa when he was little
(Landis, Bennett, Bennett, 2009).
The first problem we had to tackle was the issue of identity where I had to know from my
informer how he identifies himself when living with a white couple in a neighborhood where all
the rest have problems with skin color. It is, therefore, a challenge having to grow up in such a
community where no one is welcoming and nice to you except our own family (Knowles, 2010).
The issue of identity was therefore addressed by the client where he responded that support from
his family made him go through the phase of an identity crisis as with a supportive family one
can accomplish anything (Jackson, 2014).
It is discriminating having to live with people who are not like you especially as a child since in
that age what a child needs is someone who can understand him and probably speak the same

INTERCULTURAL ANALYSIS 3
language but this was not the case here (Deissler, 2010). As a child, therefore, the only thing one
can do is distance oneself from the rest of the family as this child is considering them as not
being part of the family. This is exactly what my informer did when he was a child and this
caused him to develop psychological issues like depression while young (Cantle, 2012).
The issue of a language barrier was also experienced in this scenario as the interviewee was born
and raised in Africa until he was five years old before being taken away with his new family.
They all faced the problem of miscommunication until a few months later when he could speak
English that is when he could have any proper conversation with his family (Barton, 2016).
The following is a snippet of the part of an interview I had with my informer:
Interviewer: while growing up as a teenager, did you ever feel that your family were not treating
you right because of your skin color? And did they ever mention such an issue whenever you had
an argument?
Interviewee: All my life when I was growing up I was always feeling like my family made a
wrong choice to adopt me and maybe they came to regret it when it was too late. It was an
assumption I had in my mind as I was desperate to blame anyone for the kind of childhood I had.
I later came to accept my situation and accept my family as all they were trying to do all along
was to make me feel home. To answer your next question, I was adopted by a very quiet and
polite family that it has always been a rare thing to get into an argument with them. My locking
myself into my room all the time as a child made me not to be a talker thus it was perfect as we
get to understand each other well.
Interviewer: And how about your friends from school and your neighbors, did you ever feel
different when associating with them?

INTERCULTURAL ANALYSIS 4
Interviewee: Yes I was always discriminated by my friends when growing up and this was a
major contributor to psychological issues I had but with the support, I received from my parents I
was able to conquer it all. I was enrolled in therapy sessions that helped boost my self-esteem
and accept who I am.
Interviewer: When somebody treated in such a manner that is trying to discriminate you, how did
you cope up with such a situation?
Interviewee: I could pretend that everything is ok as I tried not to fight back. I could try to be the
way he wanted so as to avoid further isolation. However deep down my heart it was very painful.
Interviewer: Which areas did you undergo discrimination mostly?
Interviewee: Areas within the recreational activities, travelling buses and restaurants. However, I
was always strong not to show my bad feeling all the time.
CONCLUSION
It is difficult living in an environment where everyone else is different from you but the best one
can do to overcome such a challenge is accepting the situation and focusing on the future and the
other good things one has.

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REFERENCES
Barton, A. (2016). Byron, Barrett Browning and the Organization of Light. Romanticism, 22(3),
289-298.
Cantle, T. (2012). Interculturalism: The new era of cohesion and diversity. Springer.
Deissler, G. (2010). Inner Culture-Inter Culture-Outer Culture.
Jackson, J. (2014). Introducing language and intercultural communication. Routledge.
Knowles, R. (2010). Theatre and Interculturalism. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Landis, D., Bennett, J., & Bennett, M. (2009). Handbook of intercultural training. Sage
Publications.