cultural interview
ASSIGNMENT:
Choose a target culture that you are interested in studying, and with which you are not very familiar. Examples — the deaf culture, Asian American culture, gay/lesbian culture, African American culture, Jewish, etc.
Interview one or more persons who belong to the culture in which you are interested.
Choose three topics to explore with the interviewee(s). Suggested topics would be religion, family, food, history, experiences with racism/oppression, education, etc.
You may want to:
interview more than one person to gain a broader perspective
tape the interview for your own review (get the interviewee’s permission first!)
break up the interview into a few sessions so as not to tire the interviewee or yourself
PLAN YOUR INTERVIEW AHEAD OF TIME. Write down the questions you want to ask. Be flexible with your plan and be ready to change the topics if the interviewee shows signs of uneasiness or stress. Allow the interviewee to lead the discussion at times. You may learn more!
Keep the interview informal.
Be an attentive listener. This is especially difficult to do when you are taking notes at the same time. Record as many details as you can.
Ask open ended questions, such as “Tell me about your childhood growing up in . .” or “How did you or your family get to the Chicago area …” or “What are some of the traditional foods in your culture?”
Organize your notes and write the report using the attached guideline. Three to five typewritten pages would be appropriate for this project.
Be careful not to generalize. You are learning about one or more individuals within a culture. Their experiences are unique to them and should not be generalized to everyone in that cultural group.
HAVE FUN! LEARN SOMETHING NEW ABOUT SOMEONE DIFFERENT FROM YOURSELF!
CULTURAL INTERVIEW REPORT — AREAS WHICH NEED TO BE COVERED
3 – 5 PAGES TYPED
Who? What cultural background? Educational background? Other personal information.
Where and when did the interview take place?
Topics chosen for interview and list of pre-planned questions to ask.
Narrative of information gathered.
What you learned/gained from the interview. Your comments and personal reactions. Be careful not to generalize to the entire population.
