Identity and Community
Click on a question below to view the resources, discussion plans and facilitator summaries associated with that question.
Title
The Porcupine’s Dilemma
Type
Reading
Overview
Nineteenth-century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer wrote extensively on motivation, desire, and the relationship between the individual and society. Sometimes called “the philosopher of pessimism,” he regarded human desire as the…
Title
Poem with One Fact
Type
Reading
Overview
Donald Hall's "Poem with One Fact" begins with the striking line, "At pet stores in Detroit, you can buy/ frozen rats/for seventy-five cents apiece, to feed/ your pet boa constrictor." From this…
Title
Learning to Love America
Type
Reading
Overview
Born in Malacca, Malaysia in 1944, Shirley Geok-Lin Lim was raised by her Chinese father and emigrated to the U.S. as a young woman. The author of several books of poetry, short…
Title
Cultural Identity and Difference: Exclusion and Belonging
Resources
Andrew Moodie’s Story of Belonging - Otherness
Title
Andrew Moodie’s Story of Belonging - Otherness
Type
Video
Overview
Canadian actor and playwright, Andrew Moodie discusses the complex feelings of belonging, difference, and otherness he experiences as a child of Jamaican immigrants in Canada. Moodie relates how he was…