Cultural Circles Exercise
INTRODUCTION
The changing workforce means that it is likely that you, as the next generation of managers will work with individuals who come from
different cultural backgrounds than yourselves. Becoming aware of one’s own heritage and cultural background as well as sources of
pride in that background is critical to appreciating sources of cultural pride in others. In this exercise you will be asked to discuss
characteristics of your own cultural identity and to identify sources of pride in your culture.
PROCEDURE
Form groups of 10-14, half of each group is in inner circle, the other half in outer circle
ROUND 1:
Discuss the first question with the first person you are paired with, and the second question with the second person you are paired
with and so on until you finish all five questions. Spend 4-5 min per question.
1. Describe your cultural background. You can define this as narrowly or as broadly as you like but try to focus on what distinguishes
you culturally from others. Describe some of the customs, rituals and/or ceremonies associated with your cultural group
2. Of what aspects of your cultural background are you most proud?
3. Excluding members of your family, describe a member of your cultural group who is a good role model for others in that cultural
group
4. Describe a situation in which you felt out of place as a result of being different from others.
Cultural Circles Exercise
ROUND 2:
Now, place yourself in the shoes of a person who is of a different cultural background than you. Identify your new ethnic identity to
the person you are paired with before answering each question. Retain the same identity for all five questions.
1. Describe your chosen cultural background. You can define this as narrowly or as broadly as you like but try to focus on what
distinguishes you culturally from others. Describe some of the customs, rituals and/or ceremonies associated with your chosen cultural
group
2. Of what aspects of your chosen cultural background are you most proud?
3. Describe a member of your chosen cultural group who is a good role model for others in that cultural group
4. Describe a (real/potential) situation in which you would have felt out of place as a result of being of your chosen cultural
background.
Discussion Questions
When talking about your “chosen” cultural group….
 How did you pick the group? How did you feel when
you were talking from the perspective of a different
culture?
 Did you know a lot/little about the group?
 How did you come by the knowledge you had—direct
experience, media, etc?
 Were your answers descriptive of all members of that
cultural group?
When talking about the role model for your adopted cultural
group:
 What type of person did you select?
 Was that person someone who is an icon of that group
(e.g., Martin Luther King Jr., Cesar Chavez etc.)? How
much did you know about the role model you selected?
This exercise is designed to bring cultural awareness to
Whites. What are the assumptions underlying the exercise?
Are they valid?
Additional Questions
If you were traveling in another country, would you be able to
describe your culture more easily? How so?
Would you describe the culture of your ethnic group or
Canadian culture in general?
Is there someone in the class who you believed would have an
easier time describing his/her own culture than you did?
Why? What aspects of culture are transparent?
This exercise is designed to bring cultural awareness to
Whites. What features are useful for using this exercise for
people of colour? What features can be changed to be useful
for people of colour?
What purpose do generalizations about ‘group members’
serve?
What does your choice of the role model say about your
perception of the values of the culture?
If we do not have a role model, how does that influence us?
What is culture? Race? Ethnicity? Geographic origin?
How to define ourselves if we are multi-ethnic/multi-racial?
Do we choose our identities or are identities chosen for us?
When considering your own cultural group:
What was the source of your discomfort in the situation in
which you felt out of place?
What options did you have available to you:
 Could you leave the situation?
 Could you change the situation?
 Could you fit in? Did your behaviors change?
What were the costs of you using each strategy listed
above?
When considering an adopted cultural group: What was the source of
your discomfort in the situation in which you felt out of place? How
were these options different from the ones you envisioned in your
adopted identity? Are these situations likely to be uncommon or routine
for the individual?
 Could you leave the situation?
 Could you change the situation?
 Could you fit in?
What are the costs to the individual of each strategy?