The "What's in a Name?" Exercise

Abstract

This exercise seeks to have students learn about the significance of names in American society. Students with American sounding names are favored by teachers and peers and their names are rarely mispronounced, made fun of, or given nicknames. Students from minority or immigrant groups have names that are often made fun of, mispronounced, and given...

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Details

Subject Area(s):

Social Psychology

Resource Type(s):

Class Activity

Class Level(s):

Any Level

Class Size(s):

Any

Usage Notes

Constraints

With a very large class, the professor can take a ten percent sample and do the exercise with ten or fifteen names. The class then can be set up for groups of fifteen where each member of the group must learn to pronounce every other group member’s name as well as interview each member about their "naming experiences."

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Learning Goals and Assessments

Learning Goal(s):

1. To understand the costs and benefits of assimilation.
2. To understand how privilege and assimilation contribute to the hegemony of American sounding names.
3. To understand how mispronunciation and name alteration are often felt as microaggressions and have consequences of shame and minimize cultural identity.

Goal Assessment(s):

1. One minute written response. How do peers, teachers, and others contribute to the support of the dominant culture and monculturalism?
2. One minute written response. How does assimilation contribute to the hegemony of American sounding names?
3. One minute written response. Ask students to indicate three examples of microaggressions from race or ethnicity and renaming.