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A handout provided by Karen Campbell,
Goddard College Faculty

Each "skin" of the onion represents possible clusters of identities/roles people learn to play in life. These identities/roles are often specific to one culture though there may be similar kinds of "rules" operating in other cultures. Some skins overlap with others. Please note that no one skin totally encloses us. (If it did, we'd all be clones.) The "transparent" areas represent the ways in which we (consciously or not) resist the dictates of the culture(s) in which we are raised or find ourselves-where culture does not quite "take." From core (self?) or inside . . .out:

  • Historical time: the time into which we are born will influence how we are brought up, what we expect to do in life, what others think suitable for us to do, etc. E.g. what appliances were in our immediate environment, what laws governed civil rights, what access we'd have to education.
  • Gender: birth-assigned sex/gender determines how we are taught to speak, gesture, walk, dress, the sports we (should) enjoy, the kind of education we receive, the sex we should be attracted to, suitable behavior/dress vis – vis (the?) other sex, etc.
  • Family: sibling rank (oldest/youngest/middle/only child) may decide role(s) in the family, such as who will take care of aging parents, have to find a husband willing to accept the daughter's family name, etc.
  • Region: local or ethnic myths, lore, (hi)stories, festivals, dialects, etc., with which we identify or sympathize.
  • Institutions: groups to which we belong: schools, sports groups, clubs, churches, synagogues, temples, political parties, etc. E.g. Was your high school known for its academic prowess, sports teams, wild ways?
  • Civilization, or accrued knowledge: knowledge or beliefs about the world, justice, human rights, etc., taken for granted as "natural" or "right" now. (What is the difference between knowledge & belief??)

The Communal Imagination (may also include religious affiliation): the authorities we believe without question, or how we come to accept (tho? perhaps not notice) that we are privileged (or otherwise) in our society. E.g. You are a member of an "imagined community" "The US," (or "The UK," or "Japan") and probably feel emotionally connected to millions of ("Americans," "Britons," "Japanese,") people you have never met. Possibly you often assume these millions share your values. Probably you will feel sad if you hear on the news that a plane crashed and that some people from your country were killed, or you will be happy when your country's sport team wins an Olympic medal-even though you have never met any of these people, (and have been taught that all human beings should be valued equally?).

The Culture/Identity Onion perhaps asks the question "Is culture a prison"?

Do identities tend to make us behave like others? How many identities do you have? How many different roles do you play a day? Staff member (particular job role), subordinate? Director? Full or part-time worker? Employee/employer? Club or church elder or junior? Student? Man/woman, Daughter/son, Mother/father. elder/younger brother or sister, lover/wife/husband? Arkansan? Smoker/non-smoker? Home/boat owner/renter, car-owner/bus-rider, college graduate? etc.

Can a "self" be unique? How are you different from others around you? Some people would argue that each person-despite numerous "identities"-has a core self that can expand, grow as the person learns to think critically, form opinions, act independently based on personal beliefs about what is right or wrong. . . Perhaps this unique self must be seen as overlapping with each identity to a greater or lesser extent. Yet, at times, the self will struggle to position itself for or against a certain identity, depending upon the "justice" of any particular case it feels drawn to support. (Women will not always side with women, Vermonters with Vermonters . . .)

Race/Ethnic identity/Nation/(Dis)ability: Some may argue that race/ethnic identity/nation/(dis)ability demand separate skins-like gender. This is true. However, by leaving out such obvious identities this model emphasizes that race & (dis)ability-like class(ism), age(ism), adult(ism) & gender (heterosexism)-are:

  1. socially/culturally constructed
  2. so pervasive
  3. emotionally charged
  4. largely unquestioned by (because invisible to) those dominant in any particular culture
  5. connected to identity

. . . so that if we are "privileged" (and often if disempowered) by our particular appearance, for example, we assume attitudes and beliefs about these identities a) without noticing and b) in every "skin" or situation from birth. So we learn stereotypes throughout all layers.