Writing my transcultural essay was a fun experience. I’ve heard others talk about their transcultural essays before, but now it was my turn to dive into it and see what it felt like. I’m excited to share my process with you all.

step 1

The first step was to interview someone who comes from a different culture or background than mine. The focus was on a social, political, economic, or cultural issue. The goal was to get a new perspective on how someone else views the world. After the interview, I had to write down what happened and how the conversation went. But before I could do that, I had to decide who I was going to interview and give some background about that person.

Step 2

the next was the interview questions

I was lucky enough to interview one of my close friends for the transcultural essay. Since our topic was gender roles, I knew this was something she’s always been passionate about. So, I came up with ten interesting questions that would spark a good conversation on the topic, which I’ll share below.

Hello , how you feeling today 

So today’s topic about gender roles! What’s gender roles?

1. How do you think traditional gender roles have evolved in modern society, and what impact do you think those changes have had?
2.  Do you believe your upbringing influenced your understanding of gender roles

3. In what ways do you think gender roles from the past still influence modern society?

4. Have you ever felt pressure to conform to gender expectations?

5. Do you think some people still prefer traditional gender roles in relationships today? Why do you think so or why not?

6. Can you think of some positive aspects of gender roles?

7. How  do you navigate gender roles in your personal relationships?

8. What are your thoughts on gender roles in parenting?

9. Do you think certain careers are more suited to one gender than another? Why or why not?

10. What do you think were the main reasons women were expected to be more submissive to men in the past?

These were some of the questions we went over including some follow ups.

Step 3

First, I made sure to get consent from my friend before we started the interview. Once that was settled, we began with some simple questions to help her feel comfortable and ease into the conversation. As we went along, I asked more follow-up questions to dive deeper into the topic and keep the discussion going.

step 4

The final part of this assignment was to use the transcript and recording of my interview to analyze my interviewee’s cultural background and viewpoint on the topic. I had to break down how their perspectives were influenced by their culture and create a 2-3 page essay (500-750 words) explaining their worldview. In my essay, I also included a short commentary reflecting on the process and sharing my thoughts on what I learned from this experience.