CHAPTER THREE

SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE A MOTHERLESS CHILD

How Confronting Cultural Differences Results in a Multicultural Mind

The phrase “sometimes I feel like a motherless child,” from the traditional African American spiritual, reflects the search for a sense of place and of self by the slaves who were transported from their African homeland. The song expresses the pain and despair of this longing. The questions Who am I? and Where do I belong? are central to understanding multicultural persons. How individuals come to experience another culture is perhaps less important than the act of confronting another culture on an existential level. Confronting cultural differences is critical to developing a multicultural mind.

As noted in chapter 2, some ...

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