1. Author: David E. Weber
University of North Carolina at Wilmington

2. » Weber (2004) assesses his “total individual
identity”, or his social and cultural identity,
as both an American and also as a member
of the Jewish community.
» He summarizes his experience building his
identity, growing up with coexisting
identities, and the realizations he has come
to understand from his experience being
both Jew & American, while also explaining
how his identity surfaces in everyday life.

3. » Weber examines this topic by way of
interpretive approach as he uses past personal
experiences to make evident the “pivotal
moments in the construction of his Jewish
identity.”
» Weber (2004) states, “These brief stories
involve the negotiation of-and perhaps
occasionally, the triumph over-the vulnerability I
am describing.” As he was relating the tensions
and uneasiness that many Jews feel in
sustaining their presence in mainstream
American society.

4. » Weber (2004) speaks of conversational
marking, such as the phrase the “Jewish
climber.” This validates the existence of two
separate identities, both a Jew, and a
climber. Also insinuating that the relation
between the two are “atypical,” or unusual.
» He then concludes, “To have a Jewish
identity and a U.S. American one, then, is to
be the object of marked discourse.”
Assuming that the co-occurrence of both
Jewish and American identities is seen as
“atypical” (Weber 2004).

5. » He states that identity surfaces in many
ways. However, most commonly for him
they surface when he makes “certain
utterances” for example, saying “Put some
schmaltz [personal warmth] into your oral
reports” (Weber 2004), to a group of his
protestant students.
» Also, it emerges in silence through cultural
specific objects like a mezuzah (tubular
prayer container) that he has hung on his
front door at home.

6. » Identity also surfaces through dialogue with
others.
» Weber (2004) states, “As does any „aspect
of [total] identity‟ my Jewish identity also
occurs…in dialogue with others when I
must respond by formulating appropriate
utterances in reply to their utterances…by
and through a multitude of communication
practices, then, I „do being‟ Jewish.”

7. » Weber then presents various moments in his
life when he experienced adversity as well as
triumph, proving his dual identity as being both
validated, as well as uncommon.
» For example, when he was “eight years old
and watching Rawhide on the living room TV
on Friday night. In the episode, Shelley
Berman guest stars as Mendel, a Jewish
peddler in the Old West. In one scene, Mendel
blesses the Sabbath wine sinuously chanting
guttural words familiar to me. Proud tears
trickle down my cheeks-I had chanted the
same words myself 90 minutes earlier at my
family‟s Sabbath dinner. It‟s unbelievable-never
before have I seen the life experience of a Jew
appear on screen!” (Weber 2004).

8. » Then, when he was “fourteen years old, in French
II, we bait the teacher at least a couple of times a
week, to move her out of subject matter and into
more enjoyable conversation. Today, a classmate
baits me: we learn that le bijoux means “jewel,” and
Craig hisses, “That‟s „be Jew‟ Dave,” and sadness
heats up my face” (Weber 2004).
» Weber ends the article telling of his father‟s
passing in 2002. When he was nine years old he
received his first siddur [book of prayers], which he
located on the shelf after forty years. He opens it
and writes inside the front cover, “My beloved
father, Daniel Aaron Weber, passed away on 27
August 2002…He was a great man.” Then he
proceeds to skim the book and comes across this
influential note he wrote when he was young, “My
name is David Weber, I am proud to be Jewish. I
am a happy little boy” (Weber 2004).

9. » Weber comes to the realization that his
identity is indeed exceptional. It may not be
typical, and without struggle, but what was
important was that he embrace it. And that
is what he was able to do.
» Weber was able to relate his experience in
learning to embrace his cultural identity
through recalling his experiences
throughout life and how each single event
enabled his ability to accept his “total
individual identity.”

10. » “By and through a multitude of various
communication practices, then, I „do being‟
Jewish” (Weber 2004).
˃ Mr. Weber actively lives his identity through communication
practices. I love this quote because it poses a great discussion
in understanding how our own cultural identity surfaces, and in
what ways we live that.
» Question 1
˃ How are communication and cultural identity applicable in your
own life?
˃ In what ways do your identity surface?

11. » “Such expectations influence a person‟s
spoken language choices, and a listener
can infer from these the speaker‟s beliefs
about whether the pairing of two specific
identities is or isn‟t typical, usual, or routine”
(Weber 2004).
˃ People often gage whether or not others‟ identity(s) are
normal, or not. Again, it is a great discussion starter in making
us think about how we see our own identity, and even how our
identity is seen by others.
» Question 2
˃ Would you say your own cultural identity is either typical, or
atypical? Why?