my american experience essay

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Adapting to a New Lifestyle: My Experience in America

Table of contents, introduction, cultural differences and adjustments, language and communication, lifestyle and daily practices.

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Introduction : Curriculum Components

Writing: Skills-Based Writing Instruction

• Routines: Instruction
• For All Learners : Access

Unit 1: Identity

• Unit 2: Personality
• Unit 3: Society and its Structure
• Unit 4: Otherness
• Unit 5: Challenging Truths/Coming-of-Age
• Unit 6: Establishing Truths/Coming-of-Age
• Unit 1: The Quest
• Unit 2: The Unlikely Hero
• Unit 3: Dystopia
• Unit 4: The Anti-Hero
• Unit 5: The Monster
• Unit 6: The Tragic Hero

Unit 1: The Contemporary American Experience

• Unit 2: The Creation of the American
• Unit 3: The American and the Changing Landscape
• Unit 4: The Reawakening of the American
• ELA Regents: Resources
• ELA Regents: Multiple Choice
• ELA Regents: Writing from Sources Essay
• ELA Regents : Text Analysis Essay
• Find Resources

The Contemporary American Experience

In this unit, students will unpack the American experience in contemporary literature in order to make connections between the characters they read about and their own experiences.  Students will use Literary Abstracts to practice composing  literary analysis,  unpacking the four levels of Exploding Analysis in writing. Students will use their understanding of the American experience identified in this unit and apply it to the year-long sequence following this introductory unit. 

Unit Outline

Unit plans see 2 items hide 2 items.

The American Experience Archive

Full Unit Plan with Resources : The Contemporary American Experience Unit Plan

Teacher Feedback

Please comment below with questions, feedback, suggestions, or descriptions of your experience using this resource with students.

Identity Archive

Full Unit Plan with Resources : Unit One Plan Revised for Blended Instruction

Text Types and Purposes Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.

Text Types and Purposes Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. Apply grade 9/10 Reading standards to both literary and informational text, where applicable.

Text Types and Purposes Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. Apply grade 11/12 Reading standards to both literary and informational text, where applicable.

Unit Assessments See 3 items Hide 3 items

Unit Assessment : Literary Analysis Essay for the Contemporary American Experience

Unit Assessment : Literary Analysis Skills Based Rubric

Unit Assessment : Reading Circles for the Contemporary American Experience

Exploring the Theme See 4 items Hide 4 items

Exploring the Theme : Analyzing the American Experience and Making Connections

Exploring the Theme : Thematic Essential Questions for the American Experience

Exploring the Theme : 11th Grade Text List

Exploring the Theme : Accessible Analyzing the American Experience and Making Connections

Developing Skills See 8 items Hide 8 items

Getting Started

Baseline Assessment: 11th Grade ELA Baseline Assessment

Developing Skills: What are Literary Abstracts?

Developing Skills: Exploding Analysis

Developing Skills: Literary Abstract Formative Assessment

Developing Skills: The Literary Techniques Diagram

Sentences : Expanding Sentences

Coherence : Building Coherent Paragraphs

Weekly Learning Plans See 3 items Hide 3 items

Weekly Learning Plan: Week 1 Learning Plan

Weekly Learning Plan: Week 2 Learning Plan

Weekly Learning Plan: Week 3 Learning Plan

P.D. Soros Fellowship for New Americans

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If you are an applicant and need to sign into the online application, you can find the link on the "Apply" page of our website: Apply Page .

If you are a fellow looking to login, please note that we are currently updating our backend system for managing Fellow data. In the meantime, to update your information for the Fellowship, please send updates to Nikka Landau at [email protected] .

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Applicant Guide to PD Soros Essay Writing

The paul & daisy soros fellowships requires two essays as part of the fellowships application. the essays are an important part of your application—they provide an opportunity to tell the selection team who you are, how you have come to this point in your life and work, and what you hope to do in the future. while your resume and transcripts will tell some of this story, your essays will tie everything together..

In 2016, the essay questions are as follows:

Essay One: Tell us about your experiences as a New American. Whether as an immigrant yourself, or as a child of immigrants, how have your experiences as a New American informed and shaped who you are and your accomplishments? Feel free to discuss how individual people (such as family or teachers), institutions, aspects of law, culture, society or American governance made an impact on your life as an immigrant or child of immigrants. The program is especially interested in understanding and contextualizing your accomplishments, be they personal, professional, or academic.

Essay Two: Tell us about your current and near-term career-related activities and goals, as well as why you decided to pursue the specific graduate program(s) and schools that you have. How do you see your current work and study informing your early career goals? If you have not been accepted into a program yet, please tell us about why you selected the programs to which you are applying.

The first essay is all about your New American experience. Think broadly, personally and creatively. For many applicants, this essay is the first time that they will be writing about their identity as a New American. We hope that this essay is an opportunity for you to reflect on important ideas and experiences, and perhaps, to even learn something new about your family and heritage. Use this essay to tell the selection team about what being a New American means to you; discuss your heritage or a salient experience that relates to your or your family’s immigration story; consider stories, memories, mentors, or lessons that could serve as a window into your world. There is no “right” way to write this essay. As you’ll learn from the advice from 2016 Fellows below, many reached out to family members to think through this essay.

The second essay is similar to a traditional graduate school admissions essay. This essay is more focused on your academic and/or professional work, as well as your field and interests. You don’t need to include a perfectly laid out twenty year plan—the selection team understands that plans change and that graduate school presents a myriad of opportunities and choices that may lead you in different directions. That being said, it is important for the selection team to understand how you and your work stand out. If you are already in the graduate program that you are seeking funding for, you might highlight why you selected it and how it fits into your goals. If you are unsure of what graduate program you will be going to then perhaps you might explain what you are most looking for in your graduate education.

You, the applicant, must write the essays and they must be in your voice and accurately represent you, your ideas, and your experiences. At the same rate, you are welcome to set up a meeting with your undergraduate or graduate school campus fellowship advisor and go over your essays with them. If your campus doesn’t have an advisor, then ask friends, mentors, professors, or colleagues to go over your essays with them. Ask them to summarize the main points and takeaways from your essay for you—are those the main points you wanted to make? Remember, your essays form the overarching narrative that brings your resume and transcripts to life. If you do receive an interview all of the panelists will read your essays so you will need to be comfortable with that as well.

We asked several 2016 Fellows about how they went about writing their Fellowship application essays last year. Here is what we heard:

I found writing the essays the most challenging aspect of the PD Soros application, but also the most rewarding. Before outlining my essays, it was important for me to reflect on my New American experience. To do so, I spoke with my parents and family members about their immigrant experiences in America as well as reflected on my own. I also perused old photo albums and family documents, which was helpful in providing visual stimuli for the themes I planned to write about. After this background work, I sat down and free-flow brainstormed. I drew from my prior reflections and connected those lessons to the themes and ideas I hope to convey in the essay. In this way, I was able to cohesively connect my New American experience to my academic journey, career aspirations, and finally my identity as a Nigerian-American. – Chidi Akusobi (2016 Fellow)

For writing the New American essay, I recommend doing a little bit of soul searching. Talk to your friends and family, have a drink and have some open conversations. Go on a trip to your hometown to see where you grew up. Talk to your parents about stories of how they came to the United States, or ask them about the stories of you growing up. I would recommend starting with free writing. Write down whatever you are thinking about without worrying about anything like structure. You can then pick some stories from these and organize them into an essay. In thinking about meaningful experiences and stories, I tried to think about the positive lessons and larger themes that are important to my life. 

For the essay about graduate studies and your future, make sure you write to readers who are not in your field. This is because some people who read your essays will be well-versed in your area of expertise while others will not be. As a MD/PhD student, I wanted to excite readers while also demonstrating my ability and potential. Don’t write the essay like your thesis proposal; rather focus on the big picture. You can show it to your parents and see if they understand them (except if they are scientists themselves!). – Du Cheng (2016 Fellow)

As a theater director applicant I knew that in my essays I would have to excite readers and help them understand why and how I approach my field in a unique and distinct way. I wanted to talk about my vision of theater as a change agent. Because my immigration story and my voice as a director are very much intertwined, those themes appeared in both of my essays. I focused the second essay more on my career path, why I chose my university, who my mentors are, and the contribution that I see myself making in the field. – Shadi Ghaheri (2016 Fellow)

As a PhD student applying to the fellowship, I wanted my second essay to highlight my passion for science and my current work in graduate school. I discussed how my past training has qualified me for graduate studies as well as a general introduction to my current projects. As a scientist, it's really hard to explain what you do in an easy-to-understand format and this was the most challenging bit for me. For my first essay, I focused on my New American experience. To do this, I reflected on the opportunities that have shaped my life and set me on the track to becoming a scientist. First piece of advice: everyone has a unique story. To figure out your story, talk about it to whoever will listen. Second piece of advice: ask people from all walks of life and backgrounds to read your essays. The more people you ask to read your essays, the better off you are writing a piece that will best communicate the essence of your individual New American experience. – Nairi Hartooni (2016 Fellow)

The essays are an important part of the application. That being said, I also used the Optional Exhibits section to highlight my narrative and to convey parts of myself that written language cannot fully encapsulate.  – Iris Hu   (2016 Fellow)

For both essays, I recommend writing down ideas on paper to brainstorm. Map it out, draw, or do whatever helps you connect your ideas! Then, I like to write down everything in more detail on my computer and later go back and edit multiple times until it's a coherent essay. When I have a complete draft, I let my close friends and family review it to make sure the essay has my voice. I also like to show it to people who are not as familiar with my background to see if I included enough detail to convey my story. Overall, you should be authentic - it's your story and no one can tell it better than you. Don't get caught up in stressing about what you think others want. If you read the fellows' bios, you'll realize there's no "correct" path to being a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellow. It's as simple as sharing your story and what you want to do in life. – Sharada Jambulapati (2016 Fellow)

For the New American experience essay, there are many stories you can write about — consider focusing on a specific experience and building your essay around it. I found it helpful to talk to my family before I started writing my essays and throughout the writing process. It helped keep me centered. I also sought feedback from family members to ensure my essay was representative of me and of my New American experience. For the essay about your future work, make sure your passion, in whichever field, shines through. You can look to your applications to graduate programs as a starting point and expand on how your current work is shaping your journey to — and within — graduate school. – Veronica Mazo (2016 Fellow)

I wrote my essays to construct a cohesive narrative about myself. My cumulative experiences as a student, a professional, and an immigrant have informed my choices and I wanted the selection team to see how all of those components worked to influence my career choices. To be sure, you do not have to know your precise path forward, but writing these essays should give you an opportunity to reflect on where you are going. For me, it was about telling my life story. – Akash Patel (2016 Fellow)

The essay writing process was a much-needed opportunity for hard, honest introspection. I applied to the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships after having spent the six prior years living abroad. My "New American" experience was under serious reconstruction and I found it really difficult to find an honest, coherent voice. I started by going through old and new photos, not in any systematic way, but to root my reflection in memory and emotion. I knew that an overly abstracted narrative wouldn't give justice to a narrative with essentially emotional underpinnings. I had several unstructured, reflective conversations over the phone with my mother. She helped me stir up the deeper ideas and find threads of narrative and identify the open-ended questions. I then sat down for two hours and wrote without any consideration for word limit or structure or coherence. The cleanup came later. – Aisha Saad (2016 Fellow)

Writing the essay on my experience as a New American was incredibly challenging. What worked best for me was taking some time to think about how I see myself and my family in this country—what identities do I claim? What communities do I represent? Where did it all start? And how has it all shaped me? After reflecting on these questions, I sat down and wrote for several hours without really thinking about structure or word count. In taking the time to just write and think for a while, I was better able to understand for myself how where I am today and what I care about has been influenced by my family's immigrant experience. It took me several drafts with editing help from several mentors as well friends who knew me well to get to a final product that I was truly happy with. – Mubeen Shakir (2016 Fellow)

In writing my personal essay, I struggled at first because I felt my New American experience was a thoroughly mundane one, which could be found in every corner of the vast suburbs of coastal California. I came to realize that the story worth telling was not so much the factual circumstances of my life but instead how I thought and felt, what I learned, and why I do what I do. That’s what makes it a personal essay. Over the course of a month, I went through three editions of my essay before I was satisfied with the product. Give yourself time in between edits so you look upon the essay with fresh eyes; the same sentence on different days may seem arrogant or confident, naive or earnest, effusive or sincere. 

It was much easier getting started on the essay talking about my activities and goals. Describing where I am and what my research is was not so difficult. However, the articulation of why I do what I do and have the goals that I have prompted a measure of self-reflection. I wasn’t able to finish this second essay before I was satisfied with my personal essay, because I realized that my work and ambitions are an extension of who I am as a person. Ultimately, I tried to place my training in the specific context of my personal story and my projects in the broader context of the academic field and its relevance to society. – Yuxi Tian (2016 Fellow)

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My American Experience: A collection of selected essays, articles, “thoughts & quotes” and poems. Paperback – August 5, 2013

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• Print length 174 pages
• Language English
• Publication date August 5, 2013
• Dimensions 6 x 0.41 x 9 inches
• ISBN-10 1491295686
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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; First Edition (August 5, 2013)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 174 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1491295686
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1491295687
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.6 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.41 x 9 inches

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In 2020 he released the Second Expanded Edition and Third Revised Edition of “My American Experience”.

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Home — Essay Samples — Life — Life Experiences — Personal Experience

Personal Experience Essays

Personal experiences are the threads that weave the fabric of our lives. Writing a personal experience essay isn't just about storytelling; it's about finding meaning, connecting with others, and leaving your mark on the world. So, why should you write an essay about your personal experiences? Let's explore the importance together! 🌟

Personal Experience Essay Topics 📝

Selecting the right essay topic is key to crafting a compelling narrative. Here's how to pick one:

Personal Experience Argumentative Essay 🤨

Argumentative essays based on personal experiences require you to defend a viewpoint or argument. Here are ten intriguing topics:

• 1. Argue for or against the idea that personal experiences are the most influential factors shaping an individual's personality.
• 2. Defend your perspective on whether overcoming adversity through personal experiences builds stronger character.
• 3. Debate the impact of personal experiences on shaping one's political beliefs and values.
• 4. Argue for the significance of sharing personal experiences in order to promote empathy and understanding among diverse communities.
• 5. Defend the idea that personal experiences play a crucial role in career development and decision-making.
• 6. Debate the ethical implications of sharing deeply personal experiences in the era of social media and oversharing.
• 7. Argue for the therapeutic benefits of writing about and reflecting on personal experiences.
• 8. Defend your perspective on whether personal experiences should be a central part of school curricula.
• 9. Debate the influence of personal experiences on an individual's approach to health and wellness.
• 10. Argue for or against the notion that personal experiences can serve as catalysts for social change and activism.

Personal Experience Cause and Effect Essay 🤯

Cause and effect essays based on personal experiences explore the reasons behind events and their consequences. Here are ten topics to consider:

• 1. Analyze the causes and effects of a life-changing personal experience on your academic or career choices.
• 2. Examine how personal experiences can lead to personal growth, increased self-awareness, and improved well-being.
• 3. Investigate the effects of travel experiences on personal perspectives and cultural understanding.
• 4. Analyze the causes and consequences of sharing personal experiences with others, including its impact on relationships.
• 5. Examine how personal experiences can influence one's hobbies, interests, and leisure activities.
• 6. Investigate the impact of a significant personal experience on your family dynamics and relationships.
• 7. Analyze the causes of personal transformation through exposure to diverse cultures and environments.
• 8. Examine how personal experiences can shape one's attitude toward risk-taking and adventure.
• 9. Investigate the effects of sharing personal experiences through writing, art, or storytelling on your personal well-being.
• 10. Analyze the causes and consequences of personal experiences that challenge societal norms and expectations.

Personal Experience Opinion Essay 😌

Opinion essays based on personal experiences allow you to express your subjective viewpoints. Here are ten topics to consider:

• 1. Share your opinion on the importance of documenting personal experiences for future generations.
• 2. Discuss your perspective on whether personal experiences should be kept private or shared openly.
• 3. Express your thoughts on how personal experiences have shaped your sense of identity and self-worth.
• 4. Debate the significance of personal experiences in fostering empathy and compassion among individuals and communities.
• 5. Share your views on the role of personal experiences in building resilience and coping with life's challenges.
• 6. Discuss the impact of personal experiences on your approach to decision-making and problem-solving.
• 7. Express your opinion on the therapeutic benefits of writing or talking about personal experiences.
• 8. Debate the influence of personal experiences on your sense of purpose and life goals.
• 9. Share your perspective on how personal experiences can inspire creativity and artistic expression.
• 10. Discuss your favorite personal experience and the lessons or insights it has provided.

Personal Experience Informative Essay 🧐

Informative essays based on personal experiences aim to educate readers. Here are ten informative topics to explore:

• 1. Provide an in-depth analysis of the impact of a specific personal experience on your career choices and aspirations.
• 2. Explore the therapeutic benefits of journaling and writing about personal experiences for mental health and well-being.
• 3. Investigate the history and significance of storytelling as a means of preserving personal experiences and cultural heritage.
• 4. Analyze the connection between personal experiences and the development of emotional intelligence.
• 5. Examine the influence of personal experiences on decision-making processes and risk assessment.
• 6. Investigate the role of personal experiences in shaping cultural perceptions and worldviews.
• 7. Provide insights into the art of crafting compelling narratives based on personal experiences.
• 8. Analyze the impact of personal experiences on an individual's resilience and ability to adapt to change.
• 9. Examine how personal experiences can serve as valuable life lessons and sources of wisdom.
• 10. Investigate the therapeutic benefits of group discussions and support networks for individuals sharing similar personal experiences.

Personal Experience Essay Example 📄

Personal experience thesis statement examples 📜.

Here are five examples of strong thesis statements for your personal experience essay:

• 1. "Through the lens of personal experiences, we uncover the profound impact that seemingly ordinary moments can have on our lives, reshaping our perspectives and guiding our journeys."
• 2. "Personal experiences serve as powerful mirrors reflecting our growth, resilience, and capacity to navigate life's challenges, ultimately shaping the narratives of our existence."
• 3. "The sharing of personal experiences is an act of vulnerability and courage, fostering connections, empathy, and a deeper understanding of the human condition."
• 4. "Our personal experiences are the brushstrokes on the canvas of our identity, influencing our choices, values, and the stories we tell ourselves and others."
• 5. "In exploring personal experiences, we embark on a journey of self-discovery, unlocking the untold stories that shape our uniqueness and enrich our shared human tapestry."

Personal Experience Essay Introduction Examples 🚀

Here are three captivating introduction paragraphs to kickstart your essay:

• 1. "Amid the chaos of everyday life, our personal experiences are the constellations that guide us, the moments that define us. As we embark on this essay journey into the depths of our own stories, we unravel the threads of our existence, each tale a testament to the power of the personal."
• 2. "Picture a canvas where the brushstrokes are the chapters of your life—a canvas waiting for you to paint your experiences, thoughts, and emotions. The personal experience essay is your opportunity to create a masterpiece that reflects the colors of your journey."
• 3. "In a world of noise and distractions, our personal experiences are the melodies that resonate within us. As we venture into the heart of this essay, we uncover the symphony of our lives—a composition of highs, lows, and the beauty in between."

Personal Experience Conclusion Examples 🌟

Conclude your essay with impact using these examples:

• 1. "As we close the chapter on this exploration of personal experiences, we are reminded that our stories are the threads that connect us all. The journey continues, and each experience, no matter how small, contributes to the tapestry of our shared humanity."
• 2. "In the final brushstroke of our personal experience essay, we recognize that our stories are not finite; they are ever-evolving, ever-inspiring. The canvas of life awaits, ready for us to create new narratives and continue shaping our destinies."
• 3. "As the echoes of our personal experiences linger, we stand at the intersection of past, present, and future. The essay's conclusion is but a pause in the symphony of our lives, with countless more notes to be played and stories to be written."

How My Life Experiences Have Shaped My Personal and Academic Growth

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What is ‘lived experience’?

The term is ubiquitous and double-edged. it is both a key source of authentic knowledge and a danger to true solidarity.

by Patrick J Casey   + BIO

Everywhere you turn, there is talk of lived experience. But there is little consensus about what the phrase ‘lived experience’ means, where it came from, and whether it has any value. Although long used by academics, it has become ubiquitous, leaping out of the ivory tower and showing up in activism, government, consulting, as well as popular culture. The Lived Experience Leaders Movement explains that those who have lived experiences have ‘[d]irect, first-hand experience, past or present, of a social issue(s) and/or injustice(s)’. A recent brief from the US Department of Health and Human Services suggests that those who have lived experience have ‘valuable and unique expertise’ that should be consulted in policy work, since engaging those with ‘knowledge based on [their] perspective, personal identities, and history’ can ‘help break down power dynamics’ and advance equity. A search of Twitter reveals a constant stream of use, from assertions like ‘Your research doesn’t override my lived experience,’ to ‘I’m pretty sure you’re not allowed to question someone’s lived experience.’

A recurring theme is a connection between lived experience and identity. A recent nominee for the US Secretary of Labor, Julie Su, is lauded as someone who will ‘bring her lived experience as a daughter of immigrants, a woman of color, and an Asian American to the role’. The Human Rights Campaign asserts that ‘[l]aws and legislation must reflect the lived experiences of LGBTQ people’. An editorial in Nature Mental Health notes that incorporation of ‘people with lived experience’ has ‘taken on the status of a movement’ in the field.

Carried a step further, the notion of lived experience is bound up with what is often called identity politics, as when one claims to be speaking from the standpoint of an identity group – ‘in my lived experience as a…’ or, simply, ‘speaking as a…’ Here, lived experience is often invoked to establish authority and prompt deference from others since, purportedly, only members of a shared identity know what it’s like to have certain kinds of experience or to be a member of that group. Outsiders sense that they shouldn’t criticise what is said because , grounded in lived experience, ‘people’s spoken truths are, in and of themselves, truths .’ Criticism of lived experience might be taken to invalidate or dehumanise others or make them feel unsafe.

So, what is lived experience? Where did it come from? And what does it have to do with identity politics?

‘L ived experience’ is a translation of one of the two German words for experience: Erlebnis . The other German word for experience, Erfahrung , is the older of the two. It has as its root fahren , ‘to journey’. When one calls someone ‘experienced’, it is this kind of experience that is being appealed to. Erfahrung is experience that is cumulative – as one who has long journeyed a path knows the road – and is associated with practice, skill and know-how. Erfahrung can sometimes be translated as ‘learning’, and suggests experience that might be gathered in the form of practical wisdom and passed on as tradition.

Erlebnis , by contrast, has Leben or ‘life’ as its root. Rather than experience that accumulates over time or is held in the form of tradition, Erlebnis connotes experience that is living and immediate. It is the province of the pre-reflective and innocent, as opposed to the refined and distilled. Erlebnis implies experience that is new, fresh and sometimes disruptive – what doesn’t easily fit into the public, cultural patterns associated with Erfahrung .

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries , German philosophers developed and exploited the contrast between these two kinds of experience. This led philosophers and translators in other languages – most notably, for our purposes, English and French – to add the qualifiers ‘lived’ or ‘ vécue ’ to signify when they were invoking Erlebnis as opposed to Erfahrung . So, while the multifaceted English word ‘experience’ can be used to translate both Erlebnis and Erfahrung , when someone wants to refer to the distinctive form of experience picked out by Erlebnis , they often use ‘lived experience’ to do so.

The external world became the realm of ‘facts’, while meaning, value and feeling were increasingly thought of as subjective

According to Richard E Palmer in his book Hermeneutics ( 1969 ), Erlebnis first appeared in the plural form Erlebnisse in the work of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, while Hans-Georg Gadamer suggests in Truth and Method ( 1960 ) that the first singular use can be found in one of G W F Hegel’s letters. But the word really didn’t come into common usage until the 1870s. It was then that the German philosopher Wilhelm Dilthey brought Erlebnis into the mainstream, when he used it in his 1870 biography of Friedrich Schleiermacher and in an 1877 essay on Goethe, a version of which was later included in his highly regarded work Das Erlebnis und die Dichtung (‘Poetry and Lived Experience’; 1906).

While himself a staunch empiricist, Dilthey was part of a Romantic movement reacting to earlier empiricists, positivists and Kantians, whom he believed relied on an unduly narrow conception of experience. Since these philosophers were primarily concerned to provide an epistemological foundation for the budding natural sciences, they focused on the cognitive aspects of experience – that is, how experience can be used as the basis for scientific knowledge of the kind produced by natural philosophers such as Isaac Newton.

At the risk of oversimplification, these thinkers focused primarily on sensation – the ‘objective’ world encountered by the senses and, in particular, those aspects of sensory experience that could, through abstraction, be quantified, measured and shared. Other features of experience, such as meaning, significance, value, purpose, feeling and the like, were ignored and relegated to the ‘subjective’ realm of ‘inner experience’. This epistemology created a split between subject and object, mind and world, fact and value. The external or objective world became the realm of ‘facts’, while meaning, significance, value, purpose and feeling were increasingly thought of as subjective.

While a Romantic, Dilthey was also insistent upon being more empirical than earlier empiricists. He saw his task as getting back behind the subject/object, mind/world, fact/value split to embodied, full-blooded, living experience. In a line from his work Introduction to the Human Sciences ( 1883 ), Dilthey writes: ‘No real blood flows in the veins of the knowing subject constructed by Locke, Hume, and Kant, but rather the diluted extract of reason as a mere activity of thought.’ Dilthey believed we have to return to conscious lived experience, not because the content of lived experience is indubitable but because we have no alternative. The only way we can know anything is through conscious experience.

Dilthey maintained that the subject/object split led us to the false belief that the world of the natural sciences was the true or fundamental reality. By contrast, Dilthey argued, since our original access to the world is through conscious experience, so-called objective reality is only the husk that remains by exsanguinating lived experience. This means that the world of the natural sciences is not fundamental, but necessarily derivative. Dilthey designed the concept of Erlebnis (lived experience) to reflect the fact that, in our original experience, we know the world as a meaningful, coherent whole – a composite of inner and outer, subjective and objective, facts and values. One can analyse the original whole of lived experience into subjective and objective elements, but this analysis is only possible because subject and object are originally bound up together in the fundamental reality of lived experience.

C ontemporary usage of lived experience still bears the mark of Dilthey’s original formulations (a point I’ve developed in more detail in other writings ). For Dilthey, lived experience should first be taken to signify the view from the inside, the ‘what it’s like’ to be a human being. There is a stark difference between learning about the physics of colour and being awestruck by the prismatic beauty of a sunset; one thing to know about the biochemistry involved in love and another to experience the extraordinary, ineffable thrill of actually falling in love.

Because it is the ‘view from the inside’, lived experience belongs to the individual and is emphatically personal as opposed to scientific experience, which Martin Jay, in his superb book Songs of Experience ( 2005 ), says belongs to the ‘imagined collective subject, at once impersonal and immortal’. As such, lived experience picks out the first-person perspective of everyday experience as opposed to the third-person detached and dispassionate experience of the sciences. ‘Lived experience’ is used to indicate pre-reflective experience as we ordinarily enjoy it – experience that is lived through , not looked at .

Lived experience is an embodied, not a purely cerebral, affair. As such, it involves thought, feelings and activity. When Dilthey talks about lived experience, one should think about the back-and-forth relationship of an organism with its environment in an interactive, embodied way. We interact with our environment because we have concerns and purposes. This means that, in lived experience, we respond affectively and volitionally to a world that shows up as immediately meaningful and significant. Meaning and value are not projections of a free-floating mind, but we find them present as we interact with our environment. If I am building a fence, the hammer and nails will show up as valuable tools to accomplish this goal, while the rocky ground will show up as an obstacle that elicits a feeling of frustration, and causes me to look for a sturdier shovel. Lived experience should be thought of as encompassing the subject and the object in an intelligible, coherent whole that involves understanding, feeling and action.

A person who has read Romeo and Juliet will construe his experiences of love differently than someone who has not

The fact that the world shows up to us in relationship to our concerns and purposes highlights the fact that lived experience is fundamentally interpretive, and interpretive at multiple levels. In addition to our purposes shaping our experiences, so does our personal history. Lived experience is inextricably temporal – the past resonates in the present and points us to the future. For example, my past experiences of joy in going to church, for example, will enter into and shape my present experience of church itself , as well as my desires going forward. Someone who has had negative experiences of church in the past will find their present experiences shaped in a different way. This is part of why we sometimes say that two people who have experienced the same thing nevertheless have very different experiences.

The culture into which we are born also shapes our experiences. Dilthey was so convinced of the indissolubility of the subjective and objective in lived experience that he thought that ‘objective spirit’ – culture, essentially – not only frames but actively shapes our experiences as we live them . A young person who has read Romeo and Juliet and been affected by it will construe his experiences of love differently than someone who has not. Dilthey went so far as to claim that the musical genius is so immersed in music that she experiences the world itself musically. This is all part and parcel of Dilthey’s hermeneutic conviction that might be expressed by saying that what we bring to the world shapes what we find there.

In addition to the plurality that William James called ‘stream of consciousness’, Dilthey also talked about a singular unit of meaning called ‘lived experience’. Much like ‘a love affair’ or ‘the death of a loved one’ is not one event but a plurality that shares a common meaning, so often too is ‘a lived experience’. In memory, we gather various experiences with a shared meaning and create a unity out of multiplicity. The whole that results can itself be called a ‘lived experience’. This usage is indicated in sayings such as ‘my lived experience of mental illness’ or ‘my lived experience of sexism’. Here, the speaker isn’t usually referring to one single experience but a plurality that shares a single significance.

Importantly, lived experience doesn’t reach its final form until its meaning is teased out, codified and expressed – a process that involves conscious interpretation. Rudolf Makkreel notes that, while for Dilthey lived experience has a preliminary intelligibility, its full meaning requires this intermediary of reflection and expression. Ultimately, Dilthey thought that we must interpret our own life experiences in the same way that we interpret others.

This dual meaning of lived experience – that it’s both the unmediated material and the yield from conscious reflection – is reflected in contemporary usage when people say that lived experience isn’t only direct experience but also knowledge that is gleaned from such experiences. It is also likely behind the ambivalence that many feel about whether or not lived experience can be communicated and shared. So it’s crucial to note that, in Dilthey’s formulation, lived experience that has been codified can be communicated, especially in the form of literature, poetry and autobiography. Though Dilthey believed it’s not possible to communicate one’s exact inner states – understanding is always partial, and the life of the individual is ineffable – he nevertheless thought that our common humanity made it possible to come to understand ‘what it’s like’ to be someone else.

I n the 1940s and ’50s, existentialists adopted the language of lived experience. Sonia Kruks notes in Retrieving Experience ( 2001 ) that this coincided with a turn towards identity politics, creating a link between the two that continues to the present. Jean-Paul Sartre wrote about the lived experience of being a Jew (though he was not Jewish) in Anti-Semite and Jew ( 1946 ), Simone de Beauvoir wrote about the lived experience of being a woman (even titling the second volume of her magnum opus, The Second Sex ( 1949 ), ‘ L’expérience vécue ’ – a French rendering of Erlebnis ), and Frantz Fanon , in Black Skin, White Masks ( 1952 ), wrote about ‘the lived experience of the black man’. A central theme of this period is a call for a return to lived experience combined with a recognition of the distorting effect of the dominant culture, of ideology, of ‘naturalised’ categories such as race and gender, which warp one’s experience of oneself and tempt one to live inauthentically.

Probably no contemporary philosopher has done more to help us understand identity politics than Charles Taylor, especially in his book The Ethics of Authenticity ( 1991 ) and his essay ‘The Politics of Recognition’ ( 1995 ). Taylor invites us to see identity politics as a response to the persistent human need for recognition – for one’s most authentic self to be seen and valued. Whereas in premodernity, recognition would be assured by fulfilling one’s preset social role, now recognition is no longer guaranteed. Accordingly, Taylor says, the unique expression of one’s authentic self – what we would now call an ‘identity’ – must be explicitly acknowledged. Taylor argues that the demand for recognition is tied to the romantic notion that there is a true or authentic self that has been obscured by society. In this romantic framing, ‘[o]ur moral salvation comes from recovering authentic moral contact with ourselves.’

If others don’t and can’t know what it’s like – then the only alternative is to defer to those who have privileged knowledge

And so, today, many feel it is their duty to undergo a process of self-exploration to find their authentic self, especially when that self belongs to an identity which is viewed as historically marginalised and oppressed. The goal is no longer simply self-realisation – to become who one is – but to demand recognition on behalf of that identity group, thus fostering political change by undermining the structures which have inhibited the authentic way of living of marginalised people.

Lived experience plays a central role in this process in several ways. First, it has become a marker of authenticity. A commonplace among today’s intelligentsia is that historical categories don’t match the lived experience of marginalised people. Miranda Fricker has designated this phenomenon ‘ hermeneutical injustice ’. Hermeneutical injustice occurs when a marginalised person is unable to understand their own social reality or experiences because the resources for understanding experience are created by those who are dominantly situated in culture. This echoes Fanon’s argument that many philosophical categories present in culture – even the master/slave dialectic in Hegel – were not created with Black experience in mind. Talk of lived experience thus becomes a way of signalling authenticity because one’s experiences aren’t reflected in the dominant culture.

Second, invoking lived experience has become a way of achieving epistemic and political authority, usually by claiming that people with marginalised identities have privileged access to knowledge that others are ill-equipped to understand or critique. ‘You don’t know what it’s like’ is a popular refrain. If others don’t and indeed can’t know what it’s like – then the only alternative is to defer to those who have privileged knowledge. When the authority of lived experience is felt, then language like ‘Speaking as a…’ becomes a way of signalling privileged knowledge which others should defer to. The truths of lived experience are now offered, in the words of Raymond Williams, ‘not only as truths, but as the most authentic kind of truths’. By the same token, members of culturally dominant groups can use the same language to express humility and deference towards others – ‘Speaking as a white man…’, ‘I don’t know what it’s like,’ and so on.

Third, lived experience becomes a way of boundary policing. Appeals like ‘Speaking as a…’ can prompt reflexive deference only if we engage in what Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak called ‘strategic essentialism’ – that is, only if we behave as if groups are monolithic and homogeneous (which they aren’t). Kwame Anthony Appiah points out that, if Black people seek recognition as Black people (which is entirely reasonable, given how that identity was constructed for the purpose of denigration and oppression), this goes hand in hand with creating boundaries – what it means to be ‘authentically’ Black. In this context, talk of lived experience can be used to police what counts as authentic Blackness, creating a kind of social prison. As he puts it in his essay ‘Identity, Authenticity, Survival’ ( 1995 ), ‘[b]etween the politics of recognition and the politics of compulsion, there is no bright line.’ In other words, if the authority of lived experience is to have weight, only the experience of some people can be allowed to count. If one transgresses against certain boundaries, then one’s status as an ‘authentic’ member of the group – and the importance of one’s experiences – can be questioned.

I t is perhaps not surprising that those who routinely deploy lived experience for political purposes haven’t been particularly critical about its use. Yet it was concerns of the kind that Appiah expressed that led Joan W Scott to argue in ‘The Evidence of Experience’ ( 1991 ) that reliance on lived experience has unexpected and heavy costs (an argument echoed in many ways by Wendy Brown). If, in seeking to empower, say, Black women, we encourage them to share their experiences as Black women (‘In my lived experience as a Black woman…’), this surreptitiously reinforces or ‘reifies’ (freezes and treats as real, timeless and natural) historically constructed categories like ‘Black’ and ‘women’. Rather than liberating marginalised people, using this language risks making us complicit in the persistence of categories that should be deconstructed.

Appeals to lived experience as a purely subjective experience that is unanswerable or not subject to critique are questionable at best. While some use ‘lived experience’ as if it indicates something indubitable and certain, bringing it close to purely subjective notions like qualia, this doesn’t square with the obvious fact that we can misunderstand our own experiences. Somehow we’ve forgotten the lesson that earlier thinkers knew: ideology can distort and oppression corrupt even our own self-understanding. As Appiah pointed out in The Guardian in November 2020, experience ‘is never unmediated and self-interpreting’. This means that lived experience doesn’t warrant reflexive deference, even though lived experience has become so closely tied to identity and dignity that others’ refusal to defer or their willingness to ask questions or critique may feel like erasure.

We need more than lived experience to work for positive social change

It’s worth calling attention to the fact that, since lived experience is fundamentally interpretive, it is a questionable foundation for authenticity. Following the recognition that people from marginalised communities have experiences that aren’t reflected in the language and concepts of the dominant culture, there has been a push for the creation of new conceptual categories to fill the void – to name an authentic reality previously obscured by society (such as new gender or sexual identities, so-called microaggressions, etc). However, there has been insufficient attention to the fact that new language and concepts may not just reflect experiences but create them. Dilthey argued that our own individual experiences are more than just subjective feelings but embody objective cultural structures, language, concepts, and the like. That is, objective meanings and structures permeate our lives, not just at the level of reflective interpretation, but at the level of lived experience itself. Think of how, among others, concepts such as Black/white, man/woman, Christian/Muslim/Hindu, Autistic/bipolar/OCD/neurotypical, privileged/underprivileged shape our experiences of ourselves and others.

If this is right, then it’s possible that lived experience and language are in a relationship much like the one that Taylor argues exists between nationalism and states – nationalism creates states but then states also produce nationalism. So, lived experience gives rise to new concepts but then new concepts give rise to new lived experiences. In at least some cases, new language may create as much as reflect the experiences that it refers to. If Dilthey is right that culture enters into and shapes lived experience, then we must be cautious about allowing lived experience to function as the touchstone of authenticity. Our concepts don’t just reveal, but create ‘who one truly is. ’

In her essay ‘Essentialism and Experience’ ( 1991 ), bell hooks writes that ‘[i]dentity politics emerges out of the struggles of oppressed or exploited groups to have a standpoint on which to critique dominant structures.’ For many today, the authority of lived experience is thought to provide precisely that standpoint. The problem is that lived experience isn’t a pure foundation that escapes the intrusion of language, theory and culture, and therefore can’t be used as the basis of authority or authenticity to which others should reflexively defer. We need more than lived experience to work for positive social change.

S o, where do we go from here? What is a proper role for lived experience in our society and our politics? We should start by acknowledging that lived experience is, in fact, valuable. It should be obvious that people have different experiences, and that we should all cultivate not only a readiness to listen to those who do but an openness to learning from them as well. In policymaking, those who have direct experience of the effects of policies should be consulted – and not only because they may have knowledge that policymakers may lack, but because, as the ‘nothing about us, without us’ motto of the disability rights movement highlights, they are often the primary stakeholders. Lived experience can thus serve as a check on creeping technocratic bureaucracies which have an affinity for losing touch with reality.

At the same time, we could be more thoughtful about how we employ lived experience. To start, we should recognise that lived experience – and research based on it – doesn’t trump other forms of enquiry but complements it. As C S Lewis put it in his essay ‘Meditation in a Toolshed’ (1945), if we want to understand the world, we should, insofar as possible, view things from the inside and from the outside. The two perspectives should stand in creative tension.

Incommunicable lived experience might serve as a licence for political authority, but it can never serve as the basis of solidarity

Along the same lines, we should be judicious about the use of identity categories and, insofar as possible, refrain from treating them like they are natural and eternal, remaining mindful of the interrelationship between our concepts and experience. While identity is not simply a matter of self-description, we should recognise that many people do not ‘identify with’ and are not motivated by the identities that others ascribe to them. Even when they do so identify, we should be careful not to treat all members of a group as if they’re the same or all have the same experiences and interpretations of those experiences. We shouldn’t include only those who have had the ‘right’ kind of lived experience or learned the ‘right’ lessons from those experiences. When we do that, we’re not really utilising lived experience at all, but politics, and we are merely exploiting ‘people with lived experience’ for political reasons.

Finally, we should let go of the notion that only members of one’s own group can understand ‘what it’s like’ to have one’s experiences. If we persist in saying lived experience is private and can’t be shared, we undermine the impetus for trying to understand experiences other than those of one’s own group. This fracturing along identity lines is disastrous for a liberal-democratic polity where durable social change is largely predicated upon solidarity across difference. Incommunicable lived experience might serve as a licence for political authority and a demand for deference, but it can never serve as the basis of solidarity. Instead, we should encourage people to have the courage to try to understand experiences other than their own. Emily Tilton and Briana Toole rightly argue that, if our openness to the experiences of others is to be personally and socially transformative, one’s posture can’t be one of passive deference, but one of active and collaborative enquiry. Lived experience – especially when it falls outside of the mainstream – can and should serve as a catalyst for enquiry and dialogue. And the mark of a genuine conversation is you never know where you’ll end up.

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