A Swedish Born Diplomat

There are some groups that none of us has any choice in whether we belong to them or not. Factors such as gender, ethnicity, family and even social status are at birth, groups that we belong to, yet cannot choose, and many of these endure throughout life. Although family, religious beliefs and even social status can be altered in later life, all of these groups are ones that are integral to an individual’s identity and in fact add it in life. However, as a child their influence is perhaps even more important as in these formative years one’s gender, culture, family and even religion actively create individual identity.

It is quite uncomfortable and difficult for me to have a discussion about my social identity because I do not identify myself with a specific group of people. I consider myself an open member of our global society. Even though I was born into a Polish household and raised amongst first generation Americans, I do not necessarily identify as a Pole, American, or Polish-American. Technically, I am a Polish American since I was born in America and raised by Polish parents, but that does not necessarily mean that I identify as a "Polish American." If I were to identify myself as one, I would feel as though my identity would be limited to Polish and American cultural and social values. I am not a book that can be neatly and properly stored on

For as long as I can remember, I always had the passion to assist others. I find joy in helping others because I enjoy seeing others happy. In my earlier years as a child I would see other children just like myself but some were not exactly like me. They were unable to do things on their own, unable to walk, or maybe just a little different. I was not the type of person even as a child to look at others any different than myself because I realized everyone was still human. Everyday throughout my middle school years I would go to school happy, because I found joy in first finishing my work then maybe helping others who needed help.

Personally I feel that I identify myself within the Poston Biracial Identity Development Model. This model is focused for individuals that identify with multiple racial or ethnic groups. The stages of this model are the personal identity stage, choice of group categorization stage, enmeshment/denial stage, appreciation stage, and the integration stage. The personal identity stage is when an individual is independent of race or ethnicity. When I was in elementary school probably around 5 or 6 years old I showed part in this stage as I was naïve of the thought that people could be segregated based on race or ethnicity. The choice of group categorization stage is when an individual identifies themselves with one of their ethnicities. I reached this stage around 3rd grade or so when I began to identify myself as specifically the white part of my ethnicity (Irish).

When someone asks me what is my cultural identity, there are a lot of things that come to my mind. For example, one of the first things that come to my mind is the how people see me which is by being hispanic. In the same way, I also think about the fact that in addition to being hispanic I am also Salvadorean which sets me apart from the idea that every hispanic is mexican and they are all the same. In the first few seconds after I am asked about my cultural identity, I think about who I am and what makes me me. I think about how I was raised and how different I might be compared to everyone around me. I am a straight male who does not have any disabilities. I do not have a high socioeconomic status, but I have sufficient. Being catholic, I have no problem exercising my religion as I please and that really sets me apart from many because not everyone identifies with the same cultural identity as I do. Some people encounter many obstacles due to their cultural identity, obstacles that I might not face which is why I feel like my cultural identity has affected different aspects of my life such as my social development, family, education among others.

If I could describe my own racial identity, I would describe myself as a twenty-one year old girl who is causation. I was born and raised in Northeast Philadelphia, Pennsylvania my whole life with my two sisters. I come from a middle class working family. My cultural background is, I come from the Irish and German heritage. I have green eyes, brown hair and my skin color is light. When it comes to my extended families, racial history is most of my family members were from Ireland and came over the America to raise their families. My great grandmother was born in Ireland, but she lived Czechoslovakia for a few years, before she moved to America. So my most of my extended family that I know are Irish on my father’s side of the family, my mother’s family is German. My parents raised my sisters and I, in a house where religion was very important, my parents raised us as Catholics. My parents were really strict and old school when it came to certain things. How I feel about my racial identity is, I love the person I am and I would not want to change myself at all. I enjoyed the way I was raised; it helped me shape me into the person I am today.

To the outside world, I appear to belong to the Traditional White Nuclear Family culture, but my family included co-cultures and subcultures that were rare in the suburban south.

The religion and race tests also concluded that I have a preference for Christianity and European Americans. My cultural background and upbringing was and is still involved in the Christian faith and I respect those of other faiths. Interactions during my childhood rarely involved individuals that were African American and that has changed immensely today. I understand that I have biases and I work hard throughout the day to not allow this to influence the way I act, feel, or behave toward individuals that are different from

I believe people to be naturally good to others, because there is more kind-hearted people more than cold-hearted people in this world. In this world you will see a handful of people helping and giving to others no matter the situation. The percentage of evil and cruel people is a very low percentage. After everything people all over Texas is coming together, and it shows the good in people that we thought did not have a good heart.

The United States recognizes five types of categories in order to distinguish the race of the population. I feel discriminated when I have to fill out an application, surveys or any type of documentation that has this type of question: Please identify your race, Caucasian or White American, African American, Native American, Asian, and Pacific Islander (US Census, 2015) CITATION. The problem with this type of questions is that the majority of surveys who require a specific answer don’t have Hispanic or Latino categorization. I often feel confused about which type of race I am. When I watched White Americans or African Americans respond to this questions, they rapidly marked the correct answer to the categorization with no confusion. I turned around to see if anyone of my race was having the same problem that I had. Unfortunately, this type of question always created confusion in my mind, Was I white American? African American?. My response to the surveys usually were more inclined to Caucasian or White American. I realized that I never took the time to ask to family about my descendant’s race or ethnicity. In reality, I discovered that it is true what professor Gates presented in the video “The Back Grandma in the closet”. Family members often hide information because they don’t want us to discover the truth about our descendants.

acknowledge the beliefs and practices of people who differ from them in age, occupation or social class, ethnic background, sex, sexuality, religious belief, and disability

Regardless of my town’s homogeneous population, I grew up accepting diversity and valuing individual differences even amid the same racial group. One of the first experiences of diversity I can vividly recall is the various religious beliefs within the Black community. My parents believed “exposure to the world around you” was one of the primary factors for raising a well-rounded individual. Therefore, we often visited different churches of various faiths.

The steady increase of biracial children has raised questions about the possible unique phases of identity development for these individuals. Since the social acknowledgement of biracial people, numerous researchers have posed questions about whether or not the experience of identity development for biracial persons is unique. Because biracial people do not fit into any one racial category, their racial identity and racial status differs from other minority or non-White groups. There are many factors that influence the process of forming a biracial identity including race, culture, ethnicity, family, and the social and historical contexts biracial people are born and raised within. According to Stone’s article (2009), race, culture, and ethnicity may sometimes be difficult to negotiate for mixed race individuals and their

This paper is a work of self-examination to find out what influenced my development from birth to this my 56th year. I will delve into my past and try to honestly and without judgment describe what events and actions led me to become the person I am today. I will look at the way in which the culture and family I grew up in build the frame-work of the person I have evolved into.

When thinking of cultural identity I see myself as, a mixed latina-caucasian, middle class Christian. The things I do in my everyday life reflects off of what I was taught in my early stages of life. Learning morals to what is right and wrong. Also learning to how to be a women and to be ladylike. With also learning and how to apply my religion in my everyday life. Being a Christian I believe there is one God and that is Jesus. I believe God sent down his only son to sacrifice himself for us the people. Also growing up I have heard how different religions is wrong. For example, the Catholic faith. I was told the Catholic religion believe in three Gods. The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. The Catholic religion also pray in the Father, The Son, and Holy Spirit. Being a Christian I was taught there was only one name to pray in and that is in Jesus name. This affects my everyday life because the way I act, speak, dress affects my religion and morals that were given to me since birth. Being ethnocentric I believe my religion is correct. I know it correct because I follow the Bible. What I give off to people is a representation of that. On the other hand, I do believe all religions are correct in their own way. They were taught the same things I was taught, but just in different ways. I do feel like who am I to say there religion is incorrect. It is not my place it is Gods place. This is the part where I am also polycentric. With me being