Who I Am
I come from a small town in South Georgia consisting of a flashing light and a gas station. I grew up on a dirt road surrounded by woods, mosquitos, and adventure. If you ever listen to the song “American Honey” by Lady Antebellum, that was my childhood—or really any country song about being a kid. The age old question, “Who do you want to be when you grow up?”, implies that we are never fully adult until we are fully who we want to be. As I have transitioned into adulthood, I’ve found that we are never really fully grown, but rather always growing. We are always changing, transitioning, and striving to become our ideal selves; however, this destination should never disqualify the journey of getting there. The journey is what
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Each home had a substantial amount of land. Our house shared a plot of fifteen acres with my aunt and cousin. Despite my predominately white neighborhood, our surrounding town and community were mainly black. I went to a private school from K3 to 8th grade. The school was very small and had about 300 children total. We probably had two black kids in my class ever—all the rest were white. After middle school, I transferred into the public-school system. It was a colossal transition. My classes went from having ten people to a minimum of thirty. I suddenly became the minority within my school population as a white female. The public high school I attended reflected the demographics of my community. I felt very isolated, and my race became one of my most salient identities at that time. It a challenging change, because I had never had to make friends before—I always knew everybody before. I had never been friends with people who looked different than me. I look back on that time in my life thankfully, because without it, I would not have been exposed to diversity and the beauty that comes from it. I also would not have the interpersonal skills needed to make it through my freshman year of college. In that time, my biases inherited from my parents were challenged for the better. I came to know, appreciate, and love people from all walks of life, races, and religions. As an individual, I am always most aware and affected by my identity as a Christian.
“Good times in your culture makes good memories”. Good memories can connect to your culture even if it’s good or bad. Your culture can have many different things about it . There’s different kinds of cultures. Some people are dedicated to their culture. People do things in their culture many different ways and some people do things the same way if they have the same culture. My cultural identity is interesting because of all the memories, food, and a specific t.v show.
All my life people have always questioned my ethnicity. My mom says it makes me mysterious and intriguing. She says, "You look like you could be born in any part of the world". Any time I 'm in a crowd the question always comes up, "what 's your ethnicity?", "are you mixed with anything?”. I look at them and smile thinking in my head of course you just asked that. I give a big sigh and say "I 'm white and Pakistani". Some look at me with great confusion and ask, "What is that?" I hit them with a huge eye roll and I have to explain where Pakistan is located in Asia. I really think some people did not take World Geography because they 're still so lost. They usually just blurt with "oh, so you 're middle eastern?" It boggles my mind that
As American labor leader and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez expressed, “Preservation of one's own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures.” Respecting everyone’s culture is a necessity, no matter their ethnic background, or if they stand out in society. Language, customs, food, and religion are all parts of a culture everyone possesses. All individuals have a viewpoint, a perspective of what cultures the world around them is compromised of. The culture in every human influences how they view the world around them by hiding one’s own culture, giving people biased views of others’ ethnicities, and weighing down the minority groups.
In my life I experienced many things and the most important thing that I learn is that life is like a box of chocolate . I say that life is like a box of chocolate like Forrest Gump said because, you never know what’s planned for you next. You don’t know if you're going to get a good outcome, or a bad outcome because it’s different flavors in chocolate. My freshman year of highschool I was lacking not doing my work and just slacking but, now I regret it because freshman year is the most important year of your high school years . In these 17 years of my life, it been has been like a box of chocolate I never knew what was going to be the outcome of me making the the decision I made my freshman year. If I would’ve did better my freshman year it wouldn’t be so hard how it was my 10th grade year.
In growing up in the position of the ‘other’ in society, Smith provides an empowered stance of identity exclusively through the demonstration of cultural hybridity, as evidenced by Millat and his gangster crew, the Raggastani’s. As Millat becomes increasingly connected to a swaggering identity highlighted by Western popular culture, his sense of belonging becomes established with the multicultural mix of South Asian and Caribbean teens he hangs out with: “It was a new breed, just recently joining the ranks of the other street crews. Becks, B-boys, Nation Brothers, Raggas, and Pakis; manifesting itself as a kind of cultural mongrel of the last three categories. Their ethos, their manifesto, if it could be called that, was equally a hybrid thing” (193). Here, Smith uses the Raggastani’s as a symbol representing the emerging identity of a multicultural London transformed by the migration of formerly colonized populations from South Asia and the Caribbean. Their mission, to put the “invincible back in Indian, the Bad-aaaass back in Bengali, the P-Funk back in Pakistani” (193), is about taking their identities which have been devalued in Western society and linking them together through a collective sense of approval. As a productive example of cultural hybridity taking place, they are a direct contrast with the forms of difference and racial purity that the Chalfen`s represent, and the resistance of letting go of traditions that their parents uphold. The group tries on a series
To give some context, I lived in a predominately white area and went to school
My family and I have never been the family to take trips outside of the country therefore I haven’t seen different cultures outside of the United States; however I come from an Anglo father and Hispanic mother therefore I have been able to experience their cultures first hand. Both of my parents, especially my Hispanic mother showed us all very nurturing, caring and loving affection that has stuck with me; this is definitely what shapes my identity. Students with different backgrounds and disabilities come into our classrooms with a wide variety of talents and skills; some student’s skills are just very different from those of another student. If one student’s skills don’t meet the skills of the highest level student in the classroom they often are not noticed, because of my identity I will recognize and congratulate every student who improves in one way or another. From personal experiences that I have seen I believe that teachers need to be able to recognize the way students with disabilities act and perform in the classroom. Teachers must also be able to find ways to help these students stay engaged and continue learning; this will help the students and teachers within today’s school system.
To begin, culture affects the way people view the world. In three stories that i read Obituary, Ethnic hash, Two kinds, Cultural identity was a big deal. They have perfect examples of how cultural identity affects the way people view the world. These stories show and tell how people that have cultural pressure affect people and how they view the world. Cultural identity plays a hard role in these stories , telling how some people can't be what their want them to be . In my opinion , i feel like some kids and teens should be what they want and not what their parents say.
A cultural identity is the sense of belonging to a particular group and the influence said group has over an individual. In clinical therapy, it is important to be aware of a client’s cultural identity, as well as the cultural identity of the therapist. Both a client and the therapist can experience biases from their cultural identities so it is crucial for the therapist, in particular, to be conscious of that to not inadvertently invalidate or offend the client. It is also important for rapport to not make assumptions about cultural identities a therapist doesn’t belong to or fully understand. Ways of breaking down cultural identities are using visible and invisible identities, similarities to family and the “Big Nine”
My cultural identity is shaped by what I’ve come to learn as essential values, cuisine, and simply, music. Values are a person’s principles or standards of behavior; one’s judgement of what’s important in life. The values that have been embedded in me play a big role in my progressive development as a person. Cuisine is a style or method of cooking, especially as characteristic of a particular country, region, or establishment. My taste in food is being shaped around a more familiar type of cuisine. Next, music is such an important part of my cultural identity that I like to believe my life revolves around music. It has done so much in my personality development. Values, cuisine, and music have their contributions and are also connected to each other in many ways.
My cultural identity is with the Black/African American culture. The Black/African American culture is what I identify myself as since that is what I grew up knowing. So, I would tell people, if they asked, that I am Black/African American. My gender is male and my socioeconomic status I would say is either working class or lower middle. I usually would just say I am middle classed, but that’s isn’t 100% accurate, so I am starting to consider myself lower middle class or working class just because of the fact that even though my mom works; we still have those struggles as if we are living in poverty sometimes. For instance, the power being cut off, the water cut off, or things like not knowing what we’re going to eat the next day.
The following paper will discuss two of the major dimensions of my cultural identity, and analyze the way in which my identity holds privileges, or has exposed me to oppression. Being that I am white, I have lived a life of privilege simply because of the color of my skin. I have been afforded opportunities, and lived a life free from persecution due to my skin color. I have also lived a life that has been impacted by oppression because of my female identity. This unique position between privilege and oppression is where I live my life.
Our society is highly influenced by what our cultural backgrounds have taught us to believe. While there are plenty of positive ideas, there are also an unhealthy amount of negative ones. Unfortunately, more people follow along with the negative than the positive, which has been causing major conflicts around the world for centuries. Many believe that one 's cultural background will not affect their views on others with the fact that not everyone follows the beliefs they were raised on; in contrast they do not realize that perceptions of normal, in a sense of environment, stereotypes, and racial beliefs, may differ.
As an Egyptian Indian-Arab American who grew up in the primarily Caucasian city of Woodland, California, I have learned how affecting representation can be. When I was living in Woodland, my family was one of the very few Indian or Arab families there. Most of my peers were white or Hispanic, and I was the only Indian girl at my school. As a result, I did experience the ignorance of several of my peers. Remarks about Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban were common. I often heard insults about my traditional foods or customs. Driving an hour every Sunday to go to the nearest Sikh temple or mosque was a normal part of life. I truly began to hate my culture, my religion, and my traditions. I felt ashamed of my heritage and desperately wanted to change this part of me. Then, in the middle of my freshmen year, my family and I moved to Yuba City, a city affectionately known as "Mini Punjab", and everything changed.
There are many things in my life that represent my identity . Perhaps some things may