“Ni de aqui, ni de alla,” – “not from here, nor there”, a saying all too familiar to my ears. As a first-generation Mexican-American this prominent saying allows for the expression of the frustration of being stuck in the middle of two cultures. Being the product of two resilient Mexican immigrants that religiously preached the enormous value of an education influenced my upbringing down to its very core. Perhaps, it’s the fact that parents like my own, whose educational knowledge was halted in the sixth grade, aspire to live their dreams through their children.
Growing up in a heavily diverse neighborhood in South Everett, Washington allowed me to explore different ideas and values within a small radius. Moreover, I could relate to my fellow classmates regardless of our nationality since we shared a common trait, we were all facing the challenges of assimilating into American culture. Perhaps, the earliest memory I possess of a cultural dilemma is that of the existing language barrier. At an early age, this was a tremendous issue since I possessed a limited vocabulary yet I was the primary translator for my Spanish-speaking parents. Casual visits to the doctor’s office and parent-teacher conferences at school were not only opportunities to reflect on my health and education but to practice my ever-expanding knowledge of both languages. The existing language barrier between these two cultures allowed for the development of my tolerance toward people who are navigating
Discrimination against the language itself has been happening consistently since the integration of schools, in the 1950s Mexican-Americans in Texas started to stand up for what was being stolen from them. Hernández connects her grandparents' personal experience with those of the children highlighted in the documentary “Stolen Education”. Her grandparents were from south Texas and entered into the horrifying world of the Texas school system around the same time. The documentary “Stolen Education” is a prime example of discrimination against one's heritage and language in American society. As Hernández mentions briefly in her article, her grandparents were introduced into the Texas school system during the period highlighted in “Stolen Education” having the same experience of forced embarrassment for their language specifically starting within the first few years of
There is a Mexican man that enters with the rest of his family. They eat beans, rice, flour tortillas and etc. The family does there every day routine, the dad wakes up at six- thirty to go to work in his truck. The children go to school and the mother stays at home. The things a person does in their all has a reason which goes all back to culture. Culture is what makes up everyone different from one another. Texts such as “What is Cultural Identity?”, “Where Worlds Collide” and “Two ways to Belong” supports that depending on one’s culture it effects one perspective on the world and others.
Maya Angelou once said, “You are the sum total of everything you’ve ever seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot - it’s all there. Everything influences each of us, and because of that I try to make sure that my experiences are positive.” The surroundings show that a person is always trying new things by looking others. The idea of a society being able to influence a person just by their surroundings is prevalent. Influence happens when you are looking up to other people. You start to act like them by looking up to them. That is when we start to feel like we are changing ourselves. Many perspectives show the effect that society has on a person to prove that the culture
Does someone's cultural identity affect how they look at the world an other people? Cultural identity affects how someone looks at the world and how they look at others. The culture that someone creates for themselves determines how they look at the world and someone. Your childhood, lessons you learn throughout your life, and your cultural heritage all effect your culture and how you look at people and the world. There is also some people that are not affected by their culture only affected by their childhood and lessons that they grew up with in other words there not affected by their parent's culture heritage their affected by their culture they made for themselves. Culture affects everyone and the extent of the effect determines how
A person’s culture has a great influence on his or her self-identity and behavior. Culture encompasses many aspects, and is defined by Juang and Matsumoto (2011) as a, “unique meaning and information system, shared by a group and transmitted across generations, that allows the group to meet basic needs of survival, pursue happiness and well-being, and derive meaning from life” (p. 15). As discussed in lecture, different dimensions of culture are identified by Geert Hofstede and different values of culture are identified by Shalom Schwartz (K. Whitten, personal communication, January 14, 2016). The level of emphasis placed on these dimensions and values result in the expression of a unique culture. I interviewed
Cultural identity is defined as a sense of feeling or belonging to one group, or even multiple groups. Different people define themselves differently from the person sitting next to them. I, on the other hand, think that my cultural identity is abstract. I think that this is because I enjoy a variety of different activities including swimming competitively, singing in a choir, sometimes going to school, and reading whenever I get the chance. Sometimes it is hard to find time to read because of my busy schedule, but I make it happen. A lot of people have one specific way to identify themselves and have other smaller ways to define themselves within their larger definition.
The purpose of this essay is to critically reflect on the new ideas I have learnt throughout this semester, ideas that has changed the way I understand the experiences of the Aboriginal and Torres strait islander people. The essay will also link my understanding of how cultural identity can influence health equity, using the CATSINaM’s definition of cultural safety.
On both ends of the spectrum Espada and Rodriguez use their work to explain their views on bilingualism and how it affected their lives and other peoples. Rodriguez loses his cultural connection with his family because of English and Espada is empowered by his connection with his Latino heritage. Both men chose to take different paths of bilingualism and each one gained and lost cultural identity. Espada’s argument explains how not fighting for one's language creates a downfall with their cultural identity and Rodriguez’s elaborates the endless possibilities people have when knowing how to speak English. Espada and Rodriguez, although on two different sides, both contribute logical arguments which go full circle and connect with one another on how losing interest in the native language can cause the connection to cultural identity to weaken. In my own personal experience when I was younger I was embarrassed that I was one of the oldest people in my class. Since I was older I felt incompetent to the other kids, and I started
Human nature wants us to feel a sense of belonging and find our community. Culture can be defined as the rituals, beliefs, and values that survive through generations and are practiced in each generation (University of Kent). Identity can be defined as how we view and perceive ourselves as different than others (University of Kent). Therefore, we can consider cultural identity as the features of a culture that all together, make it unique from other cultures. A certain cultural identity allows its participants to feel a sense of belonging in that culture and for its participants to keep their connection to their roots. There are many features of a culture that help create a unique cultural identity, such as its practices and rituals, costumes,
In my opinion, culture plays an important role in one's identity. We can identify different aspects that make up our culture including music, ethnicity, geography, beliefs and much more. Culture to me is important because it's what makes you unique. For me coming from a Dominican household was a unique experience and has made me identify as an Afro-Latina. When I was young I didn’t know anything about my African roots my mother never talked to me about it. For me however when I was younger I never really in a sense worried about the color of my skin because my mother had closed off that part to me where I had to worry so much.
Cultural identity is something that is being seen all over the world. It is essentially a person's identity belonging to a certain group. Examples of these groups could be a religion, nationality, ethnicity, or social class. Cultural identity has the power to shape someone's way of life in the way that it can cause someone to adopt another person's cultural identity. It can also help motivate a person's decisions in life. especially if that person's decision matches up with the person's cultural identity. Lastly, cultural identity works as a catalyst to what a person will do in his or her life, whether it is a person's profession, sexual orientation, and even lifestyle, it will have a significant impact on a person's future in society.
It is an interesting experience for me to face who I am when so much has happen within my life. Being a proud, 49-year-old, white man has not been easy. Everyone goes through hard times. However, I grew up in Port Orchard, WA with my family and friend – all of which were white. The early parts of my life occurred in a racially homogenous culture and impacted several aspects of my identity.
It was until I became older and more mature I started to realize that my culture background was different than my parents. Being a third culture child, I had received and established a different culture than my parents. However, it was because of them giving me the opportunities to experience new cultures and places. My parents and their parents are all traditional, even though they have lived in America for quite a while. They choose to stick with their roots, instead of adapting to a new culture. In my culture I am suppose to have top tier education, successful marriage and stick to my culture’s traditions. On the other hand, I am more open minded than my parents. I am not afraid of trying and adapting to new cultures. My explanation to
Chicago, Illinois is where a baby boy was born in 2001 at a mischievous and uncomfortable place. His parents named Mayra and Natividad arrived as undocumented people. When the young baby boy was born, his parents said this to each other, “This young man right here will become one of the greatest person God has sent us. He will help us to achieve many wonders and gifts for us.” That inspiration gave life to the little one and was a blessing to him to live life. Once he grew enough to enter Kindergarten, this triggered a conflict between reading and talking. It was a struggle during the times that his parents put him in reading tutorials and speech. After many practices, he then later began talking English and reading it fluently. What he wanted, was a better life for his parents; a life that he could see his parents smile everyday. A life where there isn’t any conflict between them; a life with at least some peace. That short kid was me; now I’m have enough experience to express my feelings to everybody, but to begin with, when I began growing in age I started to see life as a cruel world especially when it came towards my parents lives and experiences.
I must admit that when I was asked to write about my "cultural identity", I was pretty annoyed. Not because of the writing part, (though I do admit, I usually have a pretty hard time with writing), but because I hate talking about myself. Whenever someone asks me, "what do you like to do", or, "how would you describe yourself", it low-key makes me want to jump out the window, (first story though, because I don’t want to die). To get through these questions I usually just say the obvious, like I enjoy drawing, and I'm in tenth grade, but going deeper than that starts to make me feel more and more uncomfortable. Mostly because thinking about myself makes me think about my existence, which kind of puts me in somewhat of a trance of awkwardness, and anxiety. So instead of pondering myself and my actuality, I chose certain topics of culture and just wrote what I like in these topics.