Family: My Cultural Identity

My cultural identity, as I know is Mexican American because both my parents are born in Mexico and I was born here. I can also be defined as a Chicana because that is another way used to call a Mexican American. My culture can be seen in so many different ways like for example it can be seen in food, music, religion, dance, art, festivals, and even more. Most of these traditions have changed a little bit over time as they were brought to the U.S. What I mean by that is that some of those traditions were brought from Mexico, and had a little change into them because they were combined with some traditions that have already been here in the U.S.

Now there are a lot of aspects that make me as a person, but the one I want to develop on the most would be the fact that I have been raised by two almost completely different cultures, my dad being raised in a more conservative setting, while my mom was raised in a more carefree, but still careful setting, but they both lived in similar living conditions, not having a lot of money, but they found ways in their times to overcome those issues and cope with them. Which makes them similar on how they have raised me and my two siblings, but still quite different in other aspects. I found this part of me, with the combined cultures of my parents, to be very conflicting at times because when my dad would talk about different topics, my mother would just have a completely

Families, as units, are extremely complex and vary drastically from one another. A person might be under the impression that his or her own family is nothing special, especially if they are accustomed to their family’s routines. After analyzing my own family through the sociological lenses of an assortment of scholars, it is now clear that it is not as simple as it seems. Sociologically analyzing my family through the divorces that have occurred in my life makes it clear that divorce can have an impact on a variety of family dynamics, such as my parents and their jobs and domestic duties, the amount of involvement they have with their friends and family, as well as my financial dependence on my parents.

The first, and arguably one of the most important characteristics of my cultural identity is my ethnicity. I come from a traditional Indian household, where both my parents grew up in India. My ancestors are from Tamil Nadu which is in the southeast

“Dale, dale, dale, No pierdas el tino; Porque si lo pierdes, Pierdes el camino”. The classic piñata song that is sung at parties. It translates to “Go, go, go, don't lose your aim; because if you lose it, you will lose your path.” The phrase ties in with my identity because of my cultural background and experiences at parties. Who am I? What is my cultural identity? The questions that have me trying my best not to have an existential crisis. I am a Mexican American, my parents were born in Jalisco and I was born in California. As for my cultural identity, I am a NSHS student that has been shaped by music, technology, and sports.

Cultural identity is the natural feeling you have from belonging to a group. Cultural identity is a lot of things but what is most influential to me are holidays, and family activities because these concepts stick out to me the most. Cultural identity is something that everybody has whether they realize it or not, they just need to understand it, and find themselves within their culture.

Food is something that is not inherited, it is learned, much like culture. When I was about three years old, my parents moved from Argentina to America. Since all we knew was Spanish, we found ourselves associating with many other Hispanics. One thing that I find all these cultures have in common is food. Food is something that ties us all to our roots, to our families, to our heritage, to our culture. Argentina, Mexico, and America, my take on food shows my family’s migrations and changes, it is who I am and will become, it is my cultural identity.

As I was faced with the questions on what my cultural identity was, I started to question myself on what it really meant to me. Do I even have a cultural identity, to begin with? I started to think what I enjoyed most that has evolved me into the person I am today. Everyone seems to have their own cultural identity, some even based their cultural identity off of their personal interests. So I started to think of my own personal interests that would blend into my own cultural identity. Food is something in my life that resembles my culture as well as what I am like as a person. As a child growing up in America but is raised in a Vietnamese household, I was able to get a taste of many different cultures through food. With my culture’s food with a mix of other different cultures, I was able to identify who I really am as a person. The food from my culture really helps me learn more about where I came from and the family traditions that follow it. The foods that I eat show the different cultures that I have tasted in order to identify who I really am today and it helped me get closer to my cultural traditions as well as my family. My family takes food and cooking very seriously, especially for family gatherings because it helps brings us closer together and this side of my family also represents how I view the foods I consume as well.

I was walking with my suitcase, on my way to the airport. I felt sad, yet excited at the same time. I had to leave my county to a place that I have never seen. From the society I grew up in, they viewed the United States as a very wealthy country. Therefore, I felt very fortunate to move to a place that was stable in more ways than Bangkok, Thailand. I discovered a lot about myself and culture through my move from Thailand to the United States. It was a major change in my life.

When i was 7 years old, my family and I moved to United States where my parents believed my sister and I would have better “education opportunities.” Being raised in a whole different culture than where i was born made the person who I am today. My parents traditional Korean culture and the American culture has taught me how to integrate different perspectives, how to value every individual's culture, and how to listen, communicate and understand an individual more thoroughly and carefully. Even though i did not agree to all the cultural aspects that my parents expected me to follow, they imparted me with values, such as sympathy and respect to others, stressing the importance of giving back to the community. Through these assets, beliefs,

Michael Halloran (2004) proposes that culture as a diverse and complex system of shared and interrelated knowledge, practices and signifiers of a society, provides structure and significance to groups within that society which subsequently impact the individual’s experience of their personal, social, physical and metaphysical worlds (p.5). Halloran (2004) theorizes that cultural maintenance is key to increasing the health and well-being of Aboriginal Australians whereby he suggests that culture provides collectively validated ways to think of and value oneself, further arguing that culture helps to suppress fundamental human existential anxieties about social isolation produced by our mortality awareness. Emile Durkheim (Marks, 1974) identifies anomie as being without law or norms, similarly, D.J Spencer (2000)

I grew up with a very diverse cultural background. My father is an immigrant from India and my mother’s parents are both immigrants from Italy. This mix of societies has taught me to be open to different customs from around the world. Since then, I have always been fascinated with other cultures and how they are all connected while still maintaining fundamental differences. Because of this, I would love to have the opportunity to immerse myself in a foreign culture by studying abroad with MIT.

Cultural identity is defined as the sense or feeling of belonging to a group. I connect my cultural identity to my immediate family. My immediate family consists of my parents, two younger sisters, and myself. Each one of us has significant values that have been instilled in one another. I believe that they play a large role in making me who I am today. Coming from a large, Sicilian family, the importance of love, loyalty, and support has always been prominent.

My family history is rather unclear and unexplored. I do know that my maternal grandmother was adopted. My paternal side is said to be Italian. I come from an English speaking family. The geographic range is also unexplored and limited to western Pennsylvania. I grew up in the small town of Nolo, Pennsylvania. I can recall moving from one house to another but within the same county. I did change school districts one time. I would consider this to be very stable. Currently, I reside in Indiana county where I grew up. I have been married for six years and have a two year old son that will soon be a big brother. My wife and I built a home within the same geographical location as our parents. My spouse was also raised in a stable nuclear style family structure.

While looking upon my personal culture and my family’s culture in an attempt to find appropriate dishes for this assignment, it became apparent to me that I have no definite culture. Whereas I have lived in Canada my whole life, my family’s background has engaged me in varying cultures, though I have never felt truly attuned to one culture. On the other hand, my father is a first generation Canadian, his parents both from Scotland. Though aware of my Scottish origins and my grandparents’ migration to Canada, Scottish culture has never been explicitly celebrated amongst those in my family. Furthermore, my family previously migrated from Ireland during the Irish famine, resulting in Irish culture to also represented in my family’s culture. Variously, my mother’s side of the family has lived in Canada for many generations, but I do not consider myself as being authentically Canadian. Accordingly, throughout my childhood, I was never encouraged to celebrate an explicit culture. Furthermore, religion was never prominent in my life either, as my parents decided against baptizing any of my siblings and me, as per the family tradition, because they wished for us to have religious freedom. However, because of the rest of my family’s religion, as well as my background, my family has always celebrated Christian holidays, though I have never been to church for a reason other than a wedding. I find that without any cultural ties from my family’s history and practices, that the culture I