My Cultural Identity

Most people call me Colby, but on the field i'm know as number 40. Soccer has been a part of my life since I was 3, my 12 years of experience have influenced how I act, what I eat and most aspects of my life-like who I hang out with and what I dislike. In the United states especially, sports are a huge part of everyone's cultural identity. With all this in mind I would call my cultural identity a soccer game. It can change in a blink of the eye but is consistent through life.My family is like the other players, education is like the field and my hobbies are like the ball.

What is my cultural identity? Personally, I don’t think I am completely assured on what my cultural identity is, but I can do my best on explaining it. However, I won’t get started on that yet, first I’ll explain the occasion of me learning about my identity. At almost the beginning of the year, it was announced in our English class that we would be doing an essay on our cultural identities. When my teacher announced this I thought to myself, “What in the world is a cultural identity, or even my cultural identity?” In these months, we have gotten to learn the definition of culture, and what it means to us, individually., I believe that culture means a group of people that share the same customs, way of life, and beliefs. Also, over these last couple of months we have been reading texts all about people knowing and understanding their cultural identities, meanwhile I still didn’t understand my own. All I know is that I was born on February 11, 2002, I like movies and music, and my mom is from Chile and my Dad is from Virginia. Now that didn’t feel like enough for me to write on, but then I started thinking about all of the cultural differences that my parents have had raising me as a person, and how those have all combined to make me. In my short 15 years of life, the culture clashes have sometimes affected me on my thoughts and opinions, which I’ll talk about later on. As well as how movies and music have affected my perspectives and opinions.

Charles F. Glassman once said, “In a few seconds, we judge another person and think we know them. When, the person we’ve lived with the longest, we still don’t know very well- ourselves.” Writing about my values has gave me a better understanding of who I am. I now understand the several ways my culture has shaped me to become who I am. My cultural autobiography will allow me to reveal who I truly am by understanding my cultural identity. My cultural identity is the combination of my worldview and values as well as my position in the eight microcultures.

“ I am a feminist, and what that means to me is much the same as the meaning of the fact I am black: It means that I must . . . respect myself as though my very life depends upon self-love and self-respect.”- June Jordan. As life goes on I am learning that we do not always get what we want. In my English class, we read two passages; one was a novel called Two Kinds by Amy Tan and the other was a poem called “ Legal Alien “ by Pat Mora. The text Two Kinds is about the conflict between a mother and daughter; her mother just wants her daughter to triumph in the world, while her daughter wants to just be herself. The other text “ Legal Alien “, is about the speaker describing being bicultural, and how she is fluent in the Mexican and American culture but seen as “ different & exotic” by the Americans, and an “ alien & outsider “ by the Mexicans. Reading and analyzing these texts lead me to realize that I am a staunch feminist in the midst of the world who adores being an eccentric human, and struggles with an overprotective family.

Sometimes a person will feel that they have no purpose in life. Finding out who you are just take the time of sitting down and thinking of the importance in your life. Who am I? I am April Casas, and I am a person with different personalities, characteristics, and identities. Every single one has their own unique identity and culture. Culture plays a big role in shaping your identity. Culture is what made me the person I am today and determines who or what I choose to associate myself with. My background and upbringing are what sets me apart from anyone else because no one has been raised the same. My identity would not exist if it was not for my own culture and the values I have carried it over the years. I am in college studying paramedic; and I have wonderful friends in desperate need of support, which makes me a wonderful best friend.

Cultural identity can be many different things. The clothes you wear, the food you eat, the places you go, or even how you talk. Many people have not one, but two cultural identities that define them. In my case i have two which is American and Indian. Culture can be defined in many different ways. Some may say it's the food you eat,the clothes you wear, or even the places you go. If you look at the big meaning of culture and putting everything together it’s like saying that culture is what makes you who you are. From the foods you eat to the clothes you dress in.It's part of a person's self concept. it can also predict your point of view. My cultural identity is a unique

Thinking about the events that have brought me to where I am today, the most appropriate model of identity development for myself would be the White Racial Identity Development: A Descriptive Model developed by Sue and Sue (2016). This model consists of seven phases: Naivete, Conformity, Dissonance, Resistance and immersion, Introspective, Integrative awareness, and Commitment to antiracist action. I believe that I am now entering or transitioning into the Integrative awareness phase. At this point I have learned a lot about myself and thought a lot about what it means to be White and how my life has been impacted by being White. Through the questioning and learning in the previous phase, I have a much better understanding of how racism is still at play in our society today and how I can personally make changes in my own life and on a larger scale. I think in the career path I have chosen, I will have plenty opportunities to help advocate and be an ally to those that are different from me. I have become much more comfortable having conversations with people who are different from me and want to continue learning.

Cultural Identity to me is what I identify myself with. My Christian upbringing, and the environment I grew up in are the two components that I identify with the most and they are what made me who I am today.

Mexico is a part of my cultural identity, My family and I are all Catholics I was raised to belief in God and La Virgen de Guadalupe. Not only that but both of my parents are from Oaxaca, Mexico. They were born and raised in a small town close to Huitzo. A big celebration for us Mexicans is Celebrating Los Quince anos this is a big deal and is mostly meant for girls. A Quinceanera is to celebrate your daughter's transition from a girl to a young lady when you reach the age of 15. I got to have a Quinceanera a couple months after my birthday because January is a cold month so we didn't want that to interfere with the party. Having a Quinceanera takes a year or more to plan because you have to make sure everything is perfect, not only that but it also isn't cheap at all.

Have you ever lived in an area where you have to keep shorts and a sweatshirt in your back seat because the weather is constantly changing? It can be 60 degrees at 6:00 am and 80 by early afternoon. Where you live can be part of your culture. It influences what you wear and even sometimes the moods you’re in. Culture has a big impact on the world whether it’s noticed or not. Your cultural identity is where you fit in a group of people, your religion, social class, generation and anything that you can be identified with. Although I have not previously thought about my cultural identity, I have learned that everyone has a cultural identity that makes us all different. When I think of my own cultural identity I think of art, my kindness, and my family.

I am a twenty-one-year-old female. I am Chinese American. I grew up in a Buddhist household, but I am Christian. My family celebrates the Chinese Traditions at home, but do not go to Temples. I participate in the events that they celebrate because that is what I grew up doing and it is something I enjoy doing as a family. I am open to listening to any type of music except for rock, screamo, and metal. I am a full-time student with a part-time job as a substitute teacher assistant in early childhood education.

Imagine that you could split yourself in two in order to be in two different countries at the same time so that you could experience each culture, taste their food, listen to their language and absorb every bit of information that these two places offer. In my case, this is how my mind and my family gatherings feel like. I was born and raised in Ecuador but I am also an American citizen. My family is half Ecuadorian and half American; each has kept their native countries’ traditions alive within their lives and homes. I grew up listening to different accents, learning two languages and experiencing the best, the worst, and everything in between in both cultures. In the middle of this beautiful and confusing environment I have realized that my dual cultural background has highly influenced my beliefs, decisions, thoughts and actions. Being Ecuadorian-American is an essential part of my identity.

Many cultures have a specific set of beliefs that shape the human society. The system of beliefs helps mold one's personality and expectation, in many cases these systems of beliefs create a more sophisticated person. A belief system helps develop a sense of one's effectiveness in interacting with the diverse cultural environment. Because of how strong the influence of a belief is, it can influence a person’s philosophy and temperament which in turn shapes the interactions with their peers. Cultural identity influences an individual’s perspectives in which in their systems of belief gives a background of the cultural identity, this system of beliefs help one interact with others through the mean of values. Dave Barry, Pico Iyer, and David Sedaris’s story paint a vivid picture of different cultures by giving us an insight of how the speaker’s system of beliefs had influenced their decision and choices in the story.

Who am I? What is my culture? I have never really put any thought into it until recently. Being asked these questions, I had no response, no idea on how to answer. I’ve just started really learning and figuring out what culture was. I used to think that it was just your ethnicity and where you came from, but in reality it’s a very big mix of things. Some people have really visible cultures in the sense to where if you ask them, they’ll have an answer for you, but myself when I was asked what my culture was, I was very confused. I am half white and half mexican. I was never taught spanish, I’ve never dressed in a way that you might see as cultural to Mexicans. Growing up, I was never really involved in the Mexican culture, so with that I thought I had no culture. I’ve come to realize that culture isn’t what I eat, what I wear, or what language I speak. For me, my culture is my beliefs, it comes from my family and friends, and even technology.

When you hear cultural identity you like what is that what's so special about culture identity. Cultural identity is who you are what makes you special. My culture is where I’m from, language , music , food, and sports. I think that every culture is special in its own way, this shows us how we are different, and maybe it shows how we might be a like. My cultural identity is really important and shows who I am and what makes me , me .