For most of my life, I had always felt that I had no cultural identity. Although, if you knew my family’s culture background, you would think that was absurd. Most Americans live their lives not knowing their origins or how long their families have been in America. In contrast, I have known that information my whole life. My family emigrated to the U.S. from Nigeria in 1995 and my parents were the first of both of their families to settle in the States. Growing up, I learned many things about Nigerian people. In general, Nigerians tend to be three things: loud, overdramatic, and obnoxiously boisterous. They talk so loudly that when people who aren’t Nigerian hear a casual conversation going on between them, they think it’s a shouting match and that …show more content…
These characteristics encompass who Nigerians are as a people, but this has never been an adequate description of me. I don’t tend to be loud on a regular basis or shout when I speak to people. I can be dramatic, but this presents itself mainly in my wild imagination. I enjoy listening to stories, but I don’t tell them well. And, astonishingly, I have never had a significant appetite for traditional food, which baffles every Nigerian I meet. I love to sing and dance, but I can rarely do those things in public without feeling bashful. I was so unlike my family and so detached from their culture that I looked to another side of my life for an identity. In my household, people call me the “American.” I eat American food, can barely understand Yoruba, my family’s native tongue, and am generally deemed unsociable and awkward at gatherings. To most Nigerians, these facts essentially make me an American. But I didn’t feel like I was. Although I had natural born citizenship, I had grown up in an immigrant family that lead a lifestyle incompatible with the one I encountered any time I wasn’t around other
The “Who am I? Who are my people” by Kirk and Okazawa-Rey was very insightful and I agree with most of the arguments the authors made about how subordinate groups have to adapt when there are amongst dominant groups. I’ve dealt with this issue a lot growing up. My family originates from Nigeria. I was born and raised in Maryland. Although I have never been to Nigeria, growing up in a Nigerian household under Yoruba culture had a huge impacted on my identity. It influenced the way how I think, how I form relationships with people, my morality and my religion. However going to school in my neighborhood was challenge for me and my other siblings because of the cultural differences between us and the other students. Most of students and my friends that I went to school with were mostly African-American, but they had no understanding of we view things in Yoruba culture.
My mom immigrated from India to America in her adolescence and later was the first in our family to attend college and get a degree. I want to follow in her footsteps and go and get a college education and prove to her that I did not take all the back-breaking hours of work that both my mom and dad put in for granted, and to prove that I am willing to work hard. My parents both came to America with a couple dollars and a dream, and they were able to provide for me with little outside help. I am fortunate for this situation, and many, like me, have not had such lucky childhoods, and this has shaped my aspirations and goals in life. I want to go into the medical field in order to one day help other people. I want to make a living out of helping
I interview my father who arrive to the united states from Mexico The major problem that motive my father to migrate to the U.S.A were as he mention on pages (1-2) was an economically problem has he said since he was a child he grew up in a farm with his parents and brothers and sisters and had many struggles since the only one that work was his father. My grandfather did all he could to give him an education and a better life that he had that’s the same idea he view for me when he become a father he was young and money was like the priority to care for the necessary that a child has, but to get money you need to have a job. With salary he earned at my grandfather farm he knew was not enough to support himself and a child and he could
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.
As a teacher, it is important to know and understand the racial and cultural identities of both yourself, and your students. Knowing about your students’ backgrounds is a great way to make the classroom a safe and welcoming environment. Not all educational settings emit a feeling of safety to its students, and that needs to be changed. In this paper, I will discuss how my racial and cultural identity may be the same and may differ from my students, as well as some ways in which the institution of education can be changed to be more racially and culturally inclusive.
There is no set American identity, and anyone should know that. Everyone has their lifetime, not to find, but to create who they are. We create our own identities as we go, whether we take the road of lies, or truth. I´ve had my fair share of jerks, and jocks, and plain stupid people in my life, but those people have helped me create and mold who I am today, even though I may not like the way I am.
I am the child of immigrants. The only culture that my parents knew of when they came here was that of their own. When people ask me what it’s like to have a Nigerian culture I don’t know what to tell them because it’s hard to draw a line between Nigerian culture and African-American culture. This line is hard to draw because if you’re Nigerian and you’re in America you belong to both African-American culture and Nigerian culture but if you’ve never been to America and have only lived in Nigeria, you wouldn’t have an African-American culture there because, unlike America, they don’t have a culture that is solely based on the color of their skin. Something that I struggled with about Nigerian culture is that your parents expected you to either become a doctor or a lawyer and if that’s not what you wanted to be you were deemed as not having goals for yourself and as settling for less. I struggled and still struggle to some extent with this because I’ve always been interested in careers that require you to be creative like fashion designing and interior designing. I came into college as a chemistry major with the intent of being a pharmacist, but I quickly realized that wasn’t the path that I wanted my life to take. It wasn’t until this semester that I realized that I was interested in nursing. Me not having a career plan was just as hard for my parents as it was for
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.
My family comes from a humble background. My grandmother started working at the age of 13, with small jobs in order to feed her siblings. My grandfather worked many hard labor jobs in order to provide for our family. With my grandfather’s hard work, he was able to bring my grandmother, my two uncles, my father, my mother, my brother and I into the U.S. My grandparents decided to migrate to the U.S because in Mexico, they had nothing. They had enough to eat but they were still struggling to come out of poverty. When my grandparents migrated into the U.S my grandfather would still work a blue collar job, until he fractured his spine and couldn't work anymore. Nevertheless, that did not stop him from working. He began selling in swap meets, selling
“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.
Every time I drive through streets of Washington DC, I see the homeless people sleeping on the side walk, benches, and stairs ways. I always wonder what can cause someone to end up like this? The most likely reason that comes to my mind that lead to this situation is not having a purpose in life. I believe having a purpose in life is the fuel of motivation to do anything, without it there is no reason to try. Today I have a wife, a house, and a decent fulltime job; which five years ago I wouldn’t even see in my dreams.
My parents moved to the United States from Peru with nothing but the clothes on their backs. As soon as they arrived, they could tell it would difficult for them to adjust. Culture is significant for them because it is what brings everyone together. My family members enjoy dancing to salsa, eating in Hispanic restaurants, and value each other because family is a priority.
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.
Not only is my heritage a huge part of my cultural identity, but so are my hobbies and habits. Although my parents and ancestors are Indian, I was born and raised here in the United States. Therefore, some of my habits and interests can be described as “Americanized”. For example, I am a huge sports
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.