My Ethnic Experience

“The History, Development and Future of Ethnic Studies” by Evelyn Hu-DeHart mentions several issues young scholars faced during the time of need for multicultural curriculum in higher education. Young scholars were demanding to uncover the missing facts and accredited sources that American history, culture, and society have left out for centuries. The solution the students concluded in solving this dilemma was to bring attention to the need of ethnic studies programs. With enough support from the student body and willingness of universities, institutions were able to recruit professors and thus create ethnic studies programs. According to Hu-DeHart, by providing ethnic studies programs and departments, the academic field would provide, “…a

Hi, Julie. I had never thought about the white culture. It took me awhile to look at everything as a whole and to point out what I believe is white culture. For example, July 4th, Thanksgiving, hamburgers, hot dogs, baseball, and football. Although I am half Hispanic, my father raised me in a white American culture. Granted part of my personal white culture included traditions from my Irish and English heritage. I began to celebrate my Hispanic heritage in my early 20's.

Arriving at a foreign country at the age of eleven years old was and exiting and yet intimidating experience. High buildings, wide roads, newer and nicer cars on the streets were some of the first things I noticed when I arrived to the city of Los Angeles CA. Living in a country where you were not born in could be difficult some times. Although Spanish is spoken at a grand scale in CA, it was difficult to communicate with and understand the teachers from my classes at the elementary level since all they spoke was English. Los Angeles is a city of great diversity, therefore it is believed to be the perfect place for any person arriving from another country to not feel like a foreign, such believe

In sixteen years of life, I have received an opportunity to experience different cultures, learning styles, and languages. To start of, I am an American since I was born here, but the reality is that I was raised in India. My parents’ main motivation for moving back to India was because they wanted us to embrace our traditions, and most importantly, value our family relationships. We relocated back to the US at the start of 9th grade. This transition was a huge factor for transforming me as a person. I am cognizant of the two systems, cherish both, and realize that these multicultural experiences have encouraged me to grow and mature beyond my years. Relocating from a place is not as easy as one can imagine. When compared to the US, India

Race and ethnicity is something that we all have to live with because we all have a race and ethnicity that claims us. Race and ethnicity was something discussed daily at my household because I was the only Hispanic at my school until the third grade. This was difficult because as a child it’s hard to understand why my skin color, language, and ideals are different. I wouldn’t have survived school without my parents and support from my instructors that allowed me to transition into the mainstream without a traumatic effect. Throughout the year my parents would take me to activities like Cinco De Mayo, Religious activities, Independence of Mexico, and other cultural events that celebrated our history and culture. This helped feed my love for my culture and ancestors. Race is usually determined by how one looks but your

After finishing this amazing, exciting, and eye-opening literary journey through the different authors’ perspectives on the African-American history, it is difficult to say what I am taking with me to my country. However, I can say that I am not the same person that I was when I started this course. I would like to star by saying that I already finished all my courses at my home university, so I had the opportunity to take any subject in this university, because I do not have to validate them, however, I will never regret taking this course. I have grown, and now I feel that I can be a better teacher. So far, I was proud of me, because I have achieved things that are not common for indigenous people. My parents are so proud of me, I am the first out of five brothers in going to the

This year has been one of the most significant of my life so far. I feel that about every year, but I think that 2016 is a record breaker. I’ve gotten my anxiety more under control, and I feel confident and comfortable in my skin. School-wise I’m still a mess. I’m still trying my best but not doing as well as I hoped, but soon all these grades will be meaningless and I can finally be free.

In the U.S., the term “race” has different connotation compared to other countries like Brazil. As the book Culture defines it- in Chapter 11: Ethnicity and Race- a race is nothing more than a biologically related ethnic group. Often, the tendency of North American society to rely on hypodescent, leads to stress and lack of self-identity. As a matter of fact, the book describes hypodescent as the arbitrary classification of interracial children as a member of the least privileged ethnic group to which either of their parents corresponds. Besides, in today’s world U.S. population has become increasing diversified. Diversity has led to racial tension between different groups. Latinos is one general term given to people who speak a Latin-derived language (this includes South American

Being raised in the inner city around ninety percent African Americans who live in a culture I have no connection with made it difficult for me to comfortably be my true self. Life is hard I understand that now, I understand that what you do now will only help or hurt your future, so I try to make the best of my life by being myself. I also realize that once in a while we need a good change in our lives to get out of the low points in our life. I've always felt out of place, mainly because I'm African American and sometimes I feel like I shouldn't be. Maybe because I listen to country music for goodness sake and actually love it. So me being groomed around a culture that isn't right for me only made me more uncomfortable. I guess it's more me being jealous that other races can do things I

My mother’s side is English, German and Irish while my father’s side is Filipino and Korean. My fascination with cultures started when I entered my intermediate years. Being able to learn how morals and traditions differ between cultures greatly interest me because it is like learning a totally different world. When I encounter a different culture from one that I was raised around I am able to broaden my spectrum and see the world through many perspectives. I am able to realize how privileged my life is. Not everyone in the world is able to possess the same freedom as I, and I begun to notice that no matter how many obstacles I may face it is never the worse circumstance out there. How selfish it must seem of me to complain about not being able to go out with my peers when there is others out there who is facing morally suffocating situations, discrimination and

I woke up thinking this is the day, the day that I would have to try my best. On October 21, 2017 in Rapid City, South Dakota the day of my biggest cross-country race had come. It was state. I felt very thrilled and nervous that the day had come.

As a child I didn't know I was different, I didn't know that the color of my skin, and the food I ate made me weird. Not until, It was pointed out to me. I grew up in Salvadoran-American household. We ate tamales and we ate burgers. We listened to Cumbia and we listened to Pop.I grew up in a house where two cultures were meshed together, but I always that about the country my parents called home. I grew up listening to the stories of how my mother grew up in El Salvador and immigrated to the United States when she was nine years old. Stories of my great grandma yelling at my aunts and my mom to milk the cows early in the morning. The story of my father crossing the border at 18 and being lost in the Mexican desert for 5 days. Stories of how my dad bought his first pair of shoes at 7 years old and how my father used to play with sticks by a creek for hours.

Growing up, I was surrounded by a juxtaposition of numerous cultures due to the fact that my dad is from Bangladesh, my mom is from India, my family is in the Middle East, and my childhood is rooted in a diverse area where I am surrounded by no one like myself. My family would joke about how I was culturally confusing, as I shifted my perspective and filtered my communication almost effortlessly in order to adapt to my environment, however, to me, analyzing those discrepancies between cultures and traditions dazzled me rather than dizzying me.

I immigrated to Canada when I was really young. It took time to accommodate, but learning other country’s culture and language were really interesting. From this experience, I know the how valuable it is to travel to different countries. It gives you lots of challenges that you can go through and learn from. Coming to Canada has made me more of an outgoing person than I was before.

Respectively of the positive aspect of my ethnicity and culture, I feel like my ethnicity created adversity towards my existence. I feel this way because over the course of my life, I encountered lots of hardship as a member of the krahn tribe. As a member of the Krahn tribe of Liberian, I encountered discrimination and oppression from other ethnic groups during the fourteen years of civil war in Liberia. As a result, I currently life with the pain and suffering I endured throughout my life. For example, due to political reasons; the fifteen other Liberian tribes declared war against the Krahn people when I way six months old. As a result; my parents and grandparents lost their lands, money, and other economic possessions. Moreover,