My Family Identity Analysis

I think that my family and the culture in which I grew up has really shaped my identity and lived experiences. I grew up in a very liberal household (my parents lived in Ithaca for many years before I was born) and I was always encouraged to keep an open mind and look at various controversies from a liberal perspective. This aspect of my life has shaped me to be an open-minded and liberal thinker. My parents also taught be to embracing of all differences rather than being judgmental. Growing up, our family activities included going to Gay Pride rallies and church services, even though we were Hindus. My parents wanted to expose me and my sister to a variety of people different than ourselves so that we would learn how to accept and embrace

Balancing my cultures growing up was confusing as a young child; at one grandparents’ house I was Mexican, and the other, Laotian. Today I embrace both which has cuisine benefits during the holidays. Also, being different than my peers has been a constant struggle. Nonetheless I am understanding of others upbringings and am observant and self aware that I should embrace the culture around me without losing sense of who I am culturally and individually. This has been a realisation that has taken years to develop but has transformed me into an accepting and compassionate individual because so many were not for me. Regardless I am proud to be a texan, a southerner and an american. In addition being of a divorced family led to me, the eldest, filing in as the other parent sometimes acting as such in regard to care. I have been a parent to my siblings in my own right and didn't realize this until my younger sister told me so. Between making sure that we were awake for going to school, lunches being packed, homework finished and baths taken, I have a great sense of duty to family as well as initiative. I grew up quickly but wouldn’t change my circumstances even if I could. I have learned how to cope with stress and persevere and that a person should do things not because they are told to but rather because they are needed to be

I come from a list of different ethnicities and line of ancestry. My ethnic background consists of English, African American, Native American, and Irish. Therefore, coming from these different ethnicity groups I get a viewpoint and understanding of all three ethnicities and how my family was shaped. Also, I was able to get insight on the different was my family was looked upon due to their different types of ethnicity groups. I was taught to never judge anyone by the way they looked because they can be a part of the same ancestry as you so never judge a book by its cover. Although, I have these numerous groups my family never singled in or chose one ethnicity over another but instead my family embraced all of their ethnic backgrounds with pride.

I come from a multiracial family of eleven. I have three biological brothers, three siblings from China, and two older sisters from Haiti. Before you ask, yes, my mom shops at Costco twice a week and drives an old beat up twelve-passenger van christened “Big Blue”. Growing up in a unique family has had a significant impact on who I am today and how I treat people. Perhaps one of the most important life lessons I learned from my somewhat unconventional family is that when it comes to succeeding in whatever you do, resilience and perseverance matter more than physical perfection and innate

I believe my family have strongly influenced my view about people from different cultures, my father used to travel for his work, and two of my favorite aunts have spend majority of their life traveling around the world. I’ve grown up hearing about their travel adventures, and fascinating stories about the countries they visited, which has inspired my interest to travel around the world. It also helped that my family loves cooking and we always gather and eat meals to celebrate. My aunt learned to cook different types recipes while she was traveling and would always make them during family gathering. I’ve

Through our values, heritage,and traditions, my family has created who I am today. Although we can be loud and crazy, we are also loving and have each other's back!

My family, its culture, and religion have all had a major impact and have shaped me to be the person I am today. My parents and grandparents are from Guyana, South America and my great-grandparents are from India, which makes me and my siblings, first generation Americans. Having a taste of both the East and West Indian community has influenced my religion (Hinduism), my moral ethics and values, culture, traditions, and decisions. My individuality has stood out from the majority of my classmates throughout the school because I am the only person who has my background. My heritage and culture has re-enforced my ability to have different perspectives on the world. Even though, my birth and upbringing has been in the United States. Although, I have an East and West Indian descent, I have family members in many other areas of the world. I have also traveled many places across the United States and Canada. For example, driving across the country to the Mid-West as truely shown different eye opening perspectives. Even though we are in the same country, the Mid-West has a completely different culture and outlook on life. This visit helped me to

Culture, race, ethnicity, religion, and even family are key elements to our identity. Our experiences and surroundings help us determine who we are as a person. As for me, I come from a Mexican family of six members; my mom, my dad, my three brothers and me. The absence of a sister and the interaction with three brothers made it easier for me to socialize with boys rather than with girls.

I was raised in a loving household with two outstanding parents and although we are not wealthy in any means I was extremely happy. I had the privilege of getting a deep knowledge of my culture and having a strong bond with local Eritreans in Santa Rosa. In my culture we accept everyone as our own and treat than as such so although I never got to have a close bond with my immediate family back in Eritrea I was fortunate enough to gain one with my local Eritrean community that was forged not through blood but through love. I picked up this “family not through blood but love” ideology from a young age and it truly had a big impact on the person I am today. It allowed me to not only become an accepting and welcoming person to those I meet but also allowed me to gain a deeper appreciation to new cultures and traditions I get the privilege of experiencing in the diverse school

Growing up my family was always very close. We were always together; whether it was going to church or going to the ball field. My mother raised me as a single mother. She would work a lot of hours at work and my grandparents would watch me. They would take me to school and ball practices. Where sometimes my mom could not make it, she would always tell my grandparents to tell me something

My family's traditions and food also has an impact on who I am. My family has always been the ones to go all out on holidays and gets all the family together and eats a lot of food. The main holidays for my family are birthdays, Thanksgiving New Years and especially Christmas. A majority of my childhood memories are of all my family just being together for holidays and eating my grandma?s famous tamales. I feel

I am not a member of your typical, cookie-cutter, All-American family. My older brother is the complete opposite of the traditional, overprotective, role model. My younger sister is not the best friend all the movies make it seem she should be. My parents are separated but refuse to make it official because divorce is looked down on in our Nigerian culture. And I love every piece of them. My family and the things I’ve learned from them have shaped me in ways most will never experience.

My family is not necessarily impacted by race. However, culturally my family is unwilling to seek services from a therapist. In my country I am the majority race, therefore I do feel that services are inaccessible because of the color of my skin. As I previously mentioned, economically I was raised comfortably in my home and I never had to want for anything. My father was a successful man who prided himself in providing for his family. However, after the accident, my mother’s primary role became the provider. My father was once an active individual and his life was forever changed in an instance. For the past 10 years, my father has struggled to come to terms with the change in identity which has ultimately left him feeling sad and helpless.

I enjoyed reading your experience from your interview. It was very pleasing to learn that your culture and the interviewee’s culture have similarities. Finding commonalities with others really makes it easier for us to connect with one another and be more comfortable with sharing personal experiences. It was particularly interesting to learn that the interviewee’s family celebrated their togetherness as a family monthly by sharing food, stories, and laughter. Gatherings like the ones your interviewee described had been a fond childhood experience for me as well. When I lived in Hawaii with my family, Sundays were designated for family gatherings. The location would rotate between my uncles and aunties house or perhaps at one of the local beaches.

Although being family-oriented has always been a beneficial characteristic for me, it was both difficult and mundane to deal with my extended family during my earlier years. No one cared to ask for my opinion for anything because I was too little and in the Indian culture, it is a norm to do what the elders say. However, when I got older, I became more aware hence my thoughts changed and I started thinking more independently. Growing up, initially, it was tough to balance the American and Indian cultures because there were always high expectations and many of the elders were narrow minded, refusing to adapt to a new lifestyle and acknowledge cultural changes. There was something that would always contradict one another. Though,