Part 1. Answer The Following Questions About Yourself.

I hail from a Hindu joint family in the South of India. My parents have inculcated the values of culture, religion, respect, love, humility and care for others ever since I was a child while my grandparents have coddled me with gifts and stories from their childhood in pre-independent India. I grew up in a multilingual

One can be shaped positively or negatively through events that him or her has been through. While people expand their horizons to other cultural

Every culture consists of different things and every person within the culture is influenced by them. While many people tend to change themselves due to other cultures, other people believe that nothing is wrong with their culture and they wont change themselves due to others beliefs. One thing that is acceptable in one culture might not be acceptable in another, hence the need to conform to other cultures. However, someone from a certain culture might believe so strongly in their traditions and beliefs that they wont want to change as displayed in “An Indian Father’s Plea” by Robert Lake. This story suggest that just because someone is different it doesn’t mean that they are wrong, which is expressed the father when he says “He is not culturally disadvantaged, but he is culturally different” (Lake 91). Every culture consists of many different aspects, where the views they place on others is one of them. Some people wont change due to the views placed on them, but many people will so that they wont be viewed as different. No one wants to stand out in a bad way so that is why they conform to the views other people have. Culture is responsible for these views and the affect they have on

I identify as a New Zealand European; I prefer not to be called Pākehā as from personal experience this term is often used with negative connotations. My father is British and my mother is a first generation New Zealander so my family still has strong connections with Europe. I recognise that I am a part of the dominant ethnic group in New Zealand, and that this has sheltered me from the marginalisation experienced by those regarded as “other”, those who lie outside the bounds of the dominant group.

I am the product of a military upbringing, which allowed me to live in different parts of the world. This allowed me and my family to explore what other cultures are like as well as realize that Americans and our way of life is not the only culture that exists on the entire planet. I realized that the negative perceptions that other Americans had of people of German and Asian descent was directly related to lack of exposure and an unwillingness to educate ourselves about other cultures.

Every individual, no matter who they are, will all face challenges that result from their backgrounds and cultures. Born in Calcutta, India and later moving to the United States, Amin Ahmad was an individual who discovered this harsh truth first-hand. In his essay, “I Belong Here,” Ahmad reflects on his experience of being treated differently from those around him based off his cultural background. He analyzes the emotional barrier that forms between the journey of immigration and the continuous feeling of inferiority based solely on the desire to belong. The article is written to provide a different point of view; one focused on introducing to the world the challenges and emotions immigrants face after starting the journey towards a new life.

A person has always been able to choose to what extent their cultural experiences affect their perspective. Amy Tan’s, “Two Kinds,” Bharati Mukherjee’s, “Two Ways to Belong in America,” and Robert Lake’s, “An Indian Father’s Plea,” all show how the main characters have chosen to let their experiences have an effect on their cultural identity. A person’s cultural experiences shape perception based on their own identifications and they may chose to assimilate to different cultures.

Later as I grew a little older I began to start to identify with my other ethnicities. During 4th to 6th grade I was going through the enmeshment/denial stage. This stage is when an individual will usually feel bad about choosing one ethnicity over another. I was feeling ambiguous about only identifying myself as white and not Native American, Spanish, French, Dutch, or Bohemian. Later during Middle School, I noticed that when asked about “what am I?”, referring to my ethnicity I would begin to list out what I associate myself with more so, as well I remember visiting cultural events to learn more about my heritage,

Immigrants’ refusal to appreciate a fused culture promotes division. Mukherjee questions the idea of immigrants losing their culture for American ideals: “Parents express rage or despair at their U.S.-born children's forgetting of, or indifference to, some aspects of Indian culture,” to that Mukherjee asks, “Is it so terrible that our children are discovering or are inventing homelands for themselves?” (Mukherjee, 1997, para. 28). Many immigrants experience anger when their children no longer hold the ideals of their home country. This tension produced within the household hinders the unity within a resident country’s culture and encourages division within families. Using herself as an example, Mukherjee provides another instance of anger directed at her from her own subculture: “They direct their rage at me because, by becoming a U.S.

Every individual, no matter who they are, will all face challenges that result from their backgrounds and cultures. Born in Calcutta, India and later moving to the United States, Amin Ahmad was an individual who discovered this harsh truth firsthand. In his essay, “I Belong Here,” Ahmad reflects on his experience of being treated differently from those around him based off his cultural background. He analyses the emotional barrier that forms between the journey of immigration and the continuous feeling of inferiority based solely on the desire to belong. The article is written to provide a different point of view; one focused on introducing to the world the challenges and emotions immigrants face after starting the journey towards a new life.

The final cross cultural difference I will discuss is the collectivist culture of India versus the individualistic culture of the United States. India is more of a collectivist culture, whereas the U.S. is strongly individualistic. The family is at the center of Indian society, which is largely patriarchal. Several generations of a family are brought together to live in one household. The hierarchical nature of the Indian culture extends into the family as well, where the head of the family makes the key decisions for the household (Kumar, 2005). An Indian’s primary loyalty usually lies with their family rather than with their

While Mukherjee decided to embrace the new American culture, her sister decided to stick to her Indian roots. Mukherjee struggles to try and find where she belongs because she is always changing for others rather than for herself. Encountering differences is something she dealt with on her journey of creating her identity, she states, “Nearly 20 years ago, when I was living in my husband’s ancestral homeland of Canada, I was always well-employed but never allowed to feel part of the local Quebec or larger Canadian society” (Mukherjee 293). While changing herself to conform for others, we can all take a lesson from Mukherjee. In life, we go through many changes because we are growing up, becoming more mature, and finding things we like or dislike. We tend to change because of the people we surround ourselves with, like friends or coworkers in order to be accepted. However, she did not seem happy to be forced into a position where she had to conform to the way people would talk to her all for the sake of her husband. This takes away from building and developing one’s own identity because it does not represent who you really are. In society, we are sort of growing away from that in a sense people are taking pride in their identities. For instance, immigrants, women, and races are all

A person’s heritage and cultural identity may be lost when moving to a new country where the culture is different and other cultures are not easily accepted. In the short story “Hindus”, Bharati Mukherjee uses setting, characters and the plot to discuss what it is like to lose your cultural identity while being a visible minority in America. Mukherjee uses the plot to describe the events that take place in the main characters life that lead her to realize how different the culture and life is in the America’s. She also uses the characters as a way of demonstrating how moving away from one’s culture and heritage can change a person’s perspective and ways of thinking. Mukerjee also uses setting in her story to identity the physical differences in culture between living in India and America. Alike the setting and characters, the plot helps describe the loss of culture with a sequence of events.

Indian-Americans ranging from ages 16-24 that are first generation Americans undergo the stages of minority identity development. They are commonly placed in environments which force them to question their own identity. As they communicate with peers, they question themselves and their personal beliefs and customs. Occasionally, they view the majority culture as better than their own and may develop negative feelings of their Indian household upbringing. One may feel the need to internalize the values of the dominant culture of the community and change to fit the status quo. This is especially difficult for Indian-Americans because so many things that they are taught within the home are not normal for the majority culture therefore presenting a major division and causing an uproar in the home. Parents tend to view “normal” majority culture attributes as

Everybody has their own definition of Culture – and when this word is used generally, most audiences have a rough idea of its meaning. Culture usually refers to the beliefs, ideas, languages, rituals and traditions by certain communities, that are passed from generation to generations continuously over the past many centuries. In society, two cultures cannot be same if one is located on the west coast and the other one is all the way to the East. As we compare, the American and Indian cultures have very vast differentiation between them. While the culture of America is a mixture of different cultures since each immigrant internally packed his or her previously