Personal Narrative: Being Born With A Persian Background

As a child, I didn’t think my life’s situations and experiences were too different from others being a Muslim in Canada. I only came to the realization of this as I grew older. Living as a Muslim we celebrated different holidays, wore different types of clothing, and valued things differently. I grew up in Cambridge, Ontario, and only moved to Mississauga in the ninth-grade grade where I realized how much differently I was treated. It wasn’t always ignorance; they were just unknowledgeable and unaware and I couldn’t blame them as I was apart of a religious minority. I looked at the understanding of my life’s events being apart of an Islamic subculture from a conflict theorist’s perspective where social life was looked at as “privileged groups

What is culture? Culture is the idea of what is wrong or right, the concept of what is acceptable within our society. Culture serves us as a guide, taking us to the "right way" and helping us to make sense of things that surrounds us. There are many different cultures around the world. A lot of them are similar in specific ways and others are just completely different, this difference explains why we think that people from different backgrounds are "weird".

Throughout my entire life I have heard the word “immigrant” countless times, inmy childhood, in my middle school days, and especially nowadays with the controversial topic taking over social media. I’ve been labelled with this word or image ever since my birth, and yet I still don’t exactly know how I should feel about that.

Being a first generation Iranian-American raised in Oklahoma is not a world you generally see people coming from. My circumstances were definitely unique, but there is something to be said about an uncommon upbringing. Balancing a life with so much diversity was challenging at times, but incredibly rewarding. Although being raised in a traditional Iranian household proved to be drastically different than most of my peers’ American upbringing, it taught me much about maintaining a happy balance in life. I would often find myself frustrated due to the fact that I did not have anyone that shared the same circumstances as myself, but then I realized - I did not need to find someone like myself. I tackled each difficult I faced head on and when

Who am I? Who am I is what I tend to ask myself often, more than I probably should. That question floats around in my head from day to day waiting to be answered. Well to answer my question, I’m my roots. My Mexican roots have shaped me into the person I am today any many ways. Such as, the food I love to eat, the languages I speak, the music I enjoy listening to, the places I enjoy going to, all of my traditions, how I dress, and my name. All of those factors tie into who I am, Alejandra. I have Mexican blood running through my veins, which I’m very proud of. I have my parents to thank for who I am.

“Because of multiculturalism, people think of themselves as members of their native countries first and as Canadians second” (Ministry Responsible for Multiculturalism and Immigration) but that’s just a myth. The major fact about this is that Multiculturalism says we are for the most part Canadians first. The presence of a Canadian character does not deny one the privilege to keep up or investigate one's social heritage(s). We as a whole have a culture. The quality of Canadian personality is the understanding that solidarity can be accomplished through assorted variety. Being a Canadian implies that you have the privilege to be pleased with your Canadian nationality and your social

Ronia also says (about her parents), “In their eyes I’m really bad because I don’t follow the [Iraqi] tradition and lifestyle, but to Canadians I’m just a really nice girl.” In fact, the arguments with her father got so bad that Ronia left home, and is living in a group home as of 2012. I think this shows that the second generation generally tends to assimilate more than the first. Even in the case of Farah, where he feels supported by his parents, he is more true to Canada than his original country. Not only that, I remember reading in a previous week about how children of immigrants frequently have to translate for parents and relatives, as well as help them with general life affairs. This shows how the children of immigrants (also known as second-generation) understand the new culture better than

Canada is celebrated as the most diverse country in the world. Here we do not discriminate against race, colour, culture, language, religion affiliation, nationality, ethnicity, economic status, sexual orientation, education, and occupation. Everyone is well received and treated equally.

Canadian citizenship means a lot to most Canadians. I feel free when I’m a Canadian citizen. The reason I’m a Canadian citizen is because I was born in Canada. But my parents on the other hand migrated to Canada at least somewhere In the 1990s and became a Canadian citizen.

She was singing a series of tunes in Arabic, which were unknown to me. During her last days, it seemed that her memory was slowly returning and that it wouldn’t be long before she left us. My 98-year-old great-grandmother was reminiscing her childhood at her deathbed as I watched from afar with a midst of sadness, fear, and curiosity. The reality was, she never told us anything about her past. Filled with suffering, heartbreak, and pain she refrained from sharing a part of her identity, an identity I also felt that belonged to me. That day, the only thing she left me with was one of her handmade colorful patchwork blankets.

My “outside” cultural influences I have: America is one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world culturally. We have German-Americans speaking German, Filipino-Americans speaking Tagalog, Irish-Americans speaking Irish, Scandinavian-Americans speaking Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, etc., Welsh-Americans speaking Welsh, Japanese-Americans speaking Japanese, Iraqi-Americans speaking Arabian, Mexican-Americans speaking Spanish, and all Americans united in the common goal to create the best possible nation in accordance with our Constitution.

I was still finding my bearings and coming to terms with gravity on this strange blue-green planet.

I identify as a first generation Bengali-American woman. Although I have a lot of pride about my cultural background, the same background exposed me to a multitude of negative messages regarding gender. One of the first messages I learned due to my culture is that women only have two choices in life; they must either get married or become a nun. Because arranged marriage is common in Bengali culture, my elderly relatives often asked me when I wanted to get married and to whom I wanted to get married to. When I said “I’m not sure if I want to get married,” these relatives assumed that if I did not want to have a husband, then I must devote my life to God and become a nun. As I grew up, an increasing number of people continued asking me questions

Everyone in this world is tied to a race that provides information about their lives. Phyllis Katz, a professor in the University of Colorado, mentions that children these days are beginning to notice racial differences and come up with their own interpretation of it. I completely agree with Katz because when I was a child I used to notice racial diversity. Back in Kuwait, we have maids that are from different races that aid us in our households. When I was a child, I noticed that they were not, “like us”. No one informed me or gave me a lesson on different races. I witnessed everything by myself. They looked different than us, which gave out the obvious. My parents in fact did not tell me which group I belonged to. Kuwait is a small country where almost everyone knows each other. That being

Fitting in at East Grand Rapids was hard enough. As parents walked in with their Louis Vuitton perfume, my Dad walked me into school talking loudly in Farsi smelling faintly of garlic and saffron. I was embarrassed by our differences. After learning more about my culture and the sacrifices my Dad made for me, I am no longer ashamed of that smell. By opening my eyes and heart, I learned to be proud of who I am and embrace the Persian culture.