Personal Narrative: Understanding My Cultural Identity

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.

The way I see it humans are just biotic machines where people from the first SECOND we are born to expect us to be used to be in their likeness or their standard of code. Luckily, due to a creation of identity and personality, people often never reach that likeness and become different. Cultural identity impacts us for our interests can make a person grow and gain traits. My cultural identity is made up by many factors, Mx-Bones and my mom impacted my life and guided me to be an artist and an aspiring scientist of some sort that is not confirmative and very curious.

Many people writing this essay are going to talk about their religion or what race they are. But this is my personal cultural identity essay. I don't have a religion that I talk about or a race that I care about. My cultural identity is about sports, family and everything that makes me, me.

I am Scottish and English, but that means absolutely nothing to me. To me I am your classic white american boy. I am from Lake George New York, born in Glens Falls Hospital. I love to watch American football(My team is the NY Jets or the NY Giants) I am a big Gamer, and I LOVE to grill.

The front range of Colorado has a large diversity of cultural populations represented. Therefore, as a professional counselor it is my responsibility to educate myself on the cultures I am likely to be working with. Since there is such a diverse population there is no way I am going to know everything about everyone’s culture. Although, I do know the cultures of the majority populations that frequent the agency I am currently working. Since I am working with populations I would be aware of the societal issues they are facing and the oppression they have been and are up against. Therefore, this allows me to immerse myself into their culture, learning and seeing firsthand the oppression and prejudices they face in the community in which we

“Don’t let the Arab play dodgeball with us. He might try killing us.” As I looked around exasperatedly for the origin of this voice, I was greeted with a barrage of laughter. I did not have the cultural or linguistic qualifications to be deemed Arabic. Nor could my long, spindly arms cause harm. Yet, slowly, and in unison, each of my new sixth-grade classmates turned to stare at me. “Hey Arab, wipe that target off your forehead,” someone called out. I quickly realized my verbal assailant had mistakenly connected my tilak chandlo, a distinct Hindu forehead marking, with his own misinformed understanding of “Arab-ness.” My first lunch period ended with a bloody nose and a seat in the principal’s office. From that point forward, my future in middle school and high school appeared rather grim. The prospect of re-educating my peers seemed daunting and unmanageable.

Cultural identity doesn’t define who you are, but it does show where you came from. My cultural identity means more than the family I was born into. For example, I may have grown up in a few different states without my father, but that just shows where I came from, not who I am. My personal cultural identity is unique because I have all my memories in photo albums, enjoy having a good steak, and connect with music that gives a glimpse of what I’ve dealt with.

Culture changes so much throughout our lifetime, from music to fashion trends. The more i look into my culture the more i notice it isn’t very unique.

In retrospect, my high school career could have been described as culturally enriching, and diverse. My four years of high school enabled me to develop a fair amount of close relationships with many students of diverse ethnicities, and backgrounds. My group of friends, many of whom were foreign exchange students at my school, were natives of Spain, Chile, Germany, China, Liberia, South Korea, Turkey, Switzerland, and France. Befriending people from other cultures was an engaging experience that subsequently alters one's outlook on life. In many instances, I was able to assist my new found friends in helping them adapt to life at a tiny American high school. Occasions would arise where many of them would be in need of a study partner or a translator and ultimately studying became more of a relational and cultural “question and answer” exchange among our group of friends.

Do you ever get that preconceived look from others? When they judged you by your facial expression or your race. Do people constantly question what you think you are because you share aspects of different cultures but they do not notice their own? When people look at me they see a stereotypical black girl they assume you know all of the latest dances and slang. When you talk people automatically assume that you do not know the basics of grammar but they soon find out that you do just in time for them to tell you that you talk like a white person. My cultural identity is not one of a strictly African American nature. My individual culture is an assortment of features that stem from my friends and family. The organized lifestyle, religion, values and traditions, I’ve gotten from my mother along with the music, clothes and pastime activities I share with my friends all come together as the

As a second generation Chinese-Vietnamese American, I often found it difficult to identify myself as American or Chinese. I felt as if I did not entirely belong in one culture or the other as my peers often bullied me for being “too Asian” if I brought lunch from home or wore ethnic clothing. Despite social exclusion, I maintained my cultural identities because it defined myself and my cultural origins. I realized the importance of diversity in a field like healthcare when I witness non-English Vietnamese speakers in the hospital having difficulty forming coherent questions regarding their needs and requests.

I do believe that my cultural experiences have influenced my development of self esteem as a child. In high school, I didn't really feel like I fit in because of all the ethnicity clicks. For example you had the Hispanics sit at one table, then the Haitians, Jamaicans, and Asians sit at another. A lot of the time it was like if you weren't "one of them" then you couldn't sit with them. But this is where my problem was, I wasn't just one of them, I had a little bit of this culture, and a little bit of that culture so I was basically "in between." This unfortunately brought my self esteem down, I didn't really know my value, and I was confused on who I actually suppose to be.

Most people define someone’s culture by what they see on the outside, however what’s on the outside doesn’t always define who you are. When you hear the word culture you might think of someone’s ethnicity as a main factor. While most ethnic groups might have similar traditions among their people, individually, the people are very different. My cultural identity is like an iceberg, you may see a little bit, but there is still a lot to be discovered.

The key to creating a harmony is incorporating and embracing the uniqueness of the individual notes. As a pianist and a ballet dancer, I am quite familiar with this concept in its literal sense. In regard to my personal interpretation of this concept, I believe that I was able to find harmony in my identity by embracing my cultural diversity. As a proud daughter of Ghanaian immigrants, I have chosen to embrace the aspects of both American and Ghanaian culture that I value the most to serve as the foundation of my identity.

According to Germany Kent, he said “When you start loving yourself and respecting your time and energy, things will change. Get to know your worth, and your value will go up.” Knowing oneself is a bit difficult but I believe if we want things to change in the world it begins with each individual. To know yourself you need to love and respect yourself, time and energy said Kent. When you know your worth, you will be able to stand for who you are, choose rights and work well with others We can only love ourselves when we know who we are, our self-worth and our cultural identity. Understanding my cultural identity entails my values, my world view and the eight microculture.