Roma And Ethnic Identity

Throughout the ages, humans from all over the world have created and accepted honorable cultures which they feel a strong connection to and are dependent upon. One’s way of living demonstrates nationality, religion, ethnicity, and art. People who have more than one culture, have been torn between two worlds that have eventually affected their lives. The cultural identities portrayed in both Self Portrait: On the Borderline Between Mexico and the United States by Frida Kahlo and “Legal Alien” by Pat Mora are shown through the symbolism, theme/message, and persona created in the works.

Throughout the essay, Race, Culture, Identity: Misunderstood Connections, I found Kwame Anthony Appiah’s claims about social scripts to support my idea that we present ourselves differently depending on the circumstance. There are times when we try to play into the majority, as well as times where we try and fall into the minority; we choose which group we want to highlight depending on which will get us where we want to go.

Cultural Identity is “The definition of groups or individuals (by themselves or others) in terms of cultural or subcultural categories (including ethnicity, nationality, language, religion, and gender)” (Oxford Reference). Everyone has cultural identity even though some are unaware of theirs because their habits and traditions might be seen as normal to the person and they might not make the connection that it is a cultural tradition or connected to their cultural identity. Some people are very aware of their cultural identity and have conflict within their identity because the cultures may not coincide. Frida Kahlo’s Self Portrait: On the Borderline Between Mexico and the United States and Pat Mora’s “Legal Alien” both show cultural conflict through symbolism, conflict, and purpose.

Roma Nutkiewicz’s book re-tells events of what she went through from her childhood, leading all the way up to the end of the Holocaust. Roma shares her personal account of what living in the Nazi-era was like. Roma explains how in her early years she was just like any other child. She never saw herself or her family to be different from other communities, because everyone surrounding her was Jewish. Until World War II started. Not to long after Germans started to move into Warsaw, Poland where she lived and everything in her life changed. In the beginning it started with curfews, then she needed her identification cards at

Someone of a minority race may have been viewed differently by authority figures. For example, teachers tend to see black individuals as more troublesome they therefore punish them more and also refer them more to special education (Banks, 2016; Picca, & Thompson-Miller, 2016). Unlike me, they probably have been explicitly told cultural messages regarding race by their parents in order to protect themselves from biases. Similarly, I can still recall the first time that I realized people varied in their socioeconomic status.

My racial identity and ethnic identity are tied to my everyday experiences as an African American. I identify as African American or black because it’s my culture. I born by two black parents and grew up in a black household. Although I was often told by my parents that I’m black, I would say that the term “Black” was given to me before I even entered the world. The term “Black” was given to Africans by Europeans when they took us as slaves to the Americas. Ever since then, the one drop rule applied to anyone with African heritage in the United States. In “What White Supremacist taught a Jewish Scholar About Identity” by Abby L. Ferber, she proves that race is a social construct. While researching the readings of white

Scheffel believed his snippets of evidence illustrated the reluctance of the Roma to embark on cultivation above the minimal contribution required for daily survival. What is even more perplexing is when Scheffel explains, the Roma settlement is denied support from the government, segregated from the community, and discriminated against. If everything Scheffel has stated is true, how could the onus be on the Romas to cultivate the bonds that linked them with their white neighbors (213)? Scheffel calls the people he claimed to bond with for over ten years “a careless society” (220). “The Roma must therefore, break through the walls of the ghetto and claim their rightful place in the village proper” (223). Still, Scheffel doesn’t have a solution on how this could be done especially when he has observed the “white” villagers of Svinia sense of entitlement; and agrees the “black” Roma settlers could do little but accept their inferior status and the constant ridicule that came with

The Romani have been portrayed in a negative manner in a number of films in the 20th century. Most of these films contain a number of stereotypes about about the Roma which fuels discrimination and fear of the Roma people. These stereotypes can be seen in mysticism, music and clothing. They are seen as evil conniving and frightening in films using magic and sorcery to hurt others. Or they are looked at as mysterious and intriguing. Certain films cast the Roma in a certain light, so the films in the early 20th century were much more stereotypical than more recent films. However there are exceptions to this general observation. Films such as Cry of the Werewolf and Thinner are much more stereotypical than Time of the Gypsies and The Crazy Stranger.

Race is about how you use your nationality to represent yourself to the world. Social class is an aspect that gets many people confused when they associate this with other aspects and one that can change the way you live. Each aspect has a relation to one another that can be seen as positive or negative, also the relationships between the identities form the human. These elements of race, class and their affiliations with other aspects can help identify a person’s

the other children in my survey who were African-descent like me. This gave me a sense of social community and stratification with them. Also, since I was the oldest out of my childhood friends this boosted the social identity aspect I adopted from my sibling. My neighbourhood compared to others was at a lower class, there was small crimes such as vandalism, use of illegal drugs, and conflicts. This made me socially desensitised to common crimes which shaped my social identity by being calmer when experienced with crimes outside of my neighbourhood. As I progressed to elementary school, I grew up mentally more mature then my peers which changed me into being more judgemental of others. I expected a lot from others which they found annoying. My time in elementary school was plagued by my lower wealth class which became more and more of an obstacle since school becomes more expensive as your grow older. This made me adopt a tendency to take care of my belongings and eventualy become very responsible. High school was the focal point of my young life. During grade 9 I acquired my first job which helped me with my money problems and help support my family extensively. Politically, people in my neighbourhood, including my family, would not pay attention conflicts and elections unless it was a problem in our home country. This caused me to become politically ignorant to situation happening in Canada and the world. In conclusion, my life mad me develop a social identity of

In my present job, I had to question whether I belong because being a female, my co-worker saw me as inferior. At that point, I felt more proud than ever because I challenge them to outdo me in performance and intellect. There were times when I started to doubt my potential, but I had to do self-talk, put on an armorer of bravery, hold my head high, and pretend to be just as capable until it happened.

In many perspectives, racial identities mean the differences in appearances of individuals especially with regards to the color of skin. Racial identities are mostly determined genetically or biologically. This includes traits like hair, bone structure color of the eyes etc. In recent times the biological determination of race has been disputed by social scientists who also propounds that races have more fluid social contexts.

From 1939-1945 millions of people were persecuted all throughout Europe. One of those kinds of people were the Gypsies (or Roma). The Gypsies were a members of traveling people. These people traditionally made a living by trade and fortune telling. In Germany the Nazis considered the Roma as genetically inferior. The fate of the Roma was very similar to the one as the Jews. In the concentrations camps the Roma were forced to work and mass murdered. On September 21, 1939 Reinhard Heydrich, the head of the Reich security main office met with Security Police and Security Service officials in Berlin. He intended to deport 30,000 German and Austrian Roma from the Greater German Reich to the German part of Poland. The governor of the German

“If we don’t fully understand our individual and collective roles in maintaining a system of white superiority, our relationships with people of color remains superficial, our ability to work in diverse workplaces is greatly diminished, and we fail to create a just world in which everyone has an equitable opportunity to contribute and thrive” (Kendall, 2013, p. 1). This paper discusses who I am as a cultural person and how I have come to be this way. The first section of this paper discusses my cultural background and my cultural identity. I address the factors that make up my cultural identity and the challenges that I have faced because of my cultural identity. The next section discusses my White racial identity development and the events in my life that have led me to become the person I am today in relation to my racial identity. The final section of this paper outlines the implications my own racial and cultural identity will have on my career as a clinical mental health counselor.

Cultural identity is the basis in which identification is used to express different aspects pertaining to identity and heritage. A person's cultural identity may be created by social organization, as well as traditions and customs within their lives. The two aspects that construct my cultural identity are the frequent chores I must complete every day in order to fulfill my behavioral expectations, and the youth group I attend weekly. These aspects are important to my family and me. Therefore, my identity has an immeasurable effect on my upbringing into this multi-cultural world I live in.