Cultural Autobiography Examples

Although I have African American, Scottish, Native American, English and Irish ancestors, I have never particularly subjugated myself to follow any common traditions from those ethnicities. However, I do connect to the American culture and use my ethnic background for problem solving revolving around diversity. By having American culture as my backbone, I allow myself to live my life as a diverse person and also appreciate the variations of diversity around me.

From my birth, I have had to identify with my race. My hometown, Rochester, Indiana, is not racially diverse. At my birth, my doctors questioned my African American mother as to whether or not I was biracial, because I looked like I was Caucasian at birth - even though my African American father was also in the room. During my first few years of life, I learned that I had to appreciate diversity, even those in my town did

not. However, I did relatively give up my African American culture due to my negative racial encounters.
A few years later, I moved to an urban area in Chicago were African American culture surrounded me, yet due to my early rejection of it, I became reclusive. So, for years, I did not have much of a culture. I relatively just went about my life appreciating diversity in different communities and appreciating my non-denominational Christian religion. My mother and I then moved to Hammond, Indiana, a culturally diverse area, and there I thrived. I found that I do not need to tie myself to one specific culture. In Hammond, I learned that my cultural heritage is just American - a tad bit of everything.
In Hammond, I encountered all of the diversity that I was interested in recognizing.

By seeing different cultures, I realized that I could create my own cultural heritage, because I didn't identify with the one I was born with. So,I found tangible things that I could identify with rather than during other parts of my life where I could not, such as films and books. From there, I was able to bring up sequences in books and films and make those part of my life. For example, I use the directorial and editing choices that I have seen in movies to help with creating successful video projects in school. My friends even regard me as the “film geek” (I take that as a compliment) due to all of the movie references I use in life. In addition, I use the methods of writing that I have seen to lay a foundation for how I write, in a similar fashion as to how I use movies in my life. I also, annually attend and volunteer at the Chicago International Film Festival, and hope to broaden the film festivals that I attend in later years so that I can connect with more people who have a film based

culture.
By understanding what I value, I care for what I value, therefore I enjoy what I value, essentially the foundation of cultural heritage. By learning that my culture revolves around understanding diversity, non-denominational Christianity, films and books, I have learned how I want to live my life. I know now due my own cultural heritage, that I don't need to follow pop culture or ethnic culture, but my own culture. By doing so, I am sure that my cultural heritage will keep joy in my life no matter what happens.