Multicultural Identity Essay

Multicultural identities

In the beginning of the course Professor Stewart stated that race and ethnicity are social constructs. And according to the American Anthropological Association “ so-called ‘racial’ groups are not consequences of their biological inheritance but products of historical and contemporary social, economic, educational, and political circumstances.” (AAA Statement on Race). Even though they are social constructs, our concepts of race and ethnicity still affect people's lives and identities. Does multiculturalism cause people of multiple cultures to feel isolated or a part of a separate identity? In his article “Beyond Cultural Identity: Reflections on Multiculturalism.” Peter Adler argues against the rigid conception of

According to Adler, the lack of cultural boundaries confuses multicultural people causing them to have trouble defining themselves in terms of other people. They are also stressed by contradicting statements from the people around them about what they are supposed to be. Other stresses include a feeling of a lack of authenticity, superficially adopting parts of certain cultures, and the taking of refuge in existential absurdism where there are no right and wrong cultures due to feeling isolated from the rest of society. We can see from Adler’s article that people of multiple cultures in our multicultural society adopt their own sense of identity that constantly shifts around but as a consequence they begin to feel isolated from the rest of society and as Adler states “The multicultural man or woman is, in many ways, a stranger.” (Adler

These Punjabi students were also ostracized by their peers for becoming too americanized (Portes and Zhou 324), mirroring again what Peter Adler said about the stresses of multicultural identities being a feeling of lack of authenticity and a confusion from the people around them about what they are expected to