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How culture influences the development of our identity
How culture influences the development of our identity
Exploring cultural identity 1.3
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People have asked me many times what my cultural identity is, I’ve never really thought about it. I would tell them black or African American and a bit Filipino. Until about a week ago I never asked myself, “What is my cultural identity?” I grew up in the south part of my life and is now living in California, I grew up playing in dirt and not having much influence from technology. I prefer to identify myself as blackipino but there’s more than that. The way most people think about it is race versus ethnicity, race is the way you and society carry yourself and ethnicity is your ancestry. Ethnicity is measurable and race is a social construct. The two people that influence my culture the most would be my parents.
My parents are very culturally diverse, that’s why there’s no conflict between the two
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cultures. My mom is African American and my dad is blasian, Filipino being the Asian piece. My parents taught me things like not to see color but people’s hearts and gave me a work ethic I won’t ever regret. My dad is what influences me and my taste of music. My dad was born in Maine, the home of the lobster rolls, and moved to the Philippines where his brother was born. He grew up with his mom cooking traditional Filipino food, then they settled down in North Carolina. Besides that, my dad knows pretty much any type of music. Between 80s to 90s, pop to country and he knows it all. That’s one part of what influenced my cultural identity, my mom is another piece. My mom was born in North Carolina, home of the waffle house, and raised there, then when we moved to California.
She became a vegan when we got here, although she grew up with traditional southern food. My mom added food as part of my diversity, she cooks: Swedish, Filipino (with the help of my father), Indian, Southern, etc. My taste in music and food is so diverse it’s another thing that adds to my cultural identity.
My parents have influenced my cultural identity because they added their blend of music, food, and morals to me. Between the way they raised me and there teachings I’ve grown up and taken those things and use the in my own way. Even though I only have two cultures I fell I’m diverse enough to be an “ethnic hash”.
Although I am Filipino my brother got more of the Filipino genes (although I enjoy the food more), he has lighter skin and a smaller nose. I look more like my mom with darker skin than my brother. Stereotypically, people think I eat southern food and listen to hip hop and rap. No. I’m a southern Filipino girl that will eat anything put in front of her. I listen to punk rock and 80s pop and I dance and sing around like nobody’s
watching. So, what is my cultural identity you may ask? I’m blasian, the Asian being Filipino, I have a diverse taste in food, music and morals to define me. I personally believe it isn’t ethnicity versus race, but ethnicity AND race. I keep that as my identity. And yeah, I like it like that.
My cultural identity, is Haitian American. My parents come from a country of beautiful landscape and valleys of the hidden treasures of knowledge, diverse people, and rustic towns. My parents walked up steep plateaus for water, laid in grassy plains for peace, and dive into the sea for cooling in Haiti’s humid heat. Although, I come from a culture of deep history, the first country to gain independence in the result of a successful slave rebellion, my parents knew the plague of suffering Haiti’s battle with will not recover through the poverty, unemployment, and illiteracy. As Haiti fought through its demons, my parents fought to provide plentiful opportunity for their family and immigrated to the United States of America.
“Cultural identity is a broader term: people from multiple ethnic backgrounds may identify as belonging to the same culture” (Elise Trumbull and Maria Pacheco). Though people may identify themselves with a certain culture, their beliefs and actions varies and adjust to their experiences. “…We do not consciously pick and choose attributes from the total set; rather, the conditions and events in our individual lives…” (Elise Trumbull and Maria Pacheco). A person is easily influenced by their culture which also makes an impact on their beliefs as well as their view of the world which can cause conflict with another person.
I was born in Mexico and raised in beautiful San Diego since the age of four. Coming to the United States at a very young age I had to face many challenges that have shaped me to the person that I am today. I consider myself a Chicana woman who has overcome the obstacles to get were I am know. Being raised in a Mexcian household has thought me to embrace my culture and its roots. The Spanish and native blood that is with in me remind me of many Americans today. The reason I consider my self Chicana is because of the similar background that I shared with many Americans today. Living in the U.S. I have learned to adapt and embraced the American culture so much so that it came a point of life were I struggled to find my own identity. Taking
Culture and identity are two very strange ideas. They are received at a very young age, yet they are very hard to give to someone else. They will affect you for the rest or your life, yet for the most part you are born into them. However, they soon become very important to us and we cannot, no matter what we do, live without them. They are a part of us, and a vital aspect of society. However, it took me a very long time to recognize that I had an identity and a little while after that before I knew what it was.
To begin with, culture is something that may change evolve within time but culture is something that come with your heritage or your ethnicity the traditions and things that happen that make up your culture like how your parents raised you are culture. In the informational text “ What is cultural identity” by Elise Trumbull and Maria Pacheco, and in the personal essay “Ethnic Hash” by Patricia Williams, there are similarities and differences in how each writer conveys their message about cultural identity. Based upon their research, Trumbull and Pacheco present the idea that culture changes and that it will never stay the same, while Williams uses her personal experience to develop the idea that many things influence cultural inheritage but
I live in this huge mix of culture. Culture is personal. People can have many cultures especially in America and because of globalization. Cultural identity is not one or the other, it is not Mexican or American. Cultural identity is an individual relevant thing.
I am a young Mexican American male growing up in the United States. I identify with both American and Mexican culture. Culture to me is what made you the person that you are today and will also have a major impact in your future. Culture can also be seen as an “Identity” because it is a state of mind in which someone recognizes their traits/beliefs that leads to finding out who you are and what you do. In other words, it 's basically who you are and what you define yourself as being. Identity and culture are what makes this world an interesting place, there is a distinct relationship between identity and culture and one without the other they could not exist I consider myself a composite of both American and Mexican cultures.
My cultural identity consists of being a 22-year-old white female who identifies as White, heterosexual, Christian-Lutheran, able-bodied and a member of the lower-middle class. Through these identities, there are certain roles that I distinguish with like being a student, daughter, sister, and friend. Socioeconomic
This is a journey of self-discovery to understand the fundamental meaning of what makes me, me? All of us have a unique identity and culture. An Identity are a sets of social expectations related to ourselves and others that are grounded in the interplay between similarities and differences and pertain to the personal, relational, and communal aspects of lives (Hall, 102). In other words, it is our identity that makes us who we are. On the other hand, Culture is defined as a historically shared system of symbolic resources through which we make our world meaningful (Hall, 4). Culture is how we as individuals make sense of the world. So what is Cultural Identity? Cultural Identity allows us as individuals to feel a sense of belonging to a particular
My personal cultural identity is a lot different compared to the society I am surrounded by. I am considered an outsider in my society. I am an outsider living in a constantly changing environment where there are many different kinds of people and many different cultural identities. In my culture we know how to respect people and their belongings, know how to work hard, use what we have while being thankful for it at the same time, and last we know how to stay true to ourselves in this very fast pace world of ours. I am a cowboy.
Who am I; my beliefs, values, morals, and views on society have assisted in molding me into the person that I am considered to be today. I was raced with specifics values, traditions, and norms. Being raised in a small town made being socially aware very easy. I was raised under the southern Baptist Christian religion. Church was always the same and it had a majority of women in attendance although the men and elderly people ran the church overall. It was always the same, repetitive habits and events that occurred in my town but after a while I became accustomed to always being near or known by others.
My culture identity, as I know it as is African American. My culture can be seen in food, literature, religion, language, the community, family structure, the individual, music, dance, art, and could be summed up as the symbolic level. Symbolic, because faith plays a major role in our daily lives through song, prayer, praise and worship. When I’m happy I rely on my faith, same as when I’m sad, for I know things will get better as they have before.
Having a strong foundation is something that has been passed down from our ancestors post slavery, which was used to help my family form their ethnic identity as African Americans. Ethnicity refers to a social group’s distinct sense of belongingness as a result of common culture and descent (Organista, Marin, & Chun, 2010). This influenced my family to raise me with awareness of family structure, old fashion southern culture, and valuable beliefs that molded me into the woman that I am today. Along with my family’s ethnic identity, I also have my own self -identity, which is my identity as a mother and a student. However, my family’s ethnic identity along with my own self-identity was not always seen as socially excepted or
Everyone comes from a different cultural background. Many of us though, never really stop to think about what defines our own, I, myself included. This is important to do though, so one, we can know ourselves better, but also so we can start to understand other cultures as well. Surrounding the idea of culture are the concepts of ethnicity, class, gender, age, and belief, each of which I will be reflecting upon. To begin with, we have the concept of ethnicity, not to be confused with race, as I often do.
What made me into the person I am today? I have asked myself this question many times before, yet it all leads back to the same concept. In fact, I came to the conclusion that it is simply a summarization of our developing years. For example, some of our biggest influences, especially in those years, are our parents and friends. Our parents help shape us into the people we are today and, in most cases, we share the same values as them. In addition, our friends are also part of the reason we are who we are. They are the first group of people we interact with and whether we mean to or not, we try to imitate them as much as we can. As a result, the three values of my personal culture that make me into who I am are respect, work ethic, and joy.