Some people may perceive someone’s cultural identity or heritage based on their outside appearance. I know that’s happened to me before, but some of the time, their perceptions are wrong. I have been told that I talk white and dress weirdly, but I just talk proper and dress in what feels comfortable to me. Overall, my identity is expressing myself in ways that are different than how others may express their identity. Some cultural aspects that pertain to my cultural identity as a whole is food, music, and religion. One cultural aspect that relates to my cultural identity, for example, is food. Food is an important part of my identity and my heritage. Food represents love and comfort to me. For food to be so close to me, I have grown …show more content…
a little too fond with it as a way to stop being bored. Sometimes when people point out that I kind of splurge, it dawns on me, because at the same time, I’ve become so accustomed to using food as a comfort for when I feel lonely, sad, or mad, and it’s not good. External forces, such as my family, friends, the society’s idea of a “perfect body” or a body shaped like a Coca-Cola bottle, either motivate me or break me down, and that’s just who I am emotionally. The internal conflicts of feeling like I am not good enough or that there is always something wrong with me, reflects how I react on the outside, and can change my mood almost instantly from good to bad, bad to good. That is something that I feel I cannot change. Another cultural aspect that plays a big role in my cultural identity, is music.
Different genres of music puts me in different types of moods. Music makes me kind of escape the reality and tuning out any other distractions or thoughts that I may have. Gospel music puts me in a humble mood and wants me to just ask God to take all bad away and focus on my life. Rap music puts me in a “hype,” or “jumpy” mood which makes me forget all of my problems and distractions, and I feel loose with no worries. R&B music puts me in a sad but “real” mood, and by that I mean it brings me to the realization of life and makes me feel like women deserve better, and that there are good men out there. I may be too young to know about “love” but R&B is the epitome of love. In my heritage, on my dad’s side, we listen to a lot of R&B and rap music, and on my mom’s side, it’s more R&B, “classical and jazzy” type music, and gospel. Stereotypes about how rap music “describes black people” depicts that most black people are ratchet, “ghetto”, and classless, just based on the music we happen to listen to. In some cases, it’s actually true, but you can’t assume that all black people are like that. Stereotypes serve as external conflicts and certain people may not be affected by it, but I know I get a little offended by it. Proving the stereotypical people otherwise and standing out are two ways to steer away from stereotypes being imposed on
us. The last main aspect of my cultural identity is my religion, Christianity. I am a Christian because I agree with their beliefs and I believe that there is only one God. I am also a Christian because most of my family is and I sort of “caught on” to the “tradition.” What I am implying is that I’ve been around Christianity for all of my life and it would be kind of awkward for me not to become a Christian. Christianity is the most important cultural aspect to me because I pray to God when I can and I go to church when I can. Some external forces, such as friends, non-Christians, and sometimes even family may have their opinions. Sometimes people around me question why I go to church when they want to hang out with me and why I am on the praise dance team. Their opinions don’t really matter to me because going to church and being a Christian and praying is what keep me sane and hopeful for my future. I do sometimes take their opinions and actually don’t go to practice, which is mainly because of my soccer games on Saturdays and also my laziness, but when I do have the chance to go, I sometimes think of what other people think, and I shouldn’t. That part of me takes over my whole mindset, and those external conflicts cause the internal conflicts that need to be rid of my soul. In conclusion, stereotypes don’t mean anything to me unless I actually try to meet those stereotypes, which doesn’t happen often. Most of the external conflicts that are occurring are from people close to me, which cause my internal conflicts to be a little deeper than if it was just society in general. But in the end, I know that it’s just about what makes me comfortable and happy, my cultural identity is based on how I view myself only, inside and out, and not how other people view me or want me to change how I look, what I believe in, etc. In the end , my cultural identity is unique and one of a kind.
“Our own culture is often hidden from us, and we frequently describe it as “the way things are.”” People do not even realize their own cultural identity, so then how do people know what shapes it? A person’s identity is shaped by cultural experiences that make them into the person they are today. Some of these experiences include someone’s parents, the media, and where they grew up.
“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.
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.
Starting with one of the surface aspects of my cultural identity is my language. I speak English, like most people who were born in America I learned English and only English right from the start. I
When we think about our identity we often think about the way we look. Such features as hair color, eye color, skin tone, height and weight come to mind. Whilst these features are part of our identity, there are many more complex factors that make us who we are. Whilst psychological issues are paramount to the formation of our identity, I will be addressing the nature of our identity in relation to socio-cultural factors (Austin, 2002, p.9). During the course of this essay I will be discussing the term of Identity and some of the axes of identity, including Race, Class and Gender. It is important to understand some of the significant issues of identity so that we have more of an understanding of who and what we are, which in turn may help us to begin to better understand others.
The rise of culture and personality in a sense is what helps create ones identity. The concept of identity is very hard to explain being that the idea itself is so complex. Anthropologists view identity as the reflective self-conception or self-image that we each derive from our family, gender, cultural, ethnic, and individual socialization process. Our identity is what makes each and every one of us unique. Tradition also ties into identity. Traditions are beliefs or customs that are passed down from generation to generation. They tie in with our identity because traditions are taught to us and as we learn them they become a part of who we are; our identity. My family and I identify ourselves as Ghanaians. In our family part of our tradition that I grew up with was the clothing that we wear. The Ghanaian attire is complexly patterned and brightly colored kente cloth. All of our traditional clothing is handwoven and worn by both men and women. We wear these clothes because it is a part of who we are and we take great pride in representing ourselves. Society has their own idea of how they see us. To some we are well respected because we never let go of our roots and we show great pride in where we come from no matter how we are seen or labeled. To others, we are also seen as a threat to American culture as we do not completely conform to their ideas of what it means to be an American. To
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
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.
Identity-“Ones personal qualities.”Identiy is something only he or she can fully define. My uncle says I am affectionate,cheerful, and calm. My grandmother sees me as slim, pretty and sweet. My dad described me as perky, cheerful and happy, my mom says beautiful, gentle, and self-conscious. These adjectives describe me accurately, yet they are only abstract versions of me. Adjectives cannot begin to describe me and I aknowlege these descriptions for what they are, a condensed translation from my outward self to the world. It is impossible for anyone to understand me completely because nobody has experienced the things I have. My mother has never cherished a raggedy doll named Katie and my father never spent hours upon hours making collages and scrap books for his future children. My uncle never hid in the back of a pick-up-truck and traveled four hours to New York and my grandmother has never walked hours in the rain looking for the Queen of England. My identity is something only I can define.
Although some may say that music doesn’t directly affect the way a person acts, there has been evidence to prove that it does in fact change emotions and the way people act. Music heavily influences a person’s mindset by shaping what they place value on in the world or what they might hold dear. Music also tends to affect people’s persona and how they portray themselves to the world. Certain types of music are associated with certain demographics of people. For example, hip hop music is usually associated with the black community, and black men and women have strong connections with its songs and lyrics. Objectifying hip hop music
The meaning of cultural identity to you, might be different from the meaning to others. In my opinion, cultural identity is the aspects, characteristics, and elements that make up a person. Some people may share a similar cultural identity while many others vary greatly. Three of many aspects that make up my cultural identity are clothing, music, and food.
What is cultural identity? Many people may ask. 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”, according to Oxford Reference. However, although one can be categorized in one cultural identity, everyone has their own independent cultural identity shaped by different things. So no one can have the exact same cultural identity.
I am openly very proud of my biculturalism and take huge pride in it. I identify as Bajan Canadian which is a mix from Barbados and Canada, however, I wasn’t always this open with my race. Because of my appearance up until very recently, I faced a huge problem with figuring out how to culturally identify, I was essentially forced to deny my blackness out of ‘respect’ because I looked primarily white. Identifying as white allowed me to avoid a series of questions and accusations of claiming a culture that isn’t my own. Because of this i've faced a difficult struggle with cultural identification.