Constructing My Cultural Identity

Everyone in the world has their own identity but some are still searching for it. Many base their identity on race, religion, culture and language because it’s easier to belong to a certain group. However, there are some people who struggle with finding where they belong. For instance, James McBride in The Color of Water wonders who he is through most his childhood and some of his adult life. Mcbride tries to find himself by learning about his mother's background. After evaluating his mom’s past,culture and race his own issues with himself were made clearer because now he finally knows where he came from.

The essay “On Seeing England for the first Time” by Jamaica Kincaid is the author’s story of the first time she heard of England and whatever she perceived about how the country would be. She thought of the place being heaven on earth with all the rewards that was told to her to be there. All her life she wished to be in the place she saw and wished to see just from the map. Even before getting to the place, she was already occupied with the things that happened there. The kind of meals they had at her place all was an influence of England (Kincaid, 1991). This essay discusses the three ways: The sweeping Away of Culture, Denial of self-Making and Colonization, which represents the power and how people resist power about Kincaid’s

There was a great question asked by numerous individuals in the eighteenth century with what happens to people’s lives when their country is a colony of another country. This was very important to Americans when they were being ruled by Great Britain, and even to this day it remains important when countries find themselves controlled by more powerful outsiders. But what is colonialism? Colonialism occurs when one nation takes control of another. Kenya’s experience as a colony of Great Britain gives us more of an idea of what being colonized meant both to the people being controlled and to those who control them. Although it seems hard to believe, Kenya was created by the Europeans and generally this had a positive on effect on Kenyans because it began development.

Explain which co-culture is the dominant one; the one you would use to describe yourself the most.

There are numerous ways to identify would I am. I am a african american female that is country and loves the outdoors mainly like mud riding . My cultural identity is important it’s part of me . it’s who I am . inside and out . My religion is very important to my family, when I become an adult my religion will pass on to my children. Growing up it made me realize that my cultural is like a oreo hard on the outside and and the inside is thing sweet person filled with joy and happiness .

There are two different dimensions of our identities: ethnicity and race. Ethnicity refers to one’s belonging to a specific cultural, or racial group that makes up culture, race language, and/or place of origin. For example, one can be African-American but have different ethnicities, one African-American and the other African-Caribbean decent. Race is a social construct that can be changed over time. Historically, referring to its specific characteristics one possesses based on: ethnicity, religion, or language; today's its classified solely based upon the color of one’s skin. Nevertheless, ethnic and racial identities are important and instill a sense of belonging and identifying with that specific group through attitude, behaviors. Moreover,

Up until recently, I have struggled with my identity. Despite fully acknowledging the fact that I’m half black and half white, I was never able to fit into either group without subconsciously molding myself into this person that they expected me to be and conforming to their ideas of how I should “act” in accordance to the race that they categorized me as.

My cultural identity, as I know is Mexican American because both my parents are born in Mexico and I was born here. I can also be defined as a Chicana because that is another way used to call a Mexican American. My culture can be seen in so many different ways like for example it can be seen in food, music, religion, dance, art, festivals, and even more. Most of these traditions have changed a little bit over time as they were brought to the U.S. What I mean by that is that some of those traditions were brought from Mexico, and had a little change into them because they were combined with some traditions that have already been here in the U.S.

“Dale, dale, dale, No pierdas el tino; Porque si lo pierdes, Pierdes el camino”. The classic piñata song that is sung at parties. It translates to “Go, go, go, don't lose your aim; because if you lose it, you will lose your path.” The phrase ties in with my identity because of my cultural background and experiences at parties. Who am I? What is my cultural identity? The questions that have me trying my best not to have an existential crisis. I am a Mexican American, my parents were born in Jalisco and I was born in California. As for my cultural identity, I am a NSHS student that has been shaped by music, technology, and sports.

What is my cultural identity? Personally, I don’t think I am completely assured on what my cultural identity is, but I can do my best on explaining it. However, I won’t get started on that yet, first I’ll explain the occasion of me learning about my identity. At almost the beginning of the year, it was announced in our English class that we would be doing an essay on our cultural identities. When my teacher announced this I thought to myself, “What in the world is a cultural identity, or even my cultural identity?” In these months, we have gotten to learn the definition of culture, and what it means to us, individually., I believe that culture means a group of people that share the same customs, way of life, and beliefs. Also, over these last couple of months we have been reading texts all about people knowing and understanding their cultural identities, meanwhile I still didn’t understand my own. All I know is that I was born on February 11, 2002, I like movies and music, and my mom is from Chile and my Dad is from Virginia. Now that didn’t feel like enough for me to write on, but then I started thinking about all of the cultural differences that my parents have had raising me as a person, and how those have all combined to make me. In my short 15 years of life, the culture clashes have sometimes affected me on my thoughts and opinions, which I’ll talk about later on. As well as how movies and music have affected my perspectives and opinions.

¨Pereme-what? That is the weirdest and longest last name i've ever heard of! Where do people get last names like that?¨ My answer? Well, my grandfather is from Siberia, but my family just consider ourselves Russian. Actually not long ago my dad had told me about a city in Russia called Peremyshl, my great great grandparents, as I was told, are from there, Peremyshl is in the Kaluga Oblast near Moscow. And because of my ethnic background, I go to my church's youth, our youth really likes to go and hang out at the park or go someplace else and play volleyball.

Throughout my life, certain identities have remained consist. And these identities have come to shape my perspectives and my needs and wants within American culture. Typically, my social

Up to the twentieth century, Sociologists can believe that race “is characterized by its own biological makeup, separate and distinct from the others” (Ferris and Stein, 2016, p. 215). The three distinct racial groups are Negroid, Mongoloid, and Caucasoid. In result of having different races, it becomes important to reveal our personal ethnic group membership. Meaning, a person’s ethnicity is “a socially defined category based on a common language, religion, nationality, or some other cultural factor” (Ferris and Stein, 2016, p. 216). One can display their personal group membership through symbolic ethnicity or situational ethnicity. Moreover, I have shown my ethnicity through these two identities.

In the early years of life, most children do not spend their free time looking in the mirror and wracking their brain for an answer to the question, “What are you?” I suppose that particular experience is quite unique to my childhood. For as long as I can remember my race has been something that comes into question or speculation in some way or another. To this day, I struggle with my identity due to being a mixed race individual.

Everyday I am on a constant race to discover who I am as an individual. I am fighting this battle whether I choose to acknowledge it or not. Donald Hernandez has written in his book Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance; he talks about major key points, but the most important one state “Third, because life chances differ greatly according to race and ethnicity in the United States, and because of the race and ethnic composition of immigrants to this country has shifted markedly during recent decades,” (3). That is true trying to be one thing is very hard in USA society has an effect of how you may become as the individual. If I were in another country they would just see as an American and nothing else, but the place that I was born and raised they see me as what my parents are Nigerians. I am not American because my parents are from Nigeria; this has been a very constant thing, because of several definitions of what it