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Emily's Involvement In The Mauritian Way

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Emily is 16 years old living in Sydney, Australia, with a very strong sense of her Mauritian culture, in which she inherited from her mother’s side of her family. Her mother was also her primary teacher of the culture, and Emily feels as though she has belonged to her Mauritian background for as long as she can remember. Her cultural education was, and still is, full of stories, dance, music and tradition lifestyle, to which Emily states, “it’s the Mauritian way.” When asked about the beginning of her involvement in her heritage, Emily believes that she became fully aware of it when she was 14 years of age. This was caused by her grandmother, ‘Gomie,’ introducing her to a customary Mauritian dance and dress: “Since then I’ve been interested …show more content…

“We go to church as separate families, then come back to Gomie’s house. We fill up on enormous amounts of food... the children would go to sleep and be woken up at midnight to find Santa was in the house, which is usually one of the male adults dressing up. We give out the presents there from all the aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents.” Emily feels that her Mauritian culture is somewhat important to her identity, and placed it as a 7 on a scale of 1 to 10. Her daily expression is quite limited, as she feels as though it’s simply apart of who she is, and not her actions. In saying this, Emily was very passionate in saying that she would impart her culture on her children, as she deems it is “so unique and different, and I would hate for the traditions to die out.” On the topic of Emily’s interaction with people of other cultures, it was mentioned that she does not face any conflict or discrimination based on her heritage. However, she does encounter some stereotypes in which she fails to meet as someone of Mauritian culture. “There’s a stereotype that all Mauritian’s should have quite a dark complexion, and have dark coloured hair. However, I’m quite fair and have red hair.” Also, Emily believes that these expectations have no impact on her behaviour or values, fully embracing her Aussie upbringing and education, behaving according to her own

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