Explain How Culture Defines Me

Where are you from? It is a simple question yet; it is difficult to answer as an immigrant who has lived in multiple places. I was born in Lagos, Nigeria. A few years after my birth, my dad's job required my family to move to the United States. My family first "settled" down in Walnut Creek, California; however, less than a year later, we moved down to Houston where just like in California, we lived for less than a year before being catapulted to the beautiful yet cold country to the north of the border: Canada. After living in so many places and being exposed to many different societies, I never found a culture that I fully identified with. Instead, I now identify as not only a first generation Nigerian immigrant but also as a global citizen.

Family, heritage, ethnicity, beliefs, values, knowledge, experiences, attitudes, religion, education, roles, language, and cuisine are all items encompassing culture. Culture is what influences your outlook on life itself as well as behaviors and rituals. Culture is the way different groups of people do things. While some cultures have overlapping cultural behaviors or aspects, most cultures vary significantly. Culture, for the most part, is something you are born into, your innate programming, however, it some aspects can be changed or evolved. "Only part of culture is conscious" (Spector, 2013).

Culture by definition is the identity or feeling of belonging to a group. It is part of a person's self-conception and self-perception and is related to nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class, generation, locality or any type of social group that has its own distinct culture. To me that definition couldn't be more spot on but let's go more in depth over the past few months in my English class we have been trying to learn what our culture is and what part culture plays in our daily lives so in this essay I will be sharing with you what I think culture is what it means to me and how I think it impacts our way of living and the way we look at each other as human beings and how we treat each other and how all this makes up my culture

I am originally from Jamaica, but I now live in the United States. When I was growing up, I was among my own racial group. I did not understand the true values of my ethnicity because I was surrounded by it every day. I then moved to the United States where I was among different racial groups. I once believed that every culture practices the same things like what we do in Jamaica, like the way we celebrate Christmas. I began to see the difference in everyone by the way they talk, act, or even eat. My peer group helped me to recognize the different values of each ethnic group and I started appreciating my own ethnicity. I realized that every ethnic group has a bit of a uniqueness about them in their own way. We are all the same, but we might share a different historic background.

Similar to the indians, I am also surrounded and influenced by culture. As  I transitioned through time and maneuvered through the social world, culture has morphed various elements of my personality to fit the beliefs and values that made up the society in which I was apart of. Developing a hard work mentality, embracing change, and speaking in a respectful tone are a few ways in which my life has been impacted from a cultural standpoint. Since I am a member of society, I am also governed by mores that distinguishes right from wrong. Committing murder and rape for example are both societal mores that I am strongly discouraged from part in and is severely punished by the law.

As a Vietnamese, I am very proud of the values and the ethics that still remains from thousands of years ago, by the way of life of the ancient; the upbringing, and the respect that we may not have now. “Cultural identity” is what I am talking about. Every single person has a different perspective on cultural identity. Culture plays a huge role in shaping individual personality or identity. It also refers to the traditions, people around you, and religion, etc. Our background is what sets us apart from everyone else because we came from a different culture. That is why culture created; it makes you feel belonging to something. Culture determines the person we are today and in future.

I'm proud of that distinction for quite a few reasons. As part of this new generation of Other & All, I've learned to embrace only the best aspects of each culture I come from without the handicap of inheriting the negative stereotypes.

I was born and raised in India one of the world’s most culturally and religiously diverse nations. India has 29 states, with people who follow six major religions and speak more than hundred languages. India is a country that is not only culturally diverse, but also has diversity in the socio-economic status of the people. There are people who reside in the world 's largest slum and barely make their financial ends meet, and then there are people who have helipads on the roof of their homes and maintain a status of the worlds wealthiest persons.

Growing up, my life was always different to a lot of other individuals. With both my parents and brothers being born and raised in England and myself being raised in United States, I was exposed to various cultures right from the beginning.

I am from India and even India has a diverse culture. While from amongst the most populated country in the world, India has vast variety of beliefs, languages, socioeconomically different classes, vegetarian/non-vegetarian/eggitarian people (food habits) and many more; all are affected and shaped by different historical events in timeline.

I am a mix of two different cultures. I am half Persian and half Bengali. This uniqueness of my ethnic background shaped me as a person.

Although a strong majority of U.S. adults believe in a god, this trend has dropped over the years in a short period of time. According to Wikipedia, “The majority of Americans identify themselves as Christians, while close to a quarter claim no religious affiliation.” Although many U.S. adults still believe in God, I think it is very sad that the number of believers has dropped over a short period of time. Being a believer of God is very important to my cultural beliefs. My family and I are strong believers to the Christian religion. Every Saturday evening my family and I attend church. Not only is church important to the adults in my family, but it is also important to the children as well. Children are an important

My cultural identity is Creole. It is combined from many descendants of European, Africans, French, Spanish, and American Indians. The Indian Culture I have chosen is also very diverse. They are combined with a composite mixture of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism religions. Each has resulted into the exclusive – Indian Culture. Every religion in India has its own favorite ingredients, flavorings, and cooking methods. Their use of creamy or dry sauces, spices, and curries on both meats and vegetables creates a different blend of aromas that bring out the full flavor of the ingredients that they use in their dishes.

Before I took this class, if you had asked me to give you in my own words what I thought culture meant, I wouldn't of been able to answer. Today culture to me is identified by things that vary from the food you eat, the music you listen to, and things that influence you to be who you are today. Like me, today some of the biggest cultural influences that have shaped me to be who I am today are hockey, friends and family.

Culture is, learned, shared human patterns or models for living; day- to-day, these patterns and models pervade all aspects of human social interaction. Personally I have lived In the religious culture environment of Christianity since birth. Christianity is what I believe defines who I am for the most part. Although I believe that culture can be learned, it is different from actually experiencing it, therefore one should actually live the culture to become fully knowledgeable in it .