Personal Narrative: My Cultural Identity

Throughout my life, I have struggled with accepting my cultural identity. My parents were born and raised in India, but I was born here, in the United States, and hence, born an American citizen.

I was born and raised in the Dominican Republic. My family was catholic and so I was taught to pray and by the age of 13 I had all my sacraments. For most of my life I lived the downtown area of the main city where my mother and her family had also grown up. I considered myself very lucky because even though our economic security was not the best as I grew up, my mother always strived for me to receive the best education she could afford. As a result, I learned to speak English from a very young age and then French, I learned to play the guitar and also to paint. I also took embroidery and etiquette classes and so on. Because of the location where we lived, I also took advantage of many cultural interactions with people from other

Most people define someone’s culture by what they see on the outside, however what’s on the outside doesn’t always define who you are. When you hear the word culture you might think of someone’s ethnicity as a main factor. While most ethnic groups might have similar traditions among their people, individually, the people are very different. My cultural identity is like an iceberg, you may see a little bit, but there is still a lot to be discovered.

The way I see it humans are just biotic machines where people from the first SECOND we are born to expect us to be used to be in their likeness or their standard of code. Luckily, due to a creation of identity and personality, people often never reach that likeness and become different. Cultural identity impacts us for our interests can make a person grow and gain traits. My cultural identity is made up by many factors, Mx-Bones and my mom impacted my life and guided me to be an artist and an aspiring scientist of some sort that is not confirmative and very curious.

I am Scottish and English, but that means absolutely nothing to me. To me I am your classic white american boy. I am from Lake George New York, born in Glens Falls Hospital. I love to watch American football(My team is the NY Jets or the NY Giants) I am a big Gamer, and I LOVE to grill.

Cultural identity doesn’t define who you are, but it does show where you came from. My cultural identity means more than the family I was born into. For example, I may have grown up in a few different states without my father, but that just shows where I came from, not who I am. My personal cultural identity is unique because I have all my memories in photo albums, enjoy having a good steak, and connect with music that gives a glimpse of what I’ve dealt with.

What is culture? Culture is the idea of what is wrong or right, the concept of what is acceptable within our society. Culture serves us as a guide, taking us to the "right way" and helping us to make sense of things that surrounds us. There are many different cultures around the world. A lot of them are similar in specific ways and others are just completely different, this difference explains why we think that people from different backgrounds are "weird".

As a second generation Chinese-Vietnamese American, I often found it difficult to identify myself as American or Chinese. I felt as if I did not entirely belong in one culture or the other as my peers often bullied me for being “too Asian” if I brought lunch from home or wore ethnic clothing. Despite social exclusion, I maintained my cultural identities because it defined myself and my cultural origins. I realized the importance of diversity in a field like healthcare when I witness non-English Vietnamese speakers in the hospital having difficulty forming coherent questions regarding their needs and requests.

My cultural identity and heritage is something I cherish and admire dearly. I find the history and traditions sacred and I work to the best of my ability to preserve it. Unfortunately though, the Chickasaw culture and tradition are slowly disintergrating. Along with many other who are desperately fighting to defend centuries of traditions, I pledged to learn how to fluently speak my Native Chickasaw language.

A person’s cultural identity is the makeup of their entire life. It encompasses their family, history, racial/ethnic background, religion/spirituality, and environmental factors. It is important for social workers today to be fully aware of their cultural identity in order to serve their clients to the best of their abilities. Being conscious of these factors help a person realize their own biases and therefore, work through them.

Imagine yourself being in an isolated island without anyone else around you or any type of communication to the world. How would you know how other people are or think about themselves, but most importantly how would you identify yourself as person if there is no one else to compare yourself to? There are many islands and forests that are isolated from society and those communities that live there do not really have the resources to know how others are or how they can personally identify themselves. However, that’s not my case. It’s interesting how I never took the time to get to know the person that I really am and what makes me the way I am. While researching I found that there are four things that identify me as a person: my faith, culture,

When I think about my cultural identity I find myself resorting to the word “normal”. I grew up in a town where everyone looked the same, everyone worshiped the same God, and everyone was in the same economic class. It’s interesting to really break down my individual cultural pieces to find that actually there are so many differences that I was simply too naïve to see. The culture that one grows up can be so different from one household the next, that there really isn’t a “normal” culture out there.

Identity is a complex ideal that everyone struggles with. Consequently, people often will not act as who they are due to a fear of being ridiculed. To me this is such a ridiculous time waster, instead this time people waste on being someone else could be used for much more meaningful memories. Society makes people feel like they have to fit a mold, yet I personally have learned from my dad that it is a necessity of life to accept who you are.

The most important thing about me—the thing that determines the way I interact with others, view the world, and understand my identity—is that I am a follower of Jesus Christ. I have spent my entire life in Wheaton, Illinois, a small, suburb that values image and success. I am grateful to live in a place with so many opportunities and genuinely caring people, and even more grateful for my parents’ intentional efforts to expose my sisters and I to the world outside the “bubble.” They sent us to public schools where we were able to interact with peers and teachers with different points of view, and they always made travel a priority for our family. We took trips to visit missionaries overseas and welcomed guests from around the world into our

I come from a small rural farm where I was born and raised all my life and where I grew up with two loving parents and one sister. Ever since I was a young girl, religion has always been a big part of my life because I was born and raised Catholic. My mothers’ side of the family is German Catholic decent and my fathers’ race is German and Cherokee Indian. Even though they are mainly German combined I have always found it interesting that I have Native American blood running through my veins. It is obvious that my parents are both Caucasian and were middle class individuals when I was growing up. I would now classify my parents to be in the higher class because they are worth more now then twenty-five years ago. Even though my parents have more money now than what they did when growing up on the farm, a strong work ethic was important to my parents. I am thankful they instilled this within me because I have always worked hard for everything in my life and I know that this will payoff for me one day. My parents also told me that education will get me further in life and it has. I am the first of my family to graduate from college let alone getting my masters as well. So when looking