What Is A Cultural Identity?

Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners is a novel which encapsulates the feelings of the Windrush Generation of migrants. Throughout, the primary characters experience the normalcies of everyday life through the distinctively West Indian creole narrative (narrative voice? Narrative form?). This serves to be both arresting and comforting, making the narrative at once seem both realist and anti-realist (good). In this final passage, Moses’ musings lead the reader to reflect upon what makes these Londoners so ‘lonely’, and whether their home lies within the city, or back in Trinidad. For the reader, this passage seems to highlight the fact that Moses and the boys are trapped in a kind of limbo, where they do not belong to either community. (ok, this introduction sets up some good areas for the essay to get into)

There is a Mexican man that enters with the rest of his family. They eat beans, rice, flour tortillas and etc. The family does there every day routine, the dad wakes up at six- thirty to go to work in his truck. The children go to school and the mother stays at home. The things a person does in their all has a reason which goes all back to culture. Culture is what makes up everyone different from one another. Texts such as “What is Cultural Identity?”, “Where Worlds Collide” and “Two ways to Belong” supports that depending on one’s culture it effects one perspective on the world and others.

Culture is a big influence on people’s perspective on how they view others and the world. When a person grows inside a culture, it shapes who they are. In “What is Cultural Identity” it explains why culture is influential. While in the short story “Where Worlds Collide” there is newcomers from another country that come to America and there’s all these new rules that they don’t understand. They are not from America, To us the rules are normal, to them they are strange and new. Another example of Culture impacting one's views comes from “Two Ways to Belong in America”, two sisters move to America. One of the sisters is still rooted to India, her beliefs come from her culture and she wants to keep it that way. All things considered culture

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)” (Oxford Reference). Everyone has cultural identity even though some are unaware of theirs because their habits and traditions might be seen as normal to the person and they might not make the connection that it is a cultural tradition or connected to their cultural identity. Some people are very aware of their cultural identity and have conflict within their identity because the cultures may not coincide. Frida Kahlo’s Self Portrait: On the Borderline Between Mexico and the United States and Pat Mora’s “Legal Alien” both show cultural conflict through symbolism, conflict, and purpose.

Culture identity is what makes you who you are from your childhood to when you are a adult.Appearance,Cloths,Food,Family,and gender make up your culture identity.Whites are not just white,blacks are just black,and hispanics are not all mexican.You can’t really ask them because you just might offend them.

According to the Hay’s addressing model, my cultural identities as a Latina woman of low socioeconomic status makes me part of non-dominant groups. My identities set me apart from the majority population which means that; I am perceived inferior than those of dominant groups. My lineage constitutes of indigenous ancestors that like me, share a darker skin tone that till this day is seen imperfect.

A part of what constructs an individual’s identity is defined by the culture they are a part of. Culture consistently informs the way one views the world and others, therefore it becomes an influential and defining characteristic in the daily lives of many. Many authors have expressed the belief in this through various mediums, such as memoirs, biographies, and poems. Due to there being a direct correlation between the self-identity of a person to culture, a person’s view of the world can alter as a result.

Nadia Lewis – Iraqi Women, Identity, and Islam in Toronto: Reflections on a New Diaspora

The idea of cultural identity is your feeling of belonging to a cultural group, the things that separate you from your culture and the things that bring you together with your culture. Even though members of a culture share some beliefs they aren’t exactly the same, this is the concept of cultural identity. These things that separate you from your culture, forge you into a dynamic and productive member of the same culture. My cultural identity represents who I am, if I am a productive member of society or not. It represents how I talk, what religion I am and what things I like to do. My cultural identity is represented by food, generation, nationality, ethnicity, and religion.

The models of cultural identity share most of the same mutual characteristic but the experiences each individual endure in life will have the individual thinking about their belief. The cultural identity is the individuality or feeling of belonging. When thinking about a Native American understanding the racial and ethnic identity of an individual is important part of that individual. Racial and ethnic identity is a contribution to complete understanding the Native American. For some mainly noticeable and officially clear in minority populations in the United States, racial and ethnic identity are established in very sensible way.

A cultural identity explores and explains how our place of upbringing, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status, and family dynamics among other factors creates our identity as a person. Even facts such as what activities we took part in as a child can be part of cultural identity. During the process of writing my second paper for my English class in my first semester of college, my professor asks this question several times; “Who are you?” This exercise I believe she is trying to use to show that people are multifaceted beings; meaning there are different aspect of individual’s life that shape them into who they are. It is not just based on one particular aspect of their life that define them. Ethnically, I identify myself as a Yoruba girl (an ethnic group in the western part of Nigeria). Writing this self-identity paper has engaged me into thinking about the factors that are woven together to define my identity and how and where they each play their role. Culture, in addition to family traditions is one of the factors that define my self-identity as well as affect my self-identity.

The following paper will discuss two of the major dimensions of my cultural identity, and analyze the way in which my identity holds privileges, or has exposed me to oppression. Being that I am white, I have lived a life of privilege simply because of the color of my skin. I have been afforded opportunities, and lived a life free from persecution due to my skin color. I have also lived a life that has been impacted by oppression because of my female identity. This unique position between privilege and oppression is where I live my life.

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.

On my desk, I have a framed photo of my brother and I riding our bikes through the neighborhood when we were little. While my brother’s bike was red with yellow wheels and black tires, my bike had a purple finish on the body and wheels, with white tires and a little basket at the front. Mind you, I am a gay cis-male; I remember my parents expressing a certain extent of reservation towards buying their son a bike that was stereotypically “girly”, but clearly, not so much as they bought me the bike anyways.

Cultural identity is the basis in which identification is used to express different aspects pertaining to identity and heritage. A person's cultural identity may be created by social organization, as well as traditions and customs within their lives. The two aspects that construct my cultural identity are the frequent chores I must complete every day in order to fulfill my behavioral expectations, and the youth group I attend weekly. These aspects are important to my family and me. Therefore, my identity has an immeasurable effect on my upbringing into this multi-cultural world I live in.