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Cultural diversity essay
Using personal narrative to reflect on identity
Cultural diversity essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Cultural diversity essay
Using personal narrative to reflect on identity
Cultural diversity essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Although Rudy experienced more crests and troughs in his life compared to my life, this two experienced similar obstacles and shaped somehow similar identity. Overall, Rudy and I learned to be a hard worker and inherited different cultures due to changing environment. Rudy learned how to be responsible and never say “no can,” while I learned effort to be responsible. Rudy’s Hawaiian based identity influenced by his Hawaiian and haole ideal and my Japanese identity influenced by open-minded Hawaiian culture found similarities through each other’s cultural
A review of Eric Lius', The Accidental Asian, and his search for self-discovery. Looking at how his experiences growing up relate to current and future generations of students who are trying to find where they belong in this ethnically structured society. Through Liu’s experiences, we can understand the struggle of identity and help students find their own. Finding that we do not have to have a strong connection to our heritage to have a strong identity and looking for our roots does not make us any less of the person we are now. Breaking stereotypes and understanding others is how we can help students in the future.
This paragraph from Kesaya Noda’s autobiographical essay “Growing Up Asian in America” represents the conflict that the author feels between her Japanese ethnicity, and her American nationality. The tension she describes in the opening pages of her essay is between what she looks like and is judged to be (a Japanese woman who faces racial stereotypes) versus what she feels like and understands (life as a United States citizen). This passage signals her connection to Japan; and highlights her American upbringing. At this point in the essay, Noda is unable to envision her identity as unified and she describes her identity as split by race.
In her autobiography, Neisei Daughter, Monica Sone shares her journey and struggles of growing up, a task made more difficult as she faced racial and gender discrimination. Over the course of the novel she becomes aware of her unique identity and goes from resenting it, to accepting and appreciating her identity. At the age of six, Sone became aware of the fact that she was different, “I made the shocking discovery that I had Japanese blood. I was a Japanese (p. 3).”
DavidSoComedy made a video in response to Alexandra Wallace's video talking about Asians. In his video, Vlog #4: Asians in the Library - UCLA Girl, Alexandra Wallace is going wild on Asians. This video appeared on YouTube on March 14, 2011. In this video his purpose is to convince his viewers that Asians must equal to others. David states that there is no reason anyone should harm another person no matter how crazy their opinions.
A History of Asian Americans, Strangers From a Different Shore, written by Ronald Takaki, displays an extensive history of Asian Americans as he combines a narrative story, personal recollection and spoken assertions. As long as we can remember, many races such as the Chinese, Filipinos, Koreans, Vietnamese and Japanese have dealt with some type of discrimination upon arriving to the United States. A particular part in the book, Chapter 11, mainly focuses on Asian immigrants and Southeast Asian refugees from the 1960s to the 1980s that were treated as the “strangers at the gate again.” Ronald Takaki refers to them as “strangers at the gate again” as a figure of speech for the people who are from Asian background who have struggled to settle in the United States, only to find out that old
Many Japanese-Americans, like the woman from When the Emperor was Divine, got rid of their culture altogether to protect themselves and their families from racism. The woman does this by “[lighting] a bonfire in the yard and [burning] all of the letters from Kagoshima, … [burning] the family photographs and the three silk kimonos, … [ripping] the flag of the red rising sun, … [and smashing] the tea set of Imari dishes and the framed portrait of the boy’s uncle, who had once been a General in the Emperor’s army” (Otsuka 75). The woman urgently tries to erase evidence of her heritage, not out of embarrassment, but out of fear. After the internment camps, assimilation is no longer a choice, but a necessity for those who want safety and normalcy. Throughout the process of assimilation, a loss of identity and internalized prejudice can occur to those who experience it.
My Capstone project is a website that describes how Asian Americans are portrayed as a model minority. The topic of Asian Americans has not been covered a lot in mainstream history courses and was briefly covered in the DOC series, so the model minority label is ambiguous. My project is divided into three sections that will explain what a model minority is and the effects of the label. The first section provides a definition and significance of being a model minority. The second section describes discrimination of Asian Americans in the past that helps to give the context for the model minority title.
The lead character in this narrative, Tara, navigates feelings of anxiety stemming from the passing of her grandfather while simultaneously uncovering previously unknown details regarding her heritage. Her ‘"dad never taught [her] about who [she] was?" “But then [her] Moshom did teach [her]...”’, This highlights how society has instilled a sense of shame, preventing people from celebrating their roots. It is a form of oppression that restricts individuals from discovering their origins and where they come from. This sense of shame can lead to a disconnection from one's cultural identity and a lack of understanding about one's heritage.
American Born Chinese is a story about Jin, an American with Chinese roots, who struggles with his identity - self-conscious about how he looks, sounds, and acts. Jin divides into three different identities; Jin his overall identity, Danny his typical American side, and Chin-Kee his racist stereotype Chinese side. This book is split into three different stories that represent the three different identities, The Monkey King’s story, Jin’s story, and Danny and Chin-Kee’s story. In the graphic novel, American Born Chinese, Gene Luen Yang uses symbolism and literary elements to illustrate struggling with your identity can lead to a better understanding of who you are and where you came from. Jin is faced with racial discrimination, not fitting
Growing up as Hmong-American youth, I was raised by a father who joined the military when he was twelve years old. He was forced into the Vietnam war fighting for safety, peace, and a relationship with the United States of America. Through this military influence and discipline at such a young age, my father accepted the military lifestyle. He carried it over from the Vietnam war to my family today. Growing up, my father was always strict on me, especially when it came to my appearances and education.
Growing up in an immigrant household in America, was difficult. I didn’t live, I learned to adapt. I learned to adapt to the fact that I did not look like any of my peers, so I changed. Adapted to the fact that my hair texture would never be like any of my peers, so I changed. Adapted to the fact that I was not as financially well off as my peers, so I changed.
The Evolution of Asian American Culture The United States is not a “melting pot” of cultures but is more complex like a “salad bowl” where foreign and domestic influences combine to create a society where individual differences in gender, race religion, or ethnic background are valued. Immigrants strived to become the ideal “American” citizen, a more historically accurate metaphor is that the U.S. has had a cultural “cookie cutter” with a white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant, male mold; but the view of culture has changed. Today, with the increase of numerous subcultures, diversity is greater valued and accepted. The growing acknowledgment of Asian American subculture present is in social media as a result of the continuously growing Asian American population.
At first I wrestled with where my identity lay. The strong values and traditions of the Indian culture sometimes made it difficult to fit in with the crowd. As I grew older, I began to understand that I was not part of an individual culture, but a fusion of two rich and colorful histories. I recognized that there is remarkably more to an individual than where she comes from, and more to her than where she currently lives. Importantly, being from two cultures allows me to incorporate the best qualities of both.
American History Education Reforms The definition as well as the specific parts of accurate American history is a highly debated topic- especially in regards to educating children on American history. In “Let’s tell the Story of All America’s Cultures” by Yuh Ji-Yeon gives her point of view on the controversial topic of the success of American history education. As the author is a Korean immigrant she has a special connection to this topic, and is writing this article to giver her opinion in the debate of reforming education in America. Ji-Yeon successfully persuades the audience that American history education in the United States is discriminatory by using her personal experiences and emotions as she informs the audience of a possible solution