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Reflect on cultural identity
Reflect on cultural identity
Cultural identity and self identity
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What is your Ethnicity? I would consider myself African American but people call us Creole, I am
A black Briton does not come with a hyphen because, ‘They are two separate words relating of two very distinct and often conflicting identities’ (185). Race remains an important factor in deciding the identity of a person. Before civil rights era it is regarded that, ‘black children had a more negative orientation to their own race than white children’ (Cross “Shades of Black”). In recent time black identity is described as the concept of ‘racial group identification’. Broman etal defines it as, ‘the feeling of closeness to similar others in ideas, feeling and thought’ (148).
Our identities are more determined by society around us. In Sara Ahmed's podcast, she talks about how it was for her being a Muslim woman after 9/11 happened and how even though she was born in the US and grew up in an American area she was still singled out based on her appearance and not how she truly was. Being an Indian-American caused her to be seen two ways, either as an American or, when something terrible happened, Indian. Just because our personal identities are one thing, you are the only person who sees you as that; society groups you up and you have to “act that way”, or “look that way”. That's “who you are”.
I use these labels to describe myself because I feel like these words really describe my people and myself. I feel like the words describe my people because not all of them are brown some are white and tan and minority because we are less than other ethnicities. I use these labels to describe myself because I feel like these words really describe my people and myself. Mexican-American because I am born and raised in America and from Mexican descent. Latina
In the novel, Their Eyes were watching God, Zora Neal Hurston drew attention to a controversial topic in the identification of biracial people. Growing up, Janie lived with her grandma and grew up with the Washburns children. She supposes she is white like them until she sees a photograph and understands that she is black. “So when we looked at depicture and everybody got pointed out there and there wasn’t nobody left but a real dark girl with real long hair standing beside Eleanor. Ah couldn’t recognize dat dark girl as me …
What does it mean to be African American? A question almost always asked to the African American population. Due to our history we’ve always had to prove a point or defend ourselves to others whom do not understand the position that was forced upon us. In present society African Americans have struggles just for being a certain ethnicity that we can not control. Therefore, what does it mean to be an African in America?
Symbolic Ethnicities “What do these ethnic identities mean to people and why do they cling to them rather than just abandoning the tie and calling themselves American?” Waters. America is known as the melting pot, although we are known to be a mixed nation, we tend to categorize ourselves in specific race groups. Moreover, when we categorize ourselves we tend to create hierarchy, which is stating which race or ethnicity has more power over the other. With this being noted, it develops a social structure of society, which is what people think is acceptable.
This distinction of identity crisis is impacted by multiracial or multiethnic counterpoints in society. Multiracial people internalize the variety of messages alluding to their identity from parents, family, friends, media, society and other outside influences. Basing their identities primary on those reflections and perceptions of others and society, believing their perception of themselves should match the perception of others. The extent of societal reflections and perceptions on the multiracial population is immense, even if the multiracial individual identifies with one side of their heritage, in society discrimination could affect adaptation and acceptance of that individual into the group.
There is no surprise that race plays a huge part in today’s society. I can’t lie and say I never meet someone and tried to guess what race they are. Mostly I get it wrong because I assume from their skin shade to hair texture they are a particular race, but it’s not simple. There are currently about 9 million Americans in the world who chose two or more racial categories when asked about their race. For all I know, I probably have another race in my ancestry that I might not know of which would make me more than just an African American.
Race, Ethnicity, and Identity My family and I would classify ourselves as Vietnamese racially. Both of my parents were born and raised in Vietnam in Saigon before immigrating over to the United States and then I was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan as an only child. My parents gave me a common American first name but kept my last name to keep my original roots. As a Vietnamese person, I still can barely read my language but can relatively speak it so some parts of my culture are lost; however, I am trying to relearn it to become more fluent.
Racial identity plays a role in the physical and psychological features of humans. Physically, humans in different parts of the globe endure different conditions and environments. Humans adapt to their environments and obtain different physical traits, henceforth, these physical traits have become adjacent to race. Psychologically, ancestral prejudices and influences throughout history have lingered through the generations and have impacted modern racial identities and tensions. Ethnic conflicts of the past such as the Social Darwinist theory of a "superior race" are morally refuted in current times, but that assumption had a brunt impact in which the world is still repairing today.
The background of my cultural identity I am an African American female but that isn’t all there is to know me for. I am an African American girl who is very interactive with my religion and also my culture. Cultural identity can be hard to explain because some people don’t know what’s really in their culture and they fail to see , and understand it. I know what my cultural identity is because of my ethiopian flag, the baked macaroni, and the movie the lion king.
The reason why is because for many years I could not understand the differences between race and ethnicity. I would always confuse to two, or mix them up. After careful research, I finally learned that my race is Black or African-American and my ethnicity is Nigerian. Another problem I had is wither I was considered Black or African-American. I been told many times that they are the same thing, but I still believe they are different.
The trick of the game is not that I come from one overly specific, exotic background; it is that I am made up of multiple cultures and ethnicities. To categorize me under one race or ethnicity is to take away my diversity. I am racially white, ethnically Hispanic, and culturally Asian. Because my white father, Hispanic mother, and Asian stepmother have all molded me, I feel it imperative to reflect their cultures and
Identity refers to how people define themselves and others and this can include factors such as age, social class, religion and personality (Jenkins, 2008). Identity can also be defined by race, this is particularly important for this study. Racial identity has been described in terms of a biological category (Spikard, 1992) and from a social dimension (Helms, 1995; Spikard, 1992). When described as a biological category race consists of individuals “physical features, gene pools and character qualities” (Spikard, 1992, p.14). Europeans used these features to group people hierarchically by their physical abilities and moral quality and Caucasians were the pinnacle (Chavez & Guido-DiBrito, 1999).