Personal Narrative: My Racial And Cultural Identity

For me, my racial and cultural identity has always been at the forefront of my life experience. I grew up in an Iowan rural small town that was founded on Swedish heritage. My home town of Albert City, Iowa was founded by my Swedish ancestors, many of which still have family there today. Therefore, I have always known that my Swedish blood was an important aspect of my life. However, I am also of German, Norwegian, and Danish heritage which has conflicted my views of my identity. Having lived near a Swedish settlement most of my life, I grew to wonder how much of myself I was to delegate towards my other national origins that I also cared deeply about. Growing up, I remember several of my family members making comments on how “Norwegian” I looked, how “Swedish” my older sister looked, and how “Danish” my younger sister appeared to be. However, I never grew to know much about my other origins, causing those comments to deeply confuse me. Additionally, being a woman in a Swedish community, I always knew very clearly what

This being because my immediate family has been in different places along the “middle class” scale. For example, both of my sets of grandparents, who live near me and my hometown, are fairly wealthy farmers. However, when my father first started farming, he was anything but, and eventually became much worse off. While I was a small child, I was at the lower end of the middle class, but I never was aware of it due to the reputation of my grandparents and their success. I am also aware therefore, that class is not just about finances, it reflects who you interact with, who you are accepted by, and who does not accept you. For me, this is where my class was perplexing. In a small town, everybody knows everybody, and because everybody knew my grandparents, and therefore also my family, they simply assumed we were one and the same even if we were