Who am I? How do I identify myself? In terms of my ethnicity and race, how do I recognize myself as? I have never seriously sat down and thought about these questions. I was just LM. I know what I liked and don’t like. But I never thought about how I identify myself in terms of my ethnicity and race. Through my personal experiences and relationship with my family, I began to understand and place answers to these question.
Prior to 2005, I was living in Guyana with my family. I was born and raised there until I was 10 years old. I never thought about ethnicity and race. I never even heard of those words. Not until I came to New York. Almost every document or survey would ask about one’s race or ethnicity. I did not truly understood the words
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My nationality was no longer Guyanese. At first I thought nothing of it, but I began to wonder if my ethnicity would now be American or Guyanese American. But I remember the meaning of ethnicity. Although, my nationality may have changed, I still associate mainly with my culture that I am from. I was raised in a traditional Guyanese home. Even though my family and I lived in America, we still continue many of our Guyanese traditions. The food we cooked were all the same. The music I listen to was unchanged. The respect we have for our elders all remain the same. These traditions I continue each and every day. I finally came to an acceptance that my ethnicity is Guyanese. This is the culture that I associate and identify with …show more content…
I am mix with East Indian, Black and Portuguese, so am I black, East Indian, or Portuguese. My mother is mixed with East Indian and Portuguese, however my father is black. I look more East Indian than any of the other race I am mixed with. In Guyana, some people would considered me as East Indiana because of how I look. On the other hand, others would view me as black because I am mixed with black. To me, race was just something that meant nothing. I grew up in a primarily mixed community. My peers were black, Hispanic, white, and Jewish. I never felt unwanted or different. However, I learned that race was something constructed by society. In American society, if you’re not white then you’re black. American society has constructed this whole idea of a black and white race. I rejected this idea. It was through my family and my friend’s differences that I came accept that race is just something made up by society and that I don’t need to classify myself with any one race. I am mixed and I have accepted that.
Furthermore, race and ethnicity have played an important role in my life. Identifying what my ethnicity and race was, has helped me to understand myself better. Although my environment is different and I’m exploits to my different culture, I still identify my ethnicity as Guyanese. I still follow many of the values that I have grown up with. Values such a hot meal every day, clean home, respect towards elders, and education. These
After reading Alsultany’s “Los Intersticios: Recasting Moving Selves,” I realized that there are many misconceptions among those who have single or mixed racial background. For individuals who have more than one races, it may seem that they are at an advantage since they have luxury to take side with which ever race they choose. However, it actually results in a constant aggravation when one is constantly questioned about their race. Alsultany was asked by her classmate about her racial background. It was apparent that her classmate confirmed in her mind that Alsultany was different from her since she didn’t supposedly fit the description of a typical American, despite mentioning that she was born and raised in the U.S. This further strengthened
The conflict between race and ethnicity came up throughout the time I administered my questionnaires. In the questionnaires, many people questioned what they should respond to for the question which referenced their “race” or “ethnicity”. Some people saw it as a division and how the terms can be used as a negative term or a positive term to label a group of people.
There are many races and ethnicities in the United States. While we are all in the same country we have many differences. These differences are sometimes noticeable just by looking at a person. Other times you can only find out about them only by diving deeper into the person’s background and see their cultural differences. I’m going to give you an example of race and ethnicity by presenting a profile of myself.
I believe that my cultural identity is something I must preserve. I realize now that my culture is what sets me apart from others. The struggle of learning to preserve my identity as a second generation Nepalese- American will be one that I will have forever. However, this does not prevent me from finding a balance between the two worlds that I am apart
To most people ethnicity is shown by values, lifestyles, customs, and rituals that are personal to an individual ethnic group or religion. The feeling of belonging to a certain group is a basic need for mankind. In a sense, ethnicity can be separated into two particular categories, a unique social structure and culture heritage passed down from one generation to the next.
Ethnicity is a self-defined social construct; it is a shared sense of belonging to a social group (Scheppers et al. 2005). Ethnic minority groups are individuals within a soci...
My parents were proud of being African American Guyanese immigrants, and they often speak about their grandparents who were Portuguese, British, and from St. Vincent. My parent’s sibling didn’t all look alike and their ancestors didn’t either and I never once heard them speak badly about them being lighter or darker. In fact, my father would boast about having ancestors that are White, Spanish and Indian. Gaining a sense of ethnic and racialized self both worked in my favor and against me. I live in a neighborhood surrounded by many different ethnicity, nationalities, and race. Along the years it changed, less and less Caucasian people lived in the neighborhood. I was raised around people of many different racial identity and ethnicities, this allowed me to accept them because I was exposed as an adolescent. My parents shared friends of various races in which they spoke highly about and they never instilled in me that I shouldn’t accept a certain race. However, I wish they taught me how to deal with those that are not so accepting of African
I classify my race, ethnicity, and culture as a white, Irish-Italian- American, woman. My mother was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland and my paternal grandparents are from Sicily, Italy. I imagine being first generation Irish and second generation Italian helps me relate with my ethnicity.
Race and ethnicity are two words used very often in everyday speech interchangeably, thus making it seem like they mean the same thing. However, there is a significant difference between the two. According to Kerry Ferris and Jill Stein, race is “based on real or perceived biological differences between groups of people” (Ferris & Stein 2012). Ethnicity on the other hand is “based on common language, religion, nationality, history, or another cultural factor” (Ferris & Stein 2012). They’re social constructs, meaning that they’re concepts/ideas created and maintained by people who agree that they exist. All society’s have a tendency to categorize and identify people based on these two socially defined categories. Doing this creates a system of classification or categorization that leads to inequality. Societal resources such as wealth, power, privilege, and opportunity are dispersed according to this system of stratification (Ferris & Stein 2012). Such powerful social constructs always influence the members of society in some way.
· Dashefsky, A. (Eds.). (1976). Ethnic identity in society. Chicago: Rand McNally College Publishing Co. Smith, E.J. (1991). Ethnic identity development: Toward the development of a theory within the context of majority/minority status. Journal of Counseling and Development, 70, 181-187.
I wanted to wear brand clothes/shoes they did, I wanted to do my hair like them, and make good grades like them. I wanted to fit in. My cultural identify took a back seat. But it was not long before I felt black and white did not mix. I must have heard too many comments asking to speak Haitian or I do not look Haitian, but more than that, I am black, so I always had to answer question about my hair or why my nose is big, and that I talked white. This feeling carried on to high school because the questions never went away and the distance between me and them grew larger. There was not much action my family could take for those moments in my life, but shared their encounters or conversations to show me I was not alone in dealing with people of other background. I surrounded myself with less white people and more people of color and today, not much has
Race and ethnicity are two terms that are constantly used in today’s society. Understanding these terms can help people to recognize that color of skin or color of hair does not define a person. These terms connect with history, social interaction, and the overall make up of a person. However America is constantly obsessed with labeling people by the way that they look or the way that they act. America seems to encourage the terms race and ethnicity and continue to divide people into categories. It is interesting to comprehend these terms because they are not going to disappear any time soon. Race and ethnicity are apart of America’s history and will be a part of the future.
My culture identity, as I know it as is African American. My culture can be seen in food, literature, religion, language, the community, family structure, the individual, music, dance, art, and could be summed up as the symbolic level. Symbolic, because faith plays a major role in our daily lives through song, prayer, praise and worship. When I’m happy I rely on my faith, same as when I’m sad, for I know things will get better as they have before.
Times are changing and I feel like I am forced to conform to the everyday social norms of America, which makes me feel impuissance. Racial identity, which refers to identifying with a social group with similar phenotypes and racial category, is the only experience that I have with life (Organista, 2010). Racial ethnicity was used to build my self-esteem and to keep me in the dark when it came to how society treats individuals of darker complexion. However, once I left the confines of my family and neighborhood, I was forced to befriend and interact with individuals that had different cultural values and beliefs than me. This experience caused me to learn how to appreciate other racial and ethnic groups and their cultural values and belief. This is an accurate definition, of acculturation because I was able to understand and fit in with individuals different from me, while maintaining my own culture and ethnic identity. Therefore, knowing the importance of my ancestry, while acculturating and developing my own identity was all used
My ethnic identity is considered French, but I myself do not consider myself to really belong to this ethnic group. As stated in "On Being Different" page 12 Chapter 2, "Each of us grows up in the presence of a set of rules and expectations that have been both transmitted and transformed across the generations." I never grew up learning my heritage or culture, but instead learned the culture of my friend Terrence Smith. I lived with Terrence and his mother for years and I learned a lot about African-American culture from his mother. She taught us a great deal about the Harlem Renaissance; mainly her favorite poet Langston Hughes. I consider myself part of this ethnic group and some things I would say about this group in particular