I Am Proud of My Cultural Identity

My cultural identity is made up of a lot of numerous factors. I was born and raised in the San Antonio area. Both of parents are from Mexico, my mother moved here when she was nineteen and my father moved here when he was five. When they first moved to the San Antonio area they were of the lower class and they lived in the poorer side of San Antonio. When I was around three we moved to the southern side of San Antonio. My mother is catholic and always tried to get us to church but over the years we have become busy on Sundays and never make it anymore except for Christmas and Easter. My Hispanic culture is involved I my life by all the traditions my mom tries to keep around the house during holidays.

They both taught me to embrace my Mexican culture but also respect other cultures. They taught us how to speak Spanish but over the years going to school affected the away we spoke Spanish until we forgot most of the language. When I was elementary I was not placed in a bilingual classroom so I taught that I was not supposed to speak Spanish at school because no one else did in my class so I started forget how to speak it. When I entered middle school, I made friends that spoke Spanish and I learned that it was okay to speak it but I had already forgot most of the language. I am still trying to connect with my Mexican heritage. They are a lot of things that I still do not know about like my ancestry. I want to learn where my family actually came from.

In most family the men are more freedom than the woman. I am not a lot to hang out with my friends without a male cousin with me. They get more privileges because they are “men” and they are “strong.” The males can do whatever they what without telling anyone but the females must ask permission for every single thing. My parents believe that “bad things” might happen to us if we go out alone. I respect my parents’ wishes but sometimes it gets hard knowing that you cannot do all the things the men in your family do.

Sometimes when my family and I would go exploring around the small towns that surround us we would find ourselves in a town that predominantly whites. We would get strange looks and sometimes glares from random people we passed. Just because we were speaking Spanish and we are slightly darker than they were. It felt strange because we were come from it is mostly Hispanics and other cultures. We did not stay for long because we were uncomfortable because of the weird looks that we were getting.

My cultural identity represents who I am as a person and who my family is. My family are my role models for my cultural identity. Even through some off the things they are stereotypical for males and females I would like to share some of the things that represent our cultural identity. I would love to keep all the Hispanic aspects of my parent’s cultural identity but lose all the “males are better than females.” I am a strong Mexican American female from the south of San Antonio and I am proud that this is my cultural identity.

A person’s identity is shaped by many elements such as nationality, physical appearance, race, ethnic group, religion, and language. All of these elements may affect one’s identity but only few of them affect them significantly.

Being born in the Hispanic culture has really taught me to value my identity as an individual. It has really shaped me into the person that I am today and be confident on who I am. Being a Hispanic come with its benefits for example, it’s delicious cuisine, religion, music, and language. These examples, we all perform and practice to strengthen our identity. Some people might have a different religion from the rest, and this causes a diverse in our beliefs by them not practicing the regular Catholic/Christian religion and basically determines what you can practice such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, and even birthdays. Our culture makes us who we are and determines the values, beliefs and norms that our culture offers.

Part of our parents’ cultures that have influenced my personality and identity are the celebrations that take place in their country and that over the years we have been taking in this country as “Día de los Muertos” and “Día de Reyes”. These are festivities that have helped me to know my ancestors and feed my knowledge and help me to identify myself as a multicultural person. In the United States we celebrate Halloween in my part of that celebration, but the influence of “Día de los Muertos” has come to this country and our schools. Schools celebrate these holidays because the Latin community has grown a lot and has influenced these celebrations.

Hispanics take pride on what they do. It is the unimaginable strength of our people when we face hardship and obstacles, the sense of community we can have regardless of the color of our skin, the rich assorted variety of culture is unmatched, and the genuine love that we can have for each other, makes us comfortable on who we are regardless of gender or any sexuality preferences.

School has an effect also with regards to identity. It is the where kids, young people, and grown-ups are impacted by securing information and continually being encompassed by companions. Through school, participations in companionship gatherings, helps assemble a personality separated from their relationship to parents. In any case, over identity with a close-knit bunch that rejects any individual who looks, or acts changed can restrict self-improvement. In the United States, numerous Hispanic families are first-or second-generation immigrants, and keeping family connections solid can be basic to a person's personality. The likelihood that lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender may lose that significant emotionally supportive network by turning out to their family is overwhelming. Probably the most serious issue in the Hispanic culture is the 'Machismo' that numerous Hispanic families anticipate that their children should satisfy this manly way of life to consider themselves emotionally and physically tough. They don’t let their culture define who they are but find a way to not disrespect their culture and follow the norms.

The development of one's culture identity and the variables that shape it is a rich and captivating subject. The social character of the individual is a mixing of ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, condition, social class, parental impact and even mainstream culture at times. Never let society change who you are and prove that our culture is the most influential force in shaping our identity.

References

1. Chen, K., Shao, A., Jin, Y., & Ng, A. (2020). I Am Proud of My National Identity and I Am superior to You: The Role of Nationalism in Knowledge and Misinformation. Available at SSRN 3758287. (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3758287)
2. Schwartz, S. J., Zamboanga, B. L., & Weisskirch, R. S. (2008). Broadening the study of the self: Integrating the study of personal identity and cultural identity. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2(2), 635-651. (https://compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2008.00077.x)
3. Smolicz, J. (1981). Core values and cultural identity. Ethnic and racial studies, 4(1), 75-90. (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01419870.1981.9993325?journalCode=rers20)
4. Hall, S., & Du Gay, P. (Eds.). (1996). Questions of cultural identity: SAGE Publications. Sage. (https://sk.sagepub.com/books/questions-of-cultural-identity)
5. Lucy, S. (2007). Ethnic and cultural identities. In Archaeology of Identity (pp. 96-119). Routledge. (https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203087572-10/ethnic-cultural-identities-sam-lucy)

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