Ethnic Identity Stage

In the beginning, there was only Adam and Eve, one people and one identity. At the eleventh generation came Noah’s and that was when we saw the first signs of different people groups. The people all spoke one language on the earth and when they tried to build a tower to reach God, God humbled them by confusing their language so that they did not understand each other and was forced to abandon the project. People dispersed over the face of the earth and hence we saw the separation of people, the birth of different languages, cultures and most importantly people groups or what we now call ethnicity. However, over the centuries, with the advancement of technology, the boundaries of race and ethnicity have changed drastically. Diverse people groups …show more content…
This stage could be sparked by harsh events such as discrimination or name calling, but for most of the high school students participated in the research in 1989, they did not experience any turning point, but rather it was a gradual process. Subjects in this stage will begin to see the differences between themselves and the dominant culture. Subjects will start asking questions about their parent’s upbringing, they will want to find out more about their family history. They will start to realize not all values and attitudes from the dominant cultural is beneficial to them as a minority. Subjects might start to take part in festivals and cultural events relating to their culture. As these subjects learn about the history and the past of their ethnic group, they will see the discrimination and hardship their parents or grandparents have endured in the pass. They may generate anger towards the dominant people group and hateful emotions will develop during this stage. An African American female student said in the 1989 research “I think people should know what Black people had to go through to get where we are now.”(Phinney 1989) The student not only showed interest in her past, but also questioning about it and showing some sense or hatred over …show more content…
In this stage, the subjects have gained a clear sense about their ethnic identity. The emotions of anger, hate and uncertainty subside and they are able to accept their ethnic identity with pride. Often with second generation Americans, subjects are able to embrace and enjoy both parts of their ethnic identity such as Chinese American who are born in America. In the 1989 research, a Filipino male student demonstrated the ethnic identity achievement stage when he said “I’m here in America, and people of many different cultures are here too. So I don’t consider myself only Filipino, but also American” (Phinney