I have always found my own cultural identity difficult to discuss. Bell’s discussion of a lack of a sense of cultural identity, the idea of no identity was a familiar feeling, at least initially (Bell, 147). This idea bothered me, in order to decipher my identity I looked to those of my ancestors. Cultural Identity exists, at least to me as an individual and a collective, in the present and the past.
I was born in Australia, my father’s side has Scottish roots. Some statements from Bell’s respondents resonated with me; Even discussing not knowing his culture and why it was different as well as Kim’s answer suggesting that “we were all . . . brought here” and intermingled, the idea that there is no one set culture was poignant (Bell, 154). …show more content…
While I found aspects of both readings resonated with my understanding of my own cultural understanding in different ways, and not entirely I found Hall’s second definition of Cultural Identity useful, the idea that they have origins but are under constant reconstruction, according to history, culture, and power” (Hall 236). During our second Zoom session with Berea college it interested me that some students stated their cherokee roots, but they were addressed as a fraction of their identity, not anything more. Furthermore some suggested that being ‘black’ was their cultural identity, at least in the eyes of other …show more content…
McIntosh’s discussion of whakapapa, giving an individual the right to say “I am Maori” has encouraged me to be more comfortble with claiminf these roots; I am aware of my tribal links, Ngati Toa being that which I recognise most prominently, yet I speak no Te Reo (McIntosh, 45) I have not experienced the historical or day to day struggle that some Maori would have, because of the colour of my skin and the colour of my parents skin. The discussion of both traditional and fluid Maori were relevant to me through Whakapapa and the idea of being disafilliated, respectively. This is a consequences of intermarriage recognition of mixed whakapapa.
Cultural Identity is not limited to ‘one’ identity\, after these discussions I feel comfortable recognising multiple, despite some being more relevant and obvious in my day to day life.
It’s difficult to place oneself when the points of difference are not clear - If it were possible to go back far enough I could be anything, because so much of my personal attachment to cultural identity relies on ancestry, it’s hard to know where the endpoint is.
Although there is a sense of attachment to being a kiwi pakeha and part Maori, my Scottish heritage is still
I was born in Australia, my father’s side has Scottish roots. Some statements from Bell’s respondents resonated with me; Even discussing not knowing his culture and why it was different as well as Kim’s answer suggesting that “we were all . . . brought here” and intermingled, the idea that there is no one set culture was poignant (Bell, 154). …show more content…
While I found aspects of both readings resonated with my understanding of my own cultural understanding in different ways, and not entirely I found Hall’s second definition of Cultural Identity useful, the idea that they have origins but are under constant reconstruction, according to history, culture, and power” (Hall 236). During our second Zoom session with Berea college it interested me that some students stated their cherokee roots, but they were addressed as a fraction of their identity, not anything more. Furthermore some suggested that being ‘black’ was their cultural identity, at least in the eyes of other …show more content…
McIntosh’s discussion of whakapapa, giving an individual the right to say “I am Maori” has encouraged me to be more comfortble with claiminf these roots; I am aware of my tribal links, Ngati Toa being that which I recognise most prominently, yet I speak no Te Reo (McIntosh, 45) I have not experienced the historical or day to day struggle that some Maori would have, because of the colour of my skin and the colour of my parents skin. The discussion of both traditional and fluid Maori were relevant to me through Whakapapa and the idea of being disafilliated, respectively. This is a consequences of intermarriage recognition of mixed whakapapa.
Cultural Identity is not limited to ‘one’ identity\, after these discussions I feel comfortable recognising multiple, despite some being more relevant and obvious in my day to day life.
It’s difficult to place oneself when the points of difference are not clear - If it were possible to go back far enough I could be anything, because so much of my personal attachment to cultural identity relies on ancestry, it’s hard to know where the endpoint is.
Although there is a sense of attachment to being a kiwi pakeha and part Maori, my Scottish heritage is still