Culture Influence On Cultural Identity

If we switch on the national TV or open any mainstream magazine, and count the amount of members of minorities that are portrayed accurately or as “normal people” we are likely to spend hours and hours to find little more than nothing. There is a chance you will come across that one show in which culturally diverse characters are a punchline or the vivid representation of a stereotype. When you are a white, Caucasian person growing up in a western country representation is not even something you need to question or think about. But for someone who grows up surrounded and absorbing a culture that is so unlike their own, representation is vital to feel somehow real, to know that their condition and struggles are not as isolated as they think, …show more content…
Some of the factors that influence on this dilemma are whether or not the new culture we are adapting to is accepting towards our original culture, and the amount of accurate representation we see in mainstream media. For a seven year old Arab who just arrived to a new country to switch on the TV and see his kind represented as either terrorists or a kebab-makers can be degrading and induce to …show more content…
“Cultural identity includes religion, rites of passage, language, dietary habits and leisure activities. Religious rituals and beliefs, even if not followed as an adult, make up a key component of an individual 's cultural identity. Religion can preserve values within the community and foster a sense of belonging.” (National Institutes of Health, 2005). If we fail to connect with our cultural identity we might find ourselves lost and unable to define our personal identity. Growing in an environment where your cultural identity is not easy to connect with is frustrating on so many levels. Firstly, one can be unaware of that need for many years throughout their childhood and puberty, and when finally they realize that the inadequacy and sense of not belonging they have been feeling has actually an explanation they are shocked and angry that they lost such a long time distancing themselves from where they really belong. Secondly, to be untied from one’s culture for so long, trying to hang on a different society that will never entirely accept them, has a negative influence on the way they perceive themselves, as if they are not good enough for neither the host nor their own culture. As a poet whose name I can’t remember said, “Us immigrant kids will always be too Eastern for the West, and too Western for the East, our identities will forever remain in disarray.”