Cultural Identity

[blazeofglory]

We are a little bit estranged if we are inhabitants of a city, for city life is more and more assimilated into streams of new cultures, and in fact I do not believe I get alienated; all I feel is I must be expansive and open to all and being unreserved and extroverted advantage me immensely over being reserved and small-minded and bigoted. Let me be at home with all cultures and in all countries

[Maximilianus]

I'm enjoying this thread very much, as a way to know how others have felt as outsiders in some point of life, especially billl's, Virgil's and kasie's posts.

blaze, I will have to strongly agree with billl. You are such an awesome writer considering you're not a native English speaker!

Don't you think what pleases or displeases are affected by our culture as well?

Scher, you got me scratching this particular area of my head trying to figure out a clever answer

I think of culture as a two-way road, in that our culture begins taking form by the influences that affect us when we are children, and after that we keep shaping it according to the previous background we had acquired (I hope my opinion makes some sense). I think the form of those first influences is very important, because there's a substantial difference between being given the chance to choose and getting a brainwash when we are children. For example, my parents never told me what to read, what to listen to or what to do. Instead they told me "you should choose, so what's it gonna be?". And they never said "You have to read Uncle Tom's Cabin". It was more like "try reading something, it will do you good and which book do you want?". How I came up to reading Uncle Tom's Cabin or The Last of the Mohicans (my first readings as a kid) remains a mystery to me, because I can't remember how I got the interest on such novels, and I can't remember any single person telling me about them. Probably I heard a comment on TV, because in the environment where I grew up (meaning school and neighborhood), reading was unpopular and if someone knew you were "the reading type", they immediately called you "weird" and gave you the scornful looks.

I sometimes feel like I do not belong anywhere anymore. Not enough Anglicized to be considered English but not enough well-preserved to be considered still a "native" in my homeland either. Stuck in a constant state of limbo!

But you do belong to LitNetLand, where we all speak Litnetish What can be a better country?

(...) However, many Americans expect me to be the aforementioned stereotype due to my accent. My own subculture looks at me like something other and most people can't believe I'm interested in writting. (...)

Such a bias!

I'd like to move to an entirely different planet.

I used to have that feeling when I had to deal with The Others (I mean the people that were different from me). I still feel some reminiscence of such a sadness... at times.

I was thinking the same thing as well... Wonder if it has more to do with our psychology than our location/environment.

Alienation is always the result of how we feel and how the others make us feel, I believe. If you feel unwelcome, it's surely not just paranoia. I mean, if it's about what we are, then it's about what the others are.

[kasie]

Ha, this is going to turn into a competition over who feels more culturally alienated.

[Virgil]

At least some of you can blend in, my accent marks me as an outsider even my own country.

No biggy, Baki. Our country is made up of so many immigrants that's not unusual at all. If you come to New York City, you'd find every other person has an accent.

[TurquoiseSunset]

Weird, everybody has felt like an outsider at some point in time.

Yip, maybe it just us who post?

I see myself as a White African, and specifically a South African through and through. I love my country, and it's people, it's food, it's music, everything. It's a proper cultural melting pot and that's what makes it special.

Unfortunately there are some people who refuse to acknowledge me as an African, but instead they classify me as European because of my skin colour. I can't be one though, because my family's been here for centuries. If I'm not African what the heck am I??

I'm sick of politics...

[blazeofglory]

Yip, maybe it just us who post?

I see myself as a White African, and specifically a South African through and through. I love my country, and it's people, it's food, it's music, everything. It's a proper cultural melting pot and that's what makes it special.

Unfortunately there are some people who refuse to acknowledge me as an African, but instead they classify me as European because of my skin colour. I can't be one though, because my family's been here for centuries. If I'm not African what the heck am I??

I'm sick of politics...

You have greatly emotionalized me and this sense of belongingness to one's past and something one grew up with. I too exactly feel like this in a different context and different setting. I am from Nepal and now reside in a city far from my village where I was born to peasant parents. We had some values, something that gave us some identity, some special feelings and with migration to the city I lost all these highly cherished values to a world that is modern and technically advanced.

Now in the city I am in a way happy and have everything coveted by many but the life in the village was really happier.

[Red-Headed]

I'm from space.

[Maryd.]

Ok, Ok, don't get me started...

I was born in Australia by Italian parents... Except one of my Italian parents has an Indian mother (Sri Lanka-Indian). Spent most of my life being raised by Irish/English adults. My father's grandfather was Spanish and I believe there is an Irish family member somewhere along the line as well. Now... I marry a Cypriot/Greek fellow, (both of us were born here in Australia) who has some family born and raised in Egypt. So at this stage we tell our children that they are Australian... But they are blessed with many different cultural backgrounds. We couldn't be racist if we tried.
Here in Australia, there are so many different cultures, it's amazing. I love to see and hear about their folklores or taste their meals. I am open to many new cultures and the world is adjusting to many different cultures as well. It's all good.

[kilted exile]

Racially I am a mixture of things. Culturally I am glaswegian.

We are a culture all to ourselves and I have believe most cultural identities can be broken down smaller than national to city and even districts. Glaswegian culture and upbringing for example leads to a different outlook from scottish islands and even from edinburgh. We all see things through a certain lens and of course as a glaswegian it is very hard not to look at things through a socialist one whereas a person from the highlands might have a more nationalistic outlook. Then there is the edinburghian who is more likely to be capitalist leaning and (to us glaswegians) a fancy dan.

[Niamh]

If thats the case i'm a Dub with a little bit of bogger thrown in (all those country hols )

Personally i dont feel culturally or ethnically isolated... dont think i ever have...

[Lokasenna]

At least some of you can blend in, my accent marks me as an outsider even my own country.

Ditto. Welsh I may be, but I have somehow gained a cut-glass RP English accent.

One of my professors is an expert in dialects, and in the end he had to ask me where I was from as he couldn't work it out...

[kilted exile]

Well, the criteria (or perhaps commandments?) for English acceptance in a Welsh village runs something like this:

You must live there for at least thirty years.
You must never say anything negative about Wales.
You must be generous in the local pub.
You must visit the Eisteddfod anually.
You must be able to sing "Land of our Fathers" in Welsh, while drunk.
You must have a picture of Bryn Terfel in your loo.

After all that, they might grudgingly admit that you're all right... for an Englishman.

bah you welsh are too easy on those sassenachs

as evidenced by us chanting "We hate england more than you" during our recent encounter in cardiff

[Annamariah]

Anna> Would you say you define your culture identity more through your religion?

Not really. I think I fit the description of an average Finn better than the description of an average member of my church. That is to say that I don't really feel at home in my church either.

Basically the main thing that makes me an outsider among Finns is the fact I don't drink alcohol. Moderate use of alcohol is something Finns have always had difficulty with (most often when people drink, they keep drinking until they're drunk), and alcohol is an essential part of almost any party, holiday, and a free evening, especially among students, and those who don't drink always stand out.

Another one is the fact that nowadays religion is something really uncool in Finland. Most people seem to think that faith is a sign of stupidity and that those who believe in God are automatically incabable of rational thinking.

But other than that I think I am a pretty typical Finn: we are rather reserved, we value our personal space, respect each other's privacy, and don't talk unless we've got something to say. Just this morning I was travelling on a bus that was full of people, but completely silent, as no one was talking to anyone else. We're also a pretty melancholic folk, you just need to listen to some Finnish music and you'll soon realise that almost all of it is in minor and the lyrics are often rather depressing

[soundofmusic]

But you do belong to LitNetLand, where we all speak Litnetish What can be a better country?

What a lovely thought, LitNetLand; Yes, I somehow feel a little more 3 dimensional here. As if the things I read are somehow more significant than they seem when I discuss them with friends "on the outside"

[Maximilianus]

Ok, Ok, don't get me started...

I was born in Australia by Italian parents... Except one of my Italian parents has an Indian mother (Sri Lanka-Indian). Spent most of my life being raised by Irish/English adults. My father's grandfather was Spanish and I believe there is an Irish family member somewhere along the line as well. Now... I marry a Cypriot/Greek fellow, (both of us were born here in Australia) who has some family born and raised in Egypt. So at this stage we tell our children that they are Australian... But they are blessed with many different cultural backgrounds. We couldn't be racist if we tried.
Here in Australia, there are so many different cultures, it's amazing. I love to see and hear about their folklores or taste their meals. I am open to many new cultures and the world is adjusting to many different cultures as well. It's all good.

That's a really interesting blend, Mary

Not really. I think I fit the description of an average Finn better than the description of an average member of my church. That is to say that I don't really feel at home in my church either.

I wouldn't make a home out of a church; its peoples are so pure I've been told that the day I enter a church the saints would fall from their pedestals. The peculiarity of this statement is that I've entered a cathedral a couple times and the saints are still standing My theory is that if saints don't fall when believers enter, then they have no reason to drop dead when I enter Moral: believers are so pure and naive that they can't realize that the saints they are beholding are just statues that will only fall after a major earthquake

Another one is the fact that nowadays religion is something really uncool in Finland. Most people seem to think that faith is a sign of stupidity and that those who believe in God are automatically incabable of rational thinking.

I know irrational folks of all kinds. Not all of them are believers. Actually, most of them believe they know, but the truth is that they don't know what to believe

But other than that I think I am a pretty typical Finn: we are rather reserved, we value our personal space, respect each other's privacy, and don't talk unless we've got something to say. Just this morning I was travelling on a bus that was full of people, but completely silent, as no one was talking to anyone else. We're also a pretty melancholic folk, you just need to listen to some Finnish music and you'll soon realise that almost all of it is in minor and the lyrics are often rather depressing

Like I didn't know......

What a lovely thought, LitNetLand; Yes, I somehow feel a little more 3 dimensional here. As if the things I read are somehow more significant than they seem when I discuss them with friends "on the outside"

I have felt approximately the same What a feeling!