Cultural Identity Analysis

The proudest moment I have experienced was as personal as it was general in the sense of cultural identity that so many regularly face. As a child I was not very confident of my Indian culture or heritage. Going to a school with a minimal diversity of ethnicity, I had always tried to fit in as 'normal'. I had thought previously that trying to be fully American would make it easier for me to talk to others. And for a while I did try to do just that to the point of always speaking in English and never Punjabi. However, it was harder than I had expected, due to the very cultural environment I lived in at home, an environment that other children would label as strange or weird. By the time high school was at it peak, I heard a couple of boys making stereotypical jokes about an Indian character in a
A person made with two cultures not one. After that situation and founding the Raider's Association of Indian Students at school, I understood the perspective of culture that stereotypes had started to overshadow a little better. Stereotypes, a word with such negative connotation in cultural context, have caused individuals to be ashamed of their backgrounds and heritage even thought these stereotypes are just social inventions of people to provide an inaccurate portrayal of complex ideas. For example, commonly, all Indians are held to this standard of being dirty, poor and nerdy; as is also seen in portrayals in media of gas station workers and taxi drivers who are always Indians who speak broken English when communicating. As these stereotypes are represented, it is also the effortless acceptance of society to consider these stereotypes as natural norms. However, considering how I know this negatively has and will influence me, I have created a project this year, currently in process, to raise awareness of cultural stereotypes that people of any and all cultures have