Cultural Identity Paper
Mesa Community College
Cultural Identity Paper
Andy Dufrane
Psychology and Culture
September 14th, 2013
When you think of the typical middle-class, white family some might draw thoughts from the classic 50's scene of the Mother cooking, the Husband returning from work, while the Son and Daughter are doing homework at the table. I would say that I come from a White Middle-class family however like many today, my family was nothing like that. My mother is of Irish, English, and German decent and was born and raised in California. While my father is of English and German decent and was born and raised in Philadelphia. From the two of them alone I have a rich contrast of cultures. Along with my parents cultures, I have been exposed to a lot of different experiences throughout my life that all combine to form what I call my culture. Some of the things that make up my day to day life, therefore my culture and cultural identity are my family, my job, and my friends. I am the youngest in my family. I have one full-blood sister, Ashley who is a year and a half older than I am and a half-sister, Lexi who is eight years older than I am. Lexi was with us when we were younger but for most of my life she has been living with her Mom in Florida leaving Ashley and I together through the years. Being so close in age Ashley and I have always had a strong relationship. Through thick and thin we always had each other to rely on. When I was very young, too young to have any memory of it, my parents got divorced. I was never upset about it, I just grew up knowing that Ashley and I had to split time between the two of them. This caused my family to be somewhat nomadic. We always stayed within the same area of Eastern Mesa however, every six months to a year my Mom would move to a new apartment or my Dad would move to a new house. I would constantly switch schools or move to a new neighborhood; this gave me a unique lack of connection with
Cultural Identity Paper
Andy Dufrane
Psychology and Culture
September 14th, 2013
When you think of the typical middle-class, white family some might draw thoughts from the classic 50's scene of the Mother cooking, the Husband returning from work, while the Son and Daughter are doing homework at the table. I would say that I come from a White Middle-class family however like many today, my family was nothing like that. My mother is of Irish, English, and German decent and was born and raised in California. While my father is of English and German decent and was born and raised in Philadelphia. From the two of them alone I have a rich contrast of cultures. Along with my parents cultures, I have been exposed to a lot of different experiences throughout my life that all combine to form what I call my culture. Some of the things that make up my day to day life, therefore my culture and cultural identity are my family, my job, and my friends. I am the youngest in my family. I have one full-blood sister, Ashley who is a year and a half older than I am and a half-sister, Lexi who is eight years older than I am. Lexi was with us when we were younger but for most of my life she has been living with her Mom in Florida leaving Ashley and I together through the years. Being so close in age Ashley and I have always had a strong relationship. Through thick and thin we always had each other to rely on. When I was very young, too young to have any memory of it, my parents got divorced. I was never upset about it, I just grew up knowing that Ashley and I had to split time between the two of them. This caused my family to be somewhat nomadic. We always stayed within the same area of Eastern Mesa however, every six months to a year my Mom would move to a new apartment or my Dad would move to a new house. I would constantly switch schools or move to a new neighborhood; this gave me a unique lack of connection with