Family and Cultural Identity

Ever since I was a little boy my parents have told me stories about my grandparents. All throughout my house you can find items that used to belong to my grandparents. My mother and father made a point of decorating our house with items that had a sentimental value to my grandparents. This is because the majority of my parent’s cultural values were shaped by their elders and they thought it was important to pass these cultural values down to my sister and I. They did this by filling the house with objects that had significance to my grandparents. Despite being deceased my grandparents still had a presence in my day to day life growing up because of these items. For example, my grandfather’s combat boots that he wore during the Korean War were always on display next to the fireplace in the living room. In the kitchen my grandma’s antique Rosary could always be found hanging on the wall next to the sink. These two symbolic items told the story of my grandparents and therefore played a significant role in shaping the cultural identity I have to this day. The two main concepts my parents wanted me to take away from my grandparents was love of country and love of God. These two cultural themes combine together to form my family’s master narrative. This master narrative is best described as traditional family values. The cultural identity I have today is a direct result of the stories my parents told me about my grandparent’s conservative traditional values. My grandfather was a veteran of the Korean War and his military boots represented his patriotism, sacrifice, and love of America. My parents used his military service as a way of communicating to me their concept of America. They taught me that America is a noble country and a special place to live. They wanted me to know America is full of opportunities and that hard work is the key to success. Another cultural theme my parents communicated to me was the importance of God and religion. My parents often told me stories about how my grandmother frequently prayed the Rosary and always attended the 6:00am Mass every weekday and always sat in the same pew. The purpose of these stories was to communicate the importance of religion. This idea of religion playing a central role in one’s life is a major part of my current cultural identity. The fact that I have only attended Catholic schools from grade school through college reinforces this master narrative.
My family uses the cultural themes of a traditional love of God and country as a way of making meaning for ourselves. These traditional cultural values play a primary role in my how I understand myself. However my cultural identity is a direct result of my own particular gender, race, class, sexuality, and religion. When my identity is viewed through an inter-cultural perspective it is easy to see that my cultural identity would be different if I came from different cultural points of view. For example, if I was a female my grandfather’s masculine combat boots and military service would probably have had less of an impact. I would also be less likely to believe my parent’s concept of America being a place full of opportunity. This is because men and women in America still do not receive equal pay for equal work. It has been shown that a women makes only 77 cents compared to every dollar a man makes doing the exact same job. Additionally the fact that there has yet to be a female president would cause me to further doubt the idea of America being a place of limitless opportunity. My patriotic cultural identity is also a result of the fact that I am a white Caucasian. If I had the cultural perspective from being a different race, such as African-American, I would be less likely to believe the pro-American stories coming from my grandparents. America was founded on the practice of slavery and African-Americans were treated as sub-human property until the 13th Amendment was passed in 1865. Considering these facts it would be considerably harder for me to believe that America is a noble country and worth defending like my grandfather. My sexual orientation is another reason as to why I have adopted my grandparents values. If I were gay I probably wouldn’t be very proud of a country that denies me basic rights like the opportunity to marry the person I loved. The same is true about my religion. I am a Catholic but I were Muslim I might be less inclined to love America because of the stereotyping and racial profiling that Muslims are subjected to everyday. My class also plays a role in why I have accepted my grandparents positive ideas about America. Compared to a lot of people I come from a solid socioeconomic status. Because of this I tend to only see the positive sides of the American experience. Someone born with less privileges than myself is exposed to the darker sides of America which I largely remain ignorant of. All of these play a role in who I relate to and who I do not relate to in life. Because of the values my family communicated to me I have a tendency to relate to individuals who had a similar upbringing. I am more likely to relate to someone who was raised in a traditional nuclear family like mine as opposed to someone who was brought up in a more diverse and untraditional family.
Factors such as gender, race, class, sexuality, and religion divide us and often create road blocks to genuine inter-cultural communication. However, reaching a self-awareness about these cultural barriers is the first step in overcoming them and achieving the ability to communicate among different cultures.