My Cultural Identity
Defining my own cultural identity by Stefanie Öttl
Culture is one of the most difficult concepts in the human social sciences and there are many different ways of defining it. It is often argued that culture is a learned behaviour pattern shared by a specific group of people. Culture is about shared meanings, and language is the privileged medium in which meaning is produced and exchanged. People sharing one culture interpret the world in roughly the same way. Defining my own cultural identity seems to me quite difficult. I actually have to admit that I am not quite sure which culture I belong to.
I was born in Austria but my father comes from South Tyrol, the northern part of Italy, where Italian and German are spoken. Therefore I have Italian nationality but I have only some basic knowledge concerning the language. Although I live in Austria, there are still some traditions and cultural aspects in my family that are not Austrian. Not only is there some Italian influence, but also Canadian due to the fact that my mother’s stepmother is British but emigrated to Canada. I haven’t got Canadian nationality, but I was brought up bilingually (German/English). Furthermore I spent half a year living in Chile and therefore I was influenced by the Chilean way of life.
Understandably I sometimes get quite confused about which culture I really belong to. There are several parameters for defining one’s culture, such as nationality, language, the country you live in, gender, social class, occupation, interests, educational level….But the question is, which of these parameters is to be considered the most important.
I have Italian nationality, but due to the fact that I don’t really know the language I don’t really feel Italian or ‘Southern Tyrolian’. And although I am not Canadian by citizenship I sometimes feel more at home there because of the language. Still, concerning some traditional aspects, I am more familiar with the ‘South Tyrolian’ ones but
Culture is one of the most difficult concepts in the human social sciences and there are many different ways of defining it. It is often argued that culture is a learned behaviour pattern shared by a specific group of people. Culture is about shared meanings, and language is the privileged medium in which meaning is produced and exchanged. People sharing one culture interpret the world in roughly the same way. Defining my own cultural identity seems to me quite difficult. I actually have to admit that I am not quite sure which culture I belong to.
I was born in Austria but my father comes from South Tyrol, the northern part of Italy, where Italian and German are spoken. Therefore I have Italian nationality but I have only some basic knowledge concerning the language. Although I live in Austria, there are still some traditions and cultural aspects in my family that are not Austrian. Not only is there some Italian influence, but also Canadian due to the fact that my mother’s stepmother is British but emigrated to Canada. I haven’t got Canadian nationality, but I was brought up bilingually (German/English). Furthermore I spent half a year living in Chile and therefore I was influenced by the Chilean way of life.
Understandably I sometimes get quite confused about which culture I really belong to. There are several parameters for defining one’s culture, such as nationality, language, the country you live in, gender, social class, occupation, interests, educational level….But the question is, which of these parameters is to be considered the most important.
I have Italian nationality, but due to the fact that I don’t really know the language I don’t really feel Italian or ‘Southern Tyrolian’. And although I am not Canadian by citizenship I sometimes feel more at home there because of the language. Still, concerning some traditional aspects, I am more familiar with the ‘South Tyrolian’ ones but