History/Indentity

I think most people would choose to interview a grandparent for an assignment such as this one, I on the other was not able to nor was I able to interview the oldest person in my family, which is my uncle. But I was able to interview my father, who is actually one of the older members of my family.
I found this assignment to be a bit difficult in the beginning. All of my grandparents passed away when I was young, and there is a language barrier between my oldest family members and I. Although I do understand Spanish it is hard for me to communicate well with my relatives who solely speak that language. It would have been very difficult and frustrating if I were to have interviewed one of them. So, I decided to interview my father. At the time I had no idea that my father would actually be the source that I needed. Not only did he provide me with my family history but I was able to full understand why there is a language barrier between my older relatives and I.
I am first generation, my father and mother along with their families were born in Mexico. This is the story that my father told me. My father was born in 1949, he is the youngest in his immediate family. He lived in with his seven siblings and mother in a one room shack in a small town in Mexico. When he was just sixteen he decided to pursue the American Dream. He had a few relatives that seasonally lived in Chicago, so he decided to settle in the windy city. From then on he would travel between America and Mexico. He met my mother on a trip back to Mexico, they married and he convinced her to move to Chicago. They both were the first in their immediate families to travel to the United States. After talking to my father I realized why I have a slight language barrier with my older family members. As I said, my father and mother both relocated to the U.S. when they young, so they were able to learn English. I did not know that my uncles and aunts didn’t settle here until way after my parents did.
I prefer to identify myself as Mexican-American because I have deep roots with my
Mexican culture. Although I am not fully fluent in Spanish, my parents did raise me within a Mexican culture, community and with their values. I learned about my ethnicity at a young age and was aware of it. I spent every summer up till I was fifteen in Mexico and when I wasn’t in Mexico I was in my predominantly Mexican neighborhood in Chicago. I learned about the food, the dancing, the pride, the history. I learned that my ethnicity and culture was rich, vibrant and beautiful. I definitely can see how my identity has been shaped through my society. It has influenced the way in which I see life and the way in which I interact with others. Because my identity has been influenced by my ethnicity, I have had to deal with some discrimination. There will always be people who act out on their prejudices, I have overheard comments before but I choose to ignore them because I am secure with who I am and I am proud of the culture that has been given to me.
My family history has brought me to where I am today, my family history was predetermined for me, but my I chose to identify myself as Mexican.

Blog Posting #1

The Individual-Cultural Dialect aims to show the relationship between an individual and their pertaining culture or subculture. Most cultures share common patterns or beliefs but it is not the case that each member fits into the same mold as everyone else. This dialect proposes that as an individual you are unique and will not always fit into every aspect of a culture you belong to.

I attended the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign for four years; it in itself is a culture. The student life is shaped and greatly impacted by the culture that this campus has. UIUC has the largest Greek System and this defiantly adds a different experience to the college culture. I wanted to be able to experience the college life and culture to the fullest, which to me meant going Greek. My sophomore year I joined a Sorority that I thought fulfilled my needs not only socially but as a student as well. By joining a sorority I was linked to a new culture which consisted of beliefs, traditions, experiences and mannerisms. Now just because I was a part of this culture does not mean that I followed every single characteristic of it, nor that I believed in all of them.

By being a member of the Greek System I did find myself in a dilemma with the Individual-Cultural Dialectic. I felt as though not all of my own beliefs matched up with this culture. A less extreme, but still present, example was the way in which members would dress and carry themselves. I had a completely different taste in style as most of my sisters and they did not always understand that. It felt as though I didn’t fully belong to the culture because I didn’t have this characteristic or certain style that everyone else did share. Although it was not a serious issue, it was still one less thing that I could take part in. The way in which I dealt with this was by seeing it as an opportunity to not blend in with my whole culture and to have a sense of individuality. To me it was something that I thought made me a unique member or this culture, which is what the Individual-Cultural Dialect presents.