Reflections on my cultural identity

quinterojuliana
Feb 9, 2015
2 min read

My mom always reassured me that I am a Colombiana—no matter what. At seven years old I felt pretty good about this. It came from my mom so why wouldn't it be true? This is the culture I am supposed to identify with. As I became older and started discussing this topic with other people, I began to notice a shift. For example, when I spoke with my family and friends in Colombia they would tell me I was American. I even had people tell me I was very Colombian here in the United States. So what was I? Am I a blend? What does that sound like? Would it be considered Colombian-American? And does the order matter?

I didn’t and don’t feel good about identifying as just one of the two. It feels like I’m split in two. I felt like my identity was compromised.

The past couple of years I started to talk to my parents about my questions and feelings over my identity. I wasn’t comfortable discussing it because I thought there was something missing or I wasn’t connecting the right ideas. I decided it was best to just open that door with them and it’s worked to my advantage. My parents have been a huge support. This past birthday they surprised me with a trip to Colombia to spend time with my family.

This trip I was determined to pick up the Colombian accent. Growing up, I was not around many Colombian speakers to pick up the distinctive accent, which has also affected my ability to pick up common “inside jokes” or idioms used in conversations. I am much better with English speakers although at times I may struggle through it. Throughout my three weeks in Manizalez, I was very aware and careful of how I pronounced my words. Since I had no one to speak English to I was able to challenge myself in getting my message across in different ways. I also learned new vocabulary! In speaking with strangers I would get asked where I was from because they couldn’t tell if I was a foreigner. The way I spoke intrigued them since they could hear enough of a Colombian accent, yet it still sounded a bit different. This was a compliment! I accomplished my linguistic goal.

Aside from increasing my competency in Spanish I had the opportunity to explore my family’s background. My uncles are the historians of the family. I tasked them to collect photos and write down all of the oral stories passed down about the women in our family. They are very excited to help out and see this project grow.

This journey is my own investigation of what it means to identify with a culture. I hope that as I continue to dive into this project and talk with other women about their experiences that we will be able create a common ground. I would like to build a community of appreciation for global perspectives and compassion. I want this blog to be an avenue of discussion and a safe space where we can support one another as we establish and evolve our identities as individuals.