My Personal Identity Make Me Who I Am

Every year I look back on the previous and I see how much I have changed. I see the friends I have gained and lost. The heartbreak and the happiness. Despite how rough times have gotten, it has truly made me stronger. Everything has shaped who I am today, it has shaped my identity. Identity is a complex topic because it consists of changeable and unchangeable traits and outside internal influences; my own identity has been shaped by going from private to public school, young life camp, and my current friends.

My cultural identity is very important to me, as it makes me who I am. Both of my parents are Punjabi and they were both raised in Punjab, India. My mom migrated to America in 1998 and my dad did in 1997. I grew up around many Punjabi traditions such as Rakhiri, which is believed to tie the bonds between brother and sister, and Diwali which celebrates major historical events. I also grew up in a joint family which included my mom, dad, little brother and my moms sister, her husband, and her two kids. Since we lived together from such a young age, I was completely oblivious to the fact that we were considerd a joint family. Growing up i would say that i had two moms, two dads, and three brothers which people considered absurd. I am also very

American society consists of many equal races, yet people believe that as a white American, I am more privileged than others. However, I have learned that race is not the only factor that determines my status or position in life. In addition, the concept of white privilege is not as prominent in younger generations. Despite the assumptions made by others about the privileges whites are given, there are circumstances where being white negatively impacts me.

I am a white woman. I am so pale, that my skin blows out the white balance in a photograph. Because I am white, I have been able to escape prejudices that so many other women experience every day. For a very long time, I was unaware of how deep-seated racism is in America. Because I am white, color was a non-issue for me. It was never discussed in my family. Why would it be? Many white people are blind to the injustices that others face, because it has never been something that affected their lives directly. As stated by C. Wright Mills in The Promise of Sociology, “...the personal uneasiness of individuals is focused upon explicit troubles and the indifference of publics is transformed into involvement with public issues” (Mills, 5). This describes how people are so focused on their own personal troubles, that they cannot comprehend the troubles of others. Therefore, they do not see the struggles of others as having the capacity to be a problem within society. Privilege is something I feel has only recently been discussed in mainstream media. Going to college really opened my eyes to the experiences of people who live entirely different lives than me, and interacting with people from all

There are many factors that shape us into who we are, and who we will become. Some of these factors we can control, while others we cannot. While we are born into many traits of our identities, much of our other behavior is learned. My identity, for example, is “based not only on responses to the question ‘Who am I?’ but also on responses to the question ‘Who am I in relation to others?’” (Allen, 2011, p. 11). My identity and the question of who I am, are both influenced by many aspects of my life, including my hometown, my family, my friends, and my beliefs and moral values.

The town that I lived in was majority black, but most of the wealth was found in the white community. As a person with white skin, I was automatically given a higher status socially and several other privileges, such as growing up in a culture that expected me to achieve academically and therefore have the ability to leave the town. For people of other skin colors, that was not an expectation, and there were many roadblocks to their success, such as poor education and a high crime rate where they lived. It wasn’t until college where I read about oppression, that I began to understand that not confronting the privileges I received from my skin color is part of the problem, a way of maintaining meritocracy. As a woman, I am also the oppressed. I have to ensure that I do not achieve or succeed too much or else I will threaten men, and run the risk of not finding a husband some day. Should I find a husband, I will likely be expected to prioritize family over my career, something not as expected from my husband. My mother stayed at home with us our entire lives, and I often feel the expectation that I will do the

A person’s identity is shaped by many different aspects. Family, culture, friends, personal interests and surrounding environments are all factors that tend to help shape a person’s identity. Some factors may have more of an influence than others and some may not have any influence at all. As a person grows up in a family, they are influenced by many aspects of their life. Family and culture may influence a person’s sense of responsibilities, ethics and morals, tastes in music, humor and sports, and many other aspects of life. Friends and surrounding environments may influence a person’s taste in clothing, music, speech, and social activities. Personal interests are what truly set individuals apart. An individual is not a puppet

I am truly proud of my background and how it has formed my identity. My background consists of me being Portuguese. I could not be any more thankful for how greatly my background has impacted my life into what it is now. It has helped me gain many friends that I am still very close to and gain interests that have started since I was a child. Simply experiencing my family’s numerous customs and traditions is why I love to express that I am Portuguese. It has given me the opportunity to visit Portugal every year during each summer where I fall in love with the country each time. Being Portuguese has taught me many lessons throughout life that I will continue to pass on for future generations of my family.

Privilege is an uncomfortable thing to talk about, plain and simple. No one seems to think about what privileges they do have without being prompted to do so. Everyone is focused on the privileges that they do not have because they do not want to claim to have more privilege than someone else. I do believe that we should focus on what we do have, rather than what we do not have, and make the world a better place by helping those who do not have the privileges that we do. In this paper, I will be discussing the first times that I realized that there was race, class, and gender.

A sense of self is a general conscious awareness of your own identity. I have come to understand the term as it is what defines me and makes me one of a kind. It could be a certain look, attitude or personality trait. It could also be the way I view a certain person, thing or subject. My sense of self could even be my purpose in life, perhaps? If it is, then I would say that my sense of self is something that has changed over time and will continue to develop as I get older and my life is influenced by events, places and people. Developing my sense of self is key to living a satisfying and healthy life.

My purpose is to show my individuality and to express myself. This is for others including myself, to see and to remind us that our identity is very complex.

Throughout history one of the primary ways that people express their identity is through music. Many components of my identity are important to me, however I have chosen three songs to represent my class background, my sexual orientation, and my nationality. These three facets of my identity are perhaps the most important in defining my sense of self.

Many events, people, and situations have shaped me into the individual I am. As I have grown up, I have developed my own personality and identity. Though I have had a great childhood, there have been times when I, along with my abilities, have been doubted. These situations taught me how to overcome obstacles, but they also helped me realize I am a competitive person who enjoys succeeding despite limitations. When my skills are doubted, I take it as a challenge to prove I can do whatever I set my mind to.

An immense set of factors that aids in the determination of the personality traits one will have has to do with the environment and people that surround that person. This is certainly the case for me, because without the encouragement of my family, and both the benefits and adversity created by my academic environment, I would not be who I am today. Without these factors, I would not be the capable student who is excited to educate himself as I currently am.

The lenses of privilege and oppression that I have been presented to have caused me to self-reflect and be more aware of what revolves around me. They’ve influenced me on learning a bit more about myself because I’ve always had trouble finding things that make me feel oppressed and usually didn’t find anything to fit in that area, until about two weeks ago. My ethnicity, my sex, my gender, my status, my identity didn’t feel oppressed, but I tried very hard looking for something and finally found something I can point my finger at and that would be my age and my religion. I’m a young adult, 20 years of age and lack work experience and when looking for a job I believe this has always come to bite my back. It took me a whole year to finally obtain my very first job after handfuls of submitted applications. It sucked honestly. As for my other intersecting identities, though society says I should be and feel oppressed, I believe they’re a privilege to me instead. My family’s status has opened doors to me for educational assistance. Thanks to that I receive my financial aid money, was granted the opportunity of joining the EOPS program at my previous college, and was granted rented books from the school for two semesters there. This didn’t oppress, but instead helped me move forward at a faster pace. Thanks to my ethnicity I’m bilingual who speaks and writes fluent spanish and english. My sex has oppressed me within my family. I was prevented from involving myself in sports like