Back to Your Roots: Getting in Touch with Your Cultural Identity
Lan Nguyen, managing editor at OLDF, from Toronto, is learning “to accept and appreciate the roots that had always been laid down” for him. For Nguyen, accepting and appreciating his Vietnamese roots allows him to embrace where he came from.
“I became closer to my friends from Saturday school, after all these were people I had shared experiences with since I was five, and we began to bond over hanging out every Saturday to learn Vietnamese against our will. I started looking forward to cultural events and holidays, whether it was at my church, or simply with my extended family,” says Nguyen of how acceptance and appreciation of his Vietnamese culture allowed for positive experiences with his culture.
“Most importantly, I stopped being ashamed of where I came from, and was not only just willing, but eager to talk to my ‘non-Vietnamese’ friends about my own experiences with my culture,” says Nguyen.
Ultimately, Nguyen says that reintegration of “culture back into your own identity” can help you to “learn to grapple with what you want to accept/celebrate what you want to leave behind.” This helps to shape personal and cultural identity.
Culture is a part of who we are. According to EBSCO, cultural identity is the concept of an individual that belongs to a certain cultural group. Culture is an important part of our ethnic identity. Youth are often on the journey of learning more about themselves. Exploring cultural identity can help young people feel more complete and at peace with their sense of self.
The Importance of Cultural Identity
Having a sense of culture is important because it helps to conserve experiences and events from the past. Cultural identity also helps individuals to feel like they belong to their culture.
Having a cultural identity allows individuals to feel secure. Those who identify with their ethnic culture are likely to have good health and excel academically.
Cultural identity is also important because it allows individuals to gain self-knowledge. Identifying with a culture also helps to gain self-respect and healthy pride.
Cultural Identity and Self-Identity
According to the Sustainability Directory, “Culture acts as a foundational blueprint, subtly guiding our understanding of self from the earliest moments of life.”
For example, our language, social norms and values are all aspects of culture that help shape our self-identity at early stages in life.
The words that we speak are established by culture which helps to shape our understanding of the real world.
There are certain notions and practices that guide good comportment during numerous communal instances which help to impact our exchanges with others and how we present ourselves.
Culture helps us to guide our moral conscience. Culture teaches us about moral principles. Moral principles are often developed through cultural identity.
Cultural Identity and Personal Growth
Cultural identity can help spark personal growth in young people because it helps with the exploration of morals, mindset and ambitions. Searching through these few topics can allow for personal growth because it allows for independence, freedom and distinctive personal identity that implements cultural elements and personal decisions.
Learning about cultural identity also helps individuals to gain more knowledge about the world which can help people to think critically and learn how to become more broad-minded
How To Explore and Connect to Your Cultural Roots
Mark Manganiello of Ottawa was able to get back in touch with his cultural roots by visiting Naples, Italy for the first time. This trip was very meaningful to Manganiello because he was able to walk the same streets as his parents, his grandparents and his ancestors.
His ability to eat the food in Italy and hear the Neapolitan dialect allowed him to gain a deep understanding of where he came from in both a historical and personal sense.
According to Manganiello, the trip to Italy “completely reshaped” how he saw himself. Manganiello says that previously, his “heritage felt like just a label.” “Standing in the place called home gave me a new sense of belonging and pride,” he says.
His visit to Naples, for the first time allowed him to “understand the values and traditions that have been passed down” to him. Ultimately, Manganiello is always learning more about his heritage through language, art, literature and music which he says has shaped his “identity of being Italian Canadian.”
Visiting the countries that you are from is just one way to explore your cultural identity. Here are some other tips for getting in touch with your roots.
- Listen to music or TV in the language of your ethnic origin
- Look at pictures of your ethnic origin
- Join community centers or organizations of your ethnic origin
- Cook food related to your culture
- Learn the language of your ethnicity
- Investigate cultural traditions
- Attend cultural festivals
Culture is a beautiful part of our existence. It is inevitably a part of who we are. Getting in touch with your cultural roots can help spark personal growth and allows for an overall better understanding of oneself.
About the author
Lisa Manganiello
