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Jaasai Cardenas
Professor Ditch
English 113B
18February 2015
Different Races
Cultural identity help us to identify our own cultural space because we all have our own
culture but we dont really pay attention to it. By looking at this our identity we may discover
things that we didnt really realize. In My Hips, My Caderas, by Alisa Valdez-Rodriguez.
Rodriguez showed us her different cultures, she us about her Cuban body which represent her
Latina side and then she mention of her intelligence which represents her American side (pg. 75).
Shes telling us that she has two different cultural spaces in which she divides herself into two
cultures instead of being one single culture. Also, theres another article we read called SelfIdentity and Culture, by Ronald L. Jackson II, Cerise L. Glenn, and Kesha Morant Williams.
The authors explain how we can identify ourselves in the different cultural spaces we live in. My
cultural spaces are Mexican and Salvadorian. In my experience of being Mexican and
Salvadorian makes my identity be enrich.
There have been times where I go visit my fathers family, in Mexico, Michoacn. When
I arrive with them, they immediately welcome me with a not normal greeting. There type of
greeting is not very nice, you could say they are intrusive when greeting family members or
people. For example, when you arrive to their house, they are not going to tell you good
morning, good afternoon, or good evening. Theyll just run into you and hug you and tell you
something like hola como estas primo! If youre not related theyll say hola que tal su dia!

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and give you a hard slap in your back. Thats how my father side greets and when Im around
them I try to act tuff. When I go with my mother side of the family, there greeting is much nice
than my fathers family. For example, when they see you they extend their arm and tell you
Buenos Dias como estas. They have a much kinder greeting than my fathers family. Seeing
this makes me notice that each culture has its own way of greeting makes me more open minded
of different cultures.
When Im with my mothers side of the family I act with more sweet. Well my mothers
sisters are catholic, her brothers are Christians and my family is also Christian. My fathers
sisters and brothers are also Catholic and they very delicate with their religion. We being
Christian are not allowed to say bad words and when Im with my fathers side theyre use to
saying bad words in every sentence. I just pretend to not hear them because its a habit they have
so I understand them. I grew up in a home were I didnt hear those bad words. So, this has help
me to respect other peoples belief, be nonjudgmental and comprehensive.
The Salvadorian and Mexican cultural spaces Ive been living in can connect to
Rodriguez experience. The reason I say I make connection is because since I have to different
race, I have to deal with two different cultures. Like she mention in her article when she said in
the beginning of here article saying that her father is a Cuban and her mother is an American (pg.
74). In addition, she mention that in the two different cultural spaces she acts different she
doesnt blend the both cultures. I like to blend with my Mexican family which is my fathers side
by acting like them by acting tuff but also being careful with my language because Im a
Christian and when I want to be consider Salvi I act like my Salvadorian family which is my
mothers side, where I feel more comfortable, where I can be more expressed of whom I really
am. There are times where I am talking with my Salvadorian family and my Salvadorian accent

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and slang comes out and the same thing happens with my fathers family. There are times were I
feel more free with my mothers family because I talk with them without pretending to be
someone that I am not. Also, I feel with more liberty to talk because with my fathers family in
every sentence they have to say a bad word.
While identifying my cultural spaces I was shock because I notice that my way of acting
in front of my family is with manners and respect. I made a connection with the documentary
Happy. It told us about things that made us happy and even though my family has different
habits, styles of living, beliefs, and expressions theyre the reason why I am happy. The same
day I watched this documentary about happy I saw that in my Instagram one of my friends
posted a picture that said Do not educate your children to be rich. Educate them to be happy. So
when they grow up, theyll know the value of things, not the price. When I saw this I was
surprise and said to myself thats crazy and ironic because I can relate to it because my fathers
side and mothers side of the family arent wealthy but theyre sure are happy with the necessary
things. In our cultures we make it traditional to teach our children to value happiness over
richness.
The CQ fluency mention something that its very true and I total agree with it. The CQ
fluency mention In todays connected world, the need to communicate effectively with people
from diverse cultures, races, faiths and nationalities has increased exponentially. Its telling us
that different cultural spaces can makes us better our community, our country and our entire
world if we wanted to. Is just be able to connect with other people, being able to adapt within
each cultural space that surrounds you. Not because they are forcing you to be someone you
dont want to be but doing it because you have a passion for it.
In Adapting to a Multicultural Future by Richard J. Crisp and

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Rose Meleady. They mention the following Proponents of the multiculturalism hypothesis
assert that societies valuing a constellation of distinct cultural, ethnic, and religious identities
inspire intergroup harmonyan assertion well founded on empirical research. They are telling
us that even though society have multicultural they value other peoples religious beliefs. That
inspires them to create different kind of groups. In other words this helps them to improve with
research and how it helps each and one of us to be multicultural.
For me, treating each culture space differently is good because you get to be the person
you want to be in each cultural space. You dont have to be pretending to be someone you dont
want to be. There are people that I hear them say I hate acting like this I when Im around with
my friends, or I dont like to be Mexican. I say I love to be able to adapt in each of my
cultural spaces because it builds up my knowledge and my way of thinking.
Work Cited
Valdez-Rodriguez, Alisa My Hips, My Caderas
Ronald, Cerise, and Kesha. Self-Identity and Culture
http://www.cqfluency.com/cultural-adaptation/

Richard J. Crisp, Rose Meleady. Adapting to a Multicultural Future Science 18 May

2012 (http://www.sciencemag.org/content/336/6083/853.full)