Samantha Ehle Week 1: On Being Biracial
Week 1: On Being Biracial - 8/26 [8:58 PM]
When telling people that my parents are from different countries and cultures, sometimes I get responses like, “Wow! It must be cool being from two different cultures.” To this, I typically think to myself, “I wish, but the reality is much different than what most people think.”
Looking at the situation as an outsider, it is easy to see why being from two different cultures seems super unique and culturally flavorful. One plus one equals two, right? One culture plus another means a more diverse lifestyle.
However, in my case, I’ve actually found it’s more like multiplying two halves together. One half times one half equals one fourth, which actually amounts to lesser nuance in my bonds with my cultures. Having such a small amount isn’t necessarily the case: I don’t really have one-fourth the cultural immersion as the general American has, but I have noticed that my connection to either side of my identity is weaker than that of some people who have a singular one.
For example, one side of my family is white—without getting into specifics, it’s mostly German. The thing is, I don’t know much about Germany or its culture. Most of what I know is just from the history classes we all have taken through this school system. The holidays and culture I celebrate from that half of my family are just the same ones that basically every American family does: Easter, Halloween, Christmas, New Year’s. There’s no unique thing I celebrate with my family that indicates I am descended from Europeans.
To push this point further, the other side of my family is from Taiwan. I don’t even really celebrate any of the holidays that they do—not even Lunar New Year, really, because the celebrations for my family are super subtle. I know of only a few holidays celebrated in Taiwan: Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and, as I mentioned, Lunar New Year.
Now, you might be thinking, Hey, Samantha, culture isn’t just holidays. What about food, music, or clothing? To that, I answer: good point, but what I am saying still stands.
I only have passing knowledge of traditional music and clothing, and for both it's only for my mom’s culture. I have interacted more with the foods specific to each culture, but once again it’s mostly just that of my maternal side’s culture, probably mostly because my mom cooks more. Just like many other Asian people, I have extensive experience in eating rice (and also other foods like dumplings, buns, fish, noodles, etc.). My only experience eating German food is just from when I visited Germany.
For all of this lack of knowledge of the culture that made up my parents and family when they were young, I still built my own life through whatever pieces I had. Even if I mourn the loss of what could have been, I still have built my own life with whatever pieces I have, becoming a full person with personalized little quirks.
I love how you use a math equation to describe being biracial, it helped me understand the point you are making better. Your example of how being a part of two cultures is not like one plus one, making you have a more diverse and rich life, but rather one half times one half is spot on and describes having two cultures perfectly. When you explained that you have not eaten much German food since your mom cooks most of your food, I was a bit surprised. It is interesting to see how simply one person cooking more in your household leads to you experiencing much more of one culture over the other. Although food is the best example of this, I wonder if this could be true for other bits of home life, such as home decoration. Similar to you, I too feel that I am not nearly as well connected to my culture as well as someone else in my family. I constantly catch myself comparing myself to others in my cousins who are well versed in Hindu culture, and feeling like I need to do more to catch up. But, you are right. I should not dwell on what I do not know, but focus on what I do and live to the fullest of my abilities.
ReplyDeleteHi, Samantha! I hope you are having a great day! I found it super interesting the analogy you used to reflect your biraciality and helped me understand the nuances behind people who are a mix of two cultures. Frankly, I envy some of my friends who are biracial since I thought it was cool to be a blend of two very diverse cultures. Through your blog, I better understood and empathized with the message of trying to "prove" you belong to a cultural community through various methods; when belonging can come from the way someone personally interprets their background. I resonate with this notion, even though I am not biracial. I am an Indian boy with an American name who has no clue what his ancestral homeland looks like. While this causes a lot of cultural confusion, I have slowly been able to immerse myself in the culture and create my own interpretation of what it means to be Indian American. To me it sounds like you have found the solution to your own equation – one half plus another half equals an identity that is mixed but completely unique to yourself. Your blog post is an important reminder to anyone who feels a disconnect to their roots, reminding us we are in control of what our culture means to us. Hopefully, one day, making your formula obsolete.
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