Bicultural Identity: What It Is And How It Emerges In Today’s Society
In an increasingly globalized world, it is not strange to find people who identify with two different cultures. Normally these cultures are that of the current place of residence and that of the place of birth or origin of their parents, which gives rise to a mixture of different values, points of view, languages and even religions.
In herself, bicultural identity It wouldn’t have to be anything bad, quite the contrary. Whoever is part of two cultures is part of two different visions of the world that enrich the mind but, if carried out poorly, can be a source of discomfort. Let’s delve into this idea.
We can define cultural identity as all that identity that takes as reference two cultures, normally the culture of family origin and the culture of the place of residence, the latter may or may not coincide with the place of birth. It is about the personal condition in which the individual feels that he is part of two cultures to a greater or lesser extent, feeling how features of his culture of origin and also those of the host culture intermingle, which may or may not involve a conflict. intrapersonal.
Between two worlds: clash of cultures
This idea is somewhat complicated since what we call culture is, in itself, another concept that is difficult to describe. What is culture? It is an idea of broad interpretability, although it is agreed that it is what includes behaviors and characteristics associated with a type of society, an ethnicity, or even a specific age group or gender. Mostly the idea of culture is related to the concept of a people or ethnic group, including traditions, customs, worldviews, languages and also religion
Culture is “acquired” through interaction with different social institutions such as family, group of friends, school and other human and formal groups that influence our knowledge of a type of society. These influences have an impact on our personality, since social norms have an important effect on the idiosyncrasy of each individual, mediating such personal aspects as clothing and the type of relationships that can be established with people according to their gender.
If you have grown up within the same culture of family origin, the set of social norms and cultural aspects acquire a lot of stability. The person does not feel that their identity clashes with what society is like because they are part of it and it is rarely considered that this could stand out. On the other hand, if a person is part of two cultures at the same time, or his or her family is from one culture and he or she was born in another you feel how your values, social norms and beliefs can come into conflict, especially if the two cultures that are part of your identity are too antagonistic
Being an individual who feels that they are part of several cultural realities can be emotionally difficult and even suffer psychological discomfort depending on whether one of the two cultures has strong stereotypes towards the other or tends to reject it. The person feels that he cannot go through the world saying that he is two things at once, that he has to choose because he believes that he will never be fully accepted on either side. It is difficult to convince society that you can be part of two cultures 100% if you talk in terms of half of one culture and half of another.
It should be said that not everything has to be negative. In an increasingly globalized world and in which it is assumed that few people are culturally “pure,” bi- and multicultural identities are increasingly accepted and well valued. Far from seeing people with a different culture of origin and host as individuals halfway between two worlds, the idea that one can be a full citizen of two different societies is increasingly accepted.
Having two cultures as your own is often synonymous with speaking at least two languages, understanding the vision of two countries, learning to value the traditions of two societies with things in common and things that distinguish them. You can even be part of two cultures with very different religions and acquire beliefs from both faiths, having a deeper understanding of them and also allowing develop more reflective and critical thinking
Biculturalism and language
Throughout history, language has been considered the essential aspect of all culture. It has been so important that on many occasions, especially from nationalist and pan-nationalist positions, the territorial dominance of a language has been treated as synonymous with that culture and, also, with country and nation.
Although this point of view is not entirely appropriate to reality because several regional identities can exist in the same linguistic domain, in any case it is undeniable that every culture or ethnic group identifies more or less with a language and, within it, , with a characteristic accent or dialect.
Language is one of the most important aspects of any culture because it is the oral tool with which people interact with other people in the same society The language reinforces the ties between people who master that language, a cultural bond that strengthens the idea of ingroup. If this fact is already important among the people who live in the place where that language is “their own,” it is even more so among the people who make up their diaspora outside their homeland.
The diaspora of a language community is made up of all those people whose mother tongue is a specific language that does not coincide with the language of the place where they have ended up. A person who, for example, speaks Spanish while in London and who meets another who also speaks Spanish, is very likely to interact, to feel like part of the same community, especially if they come from the same Hispanic country. They will feel part of the same group and share their experiences as people who speak Spanish as their mother tongue but who live in an English-speaking environment.
Knowing two languages is a positive thing, as long as you have an equivalent and high level of proficiency in both. This ideal balance is very difficult to achieve since to preserve a language it is always necessary to speak it, even if it is the mother tongue. A person whose mother tongue is different from that of the host country, if he does not interact with the members of that new language community, will hardly learn it, while if that same person does everything possible to learn the new language but by avoiding using your native language, you are likely to end up losing fluency.
This difficult balance is what many people with bicultural identity face. You will always feel that you have more mastery in one language or another, and that the other is being left aside. If the one who is leaving aside the mother tongue feels like she is leaving behind the culture of her ancestors, while if the one she does not seem to fully master is the new one, she may become frustrated by feeling that she is not adapting and, although bilingualism is valued in the curriculum, a foreigner who does not master the language of the country in which he lives is seen as a maladjusted person, losing employment options.
