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AnaTerrones
ProfessorBeadle
English113B
May11,2016
MyIdentitythroughMyCultures
I camefromaPeruvianculturesituatedinSouthAmerica.InmyhomespacewhereIlive
out my Peruvian culture, I developmymorals
whichithelpsmeliveouttheeducationculturein
school spaces. My Peruvian culture,
is very conservative,
due to traditions and morals. Some
morals that I learn through my Peruvian culture are such as telling the truth,havecourage,treat
others as you want to be treated, etc. Morals which help me tell what is right or wrong.
Morals
followed also by responsibility, obligations,
and respect.
These moral and traditions that
I
developed through my family
is what define me,
ItisabigpartofwhoIam.Another
lessonthat
I learn from my Peruvian traditions, is the culture of education.
For my Peruvian culture the
education culture is important because as Smith M.K who specializes in the fields of informal
education and community learning said in his article
What is education? A definition and
discussion
:
Education is deliberate. We act with a purpose to develop understanding and
judgement, and enable action,(Smith).
Thisshowstheachievementofeducationis thebasisfor
improving the lives of people and sustainable development. Though education a person
assimilates and learn skills. In my Peruvian culture, we are teach that if we educate ourself we
willbetterforourownandalsowewillmakeabettersociety.
I was raised inaPeruvianCulture,
itiswithwhatIidentify
,
itiswhatIpracticeeveryday
by my thoughts, actions, and behaviors, in other words my
morals
. In other words I can call


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home. Home is aplacewhereIfeelsafe,whereIamnotafraidofshowingmybeliefs,andideas.
According to SandraTsingLohinComingHometoVanNuys
wrote
,Youwanttocloseyour
eyes and say, theres no place like home. (
Loh 120
).
It explains us how people feel more
comfortable to be in a place where they know, a place where they can callithome,andnothing
can be compared with it. That's how I feel my culture is. It is a place where I can be myself,
show my identity. However we do not always share the same ideas. I have my own beliefs and
ideas. It is not alwaysthesameasthe onesmyculturehastaught
me.Ithinkitiswhatmakesme
unique and different from others. In Culture and Communication by Anastacia Kurylo says,
Every person is a unique individual, even those from the same culture (Kurylo
4
).
It show us
that people can share beliefs, however each significant have their own opinion, and way to
develop it. People
that came from other countries, still have their beliefs and practice their
culture, but also they have
something different that makes them unique. For example in my
Peruvian culture in the part of the religion, they do not believe in the reincarnation, which is in
what I do believe. That aspect is what makes me different and unique. From this ideas and
believesIconstructmyidentity.
Part ofwhatmycultureconcernandiswellimportant,theunionofthefamilyandmorals
that you learn from it,
because it is what you can take with you into your future. Most of the
families from the Peruvian culture are really concern
about their inside and outside aspect. For
example their behavior around society and at home
. Myfamilygives
meapathtodefine
myself
by morals that
they teaches me and developed through theyears
.Forexamplein Perugirlshave
a celebration that most of the Latin countries have, and it is call the quinceaera. It is a
tradition that at the age of fifteen your family celebrate because youarepassingfrom
childhood


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to a
womanhood
. When this celebration happens is a way to say that you start gaining some
privilege, and that you
have already learned most of the morals that they had to teach you, and
also makesurethatyouapplytheminyourlife.Myfamily
hastaughtmeall
thesetraditions,and
most important, my morals.
I learnthisaspectsdaybyday.Throughmyfamilyandalsothrough
school. In Peru, at the schools we have a class call General Education, where they teach you
your rights, duties, morals, and traditions. Some of the
morals that I had learned
are
responsibility, respect, honesty, etc.
I apply this morals to my everyday life. For example I
practice this in society, school and work. This morals formspartofwhoIam.Theyaretheones
thatwillguidemethroughmy
nowandfuture
life.
I amapersonwho
isinvolvedinallkindsofcultures,andIliketopracticesomeofthem,
especially
for some of the
their holidays that they have.
Every time that I travel to different
countries, their cultures have always attracted. By their language,foodand style.Fouryearsago
when I came to this country. High school for me was a place where I learned and understood
many cultures. In high school I made friends from El Salvador, China, Honduras and Middle
East. It was like the whole world in just one place. In
Rhetoric for Radicals
, DelGandio
wrote
,
Different people of different backgroundandideologiescommonlywork togetherforcollective
gain. (Del Gandio
54
).
This explains how people from different cultures, or if they have
different ideologies, together can make big things, such as a better society. They do not
necessarily have to be from the same culture to understand each other. For example my best
friend is from Honduras, the culture from where I learned most. When I visit her home, her
family is very traditional,
such as holidays, food and language. In my culture my language is
different than hers, both of our languages arespanish,butthemeaningsandwayofspeakingthe


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language is different.
At the beginning sometimes her family could not understand the way I
talked, and it was confusing.
However later on, with practice we could learn from each other
culture. As in Culture and Communication by Anastacia Kurylo says, It is important to
understandthedifferencesandsimilaritiesbetweencultures.(Kurylo
6
).
Itis importantbecause,
it stimulates our mind, and forces us to think in new ways. Then you can realize that there is
morethanonetodosomething.
My identity operate differently in different spaces. It constantly change depending in
what spaceIam. Forexample,inschool,duringweekdayIdonotliveatmyhomespacewhereI
should be practicing my Peruvian culture instead I live in the school housing where I practice
my educationculture.WhenIaminschooloneofthestrongestchangethatIhavetodofrom my
Peruvian culturetomyeducacionculture,isthelanguage.
InmyPeruvianculture thelanguageis
Spanish and the language that I use in my educacion culture is English. I had learned
and
improved during this
past years,
such as the language, math, science, history, etc. Now Iamin
the university, which is something important in my family
by following my Peruvian culture.
Since it is a tradition to go to the university for my family,
I want togivethebest
ofme
,inthat
way my siblings can have an example. In a way to success in school my family make sure to
teach me my Peruvian culturebaseinthemorals.AllthemoralsthatIhadlearnedsofar,iswhat
keeps me strong to keep going with my studies. Responsibility and honesty
are some of the
morals that I apply for my education culture in my school space. Educations is the other partof
me that identifies me in who I am, and what I want for my future. Education is a culture that I
have to take it seriously, because it is a path to have a good future, and it also will define
my
identity.


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Therefore my two cultures
are the Peruvian culturethatIpracticeatmyhomespace,and
and my education culture located at my school space. This two cultures define who I really am
by my morals and by my education. That affect my present, but even more my future. My
Peruvian culture had teach me all that am now, tradicions that I practice, my primary language,
and morals.
Howevereducation culture
isteachingmetobewhatcanI beinthefuture,andwhat
can I get from it.
. Culture is what defined a person, and gives them a way to live. It gives
traditions, language, style, etc. The world is full of cultures, some of them similars and other
differences. It gives you selfidentity. Andrew Dobson
who is a Psychologist in his article
Who
Am I
wrote
,
I personally choosetobelieve,thatanswerstothequestionWhoamI?thatcome
from religious or philosophies developed in the bronze age. (Dopson).
It explains us that what
defined us is our ideologies, religions, it is what is in your inside. For expla I believe that my
identitycameswithmycultures.


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WorkCited
Dobson, Andrew. (2013). Who Am I? SelfIdentity How to Build Personal Character.
Mindfit
Hypnosis.
DelGandio.(2008).RhetoricforRadicals.NewSocietyPublishers.Canadacopyright.
Faigley, Lester.
Coming Home to Van Nuys.
Writing: A Guide for College andBeyond
.3rded.
Boston:Pearson,2012.Print.
Smith, M. K. (2015). What is education? A definition and discussion.
The encyclopaedia of
informaleducation.
Kurylo, Anastacia. Cultural and Communication.
Inter/Cultural Communication
. Los Angeles:
SagePublications,2013.Print.