identity
The article by Kathleen Hall, "There is a Time to Act English and a Time to Act Indian: The Politics of Identity among British-Sikh Teenagers," (1995) exposed me to the inherent hardships associated with the complex process of identity formation among the youth of multicultural societies. The children Kathleen Hall wrote about were raised in a social world far removed from their parent's homeland. She explains how these children are pulled between two ways of life; they are pulled between two worlds that are separate and mutually exclusive (Hall, 1995, p.247). Being a fourth generation American, I have never experienced the difficulty of assimilating to a foreign culture; however, I would argue that we have all experienced the hardships of adapting to contemporary social norms. A key element to identity is that it is a socially constructed category that remains fluid and changing. Individuals are able to play with various elements in their social and cultural repertoires in order to construct their identities. In order to illustrate the changing processes of social identity formation, I interviewed four girls from my sorority who were required to learn how to identify with the sorority even though their previous identities and c
This resulted in her first few weeks being very rough. We have established a common ground, we are all sisters, and with this we have taken on a new common identity. Her neighborhood was primarily Caucasian, along with the boarding school she attended for the past 5 years of her life. In our sorority, for example, we are required to attend chapter meetings, respect our older "sisters"', behave in a respectable manner, wear our pledge pin, learn about our house, and be proud to be a potential sister. Lastly, Elese explains the perfect example of how her religious identity was almost challenged. She told me that, "most of the girls shared the same background; actually, not only did they share the same background, but they were also from the same part of the country which made a huge difference. ultures were distinctively different. However, initiation was the event that created the everlasting bond between us. However, she also realized that these differences were not inherently negative, as she explained the marks to her interested new friends. Ironically, Anne realized soon that, in actuality, the sorority she had chosen did not fulfill her desire of diversity. She was just naturally passive, and it would take her a while to acclimate to her new surroundings. As she looked around at the other seventy-four eyes of her pledge class she saw none like her own, and none covered with black skin. It was then that she realized the differences she had with the others -- religious differences. Anne, Rachel, Dina, and Elese were the most vivid examples, but I would argue we all did.
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Acceptance Essays
