I must say I connected with Peterson's article "What Part Moon" because I have always had issues with identifying myself. I am very fair skinned. That's no major secret. What makes me resent the color of my skin is the fact that I am Mexican American but no one believes me. I know that there has to be some type of European in my bloodline, but that is so far down the line that every time I bring it up no one in my family can answer me as to where it came from. As far as I know, I am Mexican. That is who I am, and that is all I know. It just frustrates me when people ask me "What are you?" and when I respond they reply with "No you're not." I guess it's up to you who or what I am. I like how Petersen explained that cultural identity comes from who you really see yourself as and who you feel most comfortable with.
As for Mabel and her entire story, that was really confusing. But i don't think Mabel herself was confusing. What confused me the most was how Greg went on to explain the entire middle ground thing. I think he slightly overkilled it. I believe that the take home message is this: Oral stories are an entirely different form of stories within themselves. Due to oral traditions there are so many different ways to interpret the story lines depending on the time and place that the story is told. Greg should have simplified his argument because he lost me in the middle. If anyone has any different interpretation to this article PLEASE feel free to set me straight.
In a way, I connected with Peterson’s article too. Like you I am Mexican, but since I have light skin and hazel eyes, I encounter the same question as you people asking me what I am. This issue was bigger when I was younger because I looked very white. When I first arrived in the U.S I didn’t speak a word of English and most of the Latina girls in school did not talk to me because they thought I didn’t speak Spanish. It was hard to make friends at first because of the color of my skin. I could not communicate with the white girls and the girls who spoke my language judged me.
ReplyDeleteI kind of connected to Peterson's article too. I lived in America so long that when I go back to my own country at once, almost everyone knows that I lived in America that long talks to me in English(expect my families). I sometimes wonder if I had been Americanize, but totally not. I still feel the connection with my own country.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if anyone can really give you a straight forward interpretation of that article. The point of the story seems to me to be that the essential way we (non-natives) understand stories, especially oral stories, is different from that of Natives. We have to re-learn pretty much everything we have been taught in school and try to expand our concept of what is real and what is not.
ReplyDeleteI know exactly how you feel! I am also very light skinned and Mexican. I am constantly being asked to prove how Mexican I am to other people, usually I get asked to say something in Spanish in order to prove if I am Mexican. As a Chicana/o studies major this can often be an issue as I feel like some of my peers may look at me in a negative way because I don't look "Mexican."
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that your culture is determined by what you feel most comfortable with. Culture does not have to be passed down from your parents, but rather you can assimilate into another culture. Culture is something you feel comfortable with and relate to, not something you should be forced to associate yourself with because of your parents. Therefore in my opinion you should be able to choose which culture you practice.
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