Idenity- V.BAER

Fane Identity Project

Alex.

konopka: identity project

Mikho_Cultural Identity

LEUNG - Project 2 Rough

Francis - Identity 1

Kadet Ethnic Identitiy 1

I was only going to do one big one, but a little set is forming...

Losurdo-Project 2

Chels Henshaw: Critique One

Jorgenson, self-IDs

ethnic ancestry-
Norwegian, Swiss, German

religious affiliations-
Agnostic, raised Protestant

holidays-
Easter, Thanksgiving & Christmas are typically the times during the year that my family gathers for a delicious homemade dinner, however my family does not incorporate any religious aspects into the holidays

self-identity-
the ancestry of my family is very important to me, but I personally find the concept of heritage to be of high value because it indicates the racial framework of a person as well as how they fit within the world around them. I am proud of my heritage because of my fascination with Scandinavian history as well as the process of Westernization that includes the stories of my ancestors' immigration voyages to the States

harassment-
my ethnic identities have never caused me to be victimized by harassment, however my sexual identity tends to spark enemies as something to harass me for. although it is unfortunate, generally harassment of this nature tends to not bother me much because I don't really give a shit what people think

alternative cultures-
I would definitely say that I identify with my age-group culture. we remember living through the 90s, which explains things such as why we understand the gaudy clothes in our parents' closets but our younger siblings do not. also, I identify myself as an artist but I'm not sure that would help me for this next project

friends-
I have friends from a multitude of ethnic and self-identified backgrounds, but it would be boring not to

tension-
balance is a crucial element of my personal world view, so I have come to terms with all of my identifications

Critique 1--Buckleitner

Weiss_Ethnic_Identity_Draft_1

very rough first draft

(have had some issues uploading)

Konopka: Ethnic Identity project

My Ethnic Ancestory: (as far as I know)
-Irish
-Polish
-German
-Scandanavian
-Indian








 Religious Affiliations:
Roman Catholic/ Christian and Lutheran

Holidays/ days of remembrance in my family:
We tend to celebrate most holidays including all religious holidays. Birthdays and anniversaries are big in my family as well and we always spend these days together.

I identify myself with my religion (roman catholic) and celebrate and embrace most of the religious holidays. As far as my ethnic ancestory I tend to mostly identify with being Irish and Polish since those are the two that are most prominent in my family.


I have not been personally harassed for my identity with either of my cultural or religious aspects. However I have been harassed within my relationships. I have been in biracial relationships and we would always get harassed by other people that did not like to see us together. My daughter is actually biracial and I have noticed that I do get some ridicule from this from both strangers and people close to me. I feel for her the pain that she may go through in life with the hard struggle of how she may identify herself.

Do you identify with a given culture than is not addressed in the above questions? Describe.
I do not see myself identifying with any particular culture. I feel that I am able to take bits from every culture that I can relate to and enjoy and combine them all together to form my very own sense of personal culture.

Kadet - Identity Research

Ethnic/Racial/Cultural Identity

Overall, my family let me explore religion on my own. I consider myself Jewish, but my family and I are liberal Jews. We do not keep kosher or consider ourselves orthodox. Most Jews came from Russia and it is common to be a Russian Jew. My mom works at a Jewish preschool, so she is the most involved in the community. My mom is the most religious person in our family. My dad had a Bar Mitzvah when he was younger, and I believe my mom had a Bat Mitzvah too. My parents asked me if I wanted to have a Bar Mitzvah, and I kindly declined. My non-Jewish friends condemn me for my decision to “not receive money and gifts and have a huge party.” I actually work for a Bar and Bat Mitzvah company, so ironically I’ve been to probably close to 100 Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, but haven’t had my own. Most of the people in my lineage were raised as traditional Jewish.

We recently found out that we are part Italian as well. My mom’s mom was adopted and did not know her birth parents at all. She applied to see her real birth certificate about a year ago, and Illinois recently released the rights to attain them. My Nana, as I like to call her, found out on her birth certificate that she is a twin! Imagine being in your 70’s and finding out that you were born a twin. After some further research, my Nana found out that she is also 100% Italian. That means that my mom is 50% Italian, and me and my sister are 25% Italian as well. That probably explains our dark features. Some people thought that my mom and sister were actually Mexican. In our family we call the darker complexion Kadets, “the blackies” and the lighter ones “the whities”. My dad and sister make up “the blackies” and my mom and I make up “the whities”.

Although still being liberal, we do celebrate in all of the major Jewish holidays. We celebrate Rosh Hashanah, which is considered the Jewish New Year. It lasts only a couple of days and always happens between Columbus and Labor Day. Rosh Hashanah is a time to make resolutions for the upcoming year. Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement, is when most Jews go to synagogue and fast in order to reconcile their mistakes. Yom Kippur usually occurs on the ninth day of Rosh Hashanah. Instead of fasting, my family usually goes to dinner instead. My mom and I have agreed that we become shaky when we don’t eat for a while. In my Judaism class ironically, I didn’t eat breakfast and my stomach was growling so loud that a random classmate of mine offered me her animal crackers. Like most stereotypical Jewish families, we love food. Additionally, it is a time to repent for your sins and ask God to write you in the book of life for the upcoming year. On the eve of Rosh Hashanah, what some Jews do is partake in tashlikh, which means “casting off” in Hebrew. Tashlikh is where you throw stones or something into the river to get rid of your sins from the previous year and think about everyone you may have wronged. My family and I went to the river in Skokie, a primarily Jewish area, and threw little crackers in. Along with the crowds of many other Jews, I took it very seriously, contrary to being a liberal Jew. It was a good time to reflect on the past year and be with my family. Hanukkah or Chanukkah is my personal favorite Jewish holiday. Many of my non-Jewish friends are jealous that I “get gifts for eight nights instead of just one”. Hanukkah is the festival of lights that celebrates defeating the Greeks. As the story is told, the Jews needed to light the temple’s menorah, but they only had enough oil to keep it lit for one day. Miraculously, the oil kept the candle lit for eight days and that is why we light menorahs for Hanukkah. Hanukkah happens between Thanksgiving and Christmas. There are other Jewish holidays, but we only really celebrate Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Hanukkah.

I do not think anyone in my family has been harassed for their ethnic identities, but I know that my parents told me to be careful because there are still people out there who have hateful ideals. The Holocaust still impacts a lot of Jews today. It was an awful and horribly tragic event where millions of Jews and other minorities were slaughtered. It is estimated that about 2/3 of Jews were wiped out from the Holocaust. I just think, what if one of them could have cured cancer? It was an attempt to wipe out a generation, but it was obviously unsuccessful.

The only other “culture” I would possibly identify with is with the gay community. I am very proud of my orientation and cherish all of my experiences around the fact that I am gay. The biggest thing regarding that is I have not changed the way I acted. When I told my dad I was gay he responded “I know”. This is when I can appreciate being a more liberal household cause the majority of people who come out do not have such great luck. I never want it to be the first thing people identify me with, but it is a big part of my identity. Many of my friends are gay too. I have friends from all different cultures and backgrounds. I find it so fascinating that everyone has different upbringings and that fact affects how they act, how they behave, and how they think. I think as a whole, we can learn a lot by associating with others. Personally, I feel like the world would be too boring if we were all the same.

A situation of tension may be Sipora’s story of being a Holocaust survivor. My mom’s best friend’s mother is a Holocaust survivor. She spoke at the Holocaust Museum is Skokie (where I’m from) and her story is truly incredible. She suffered through so much. Hitler and the Nazis treated Jews like they were rats. It was absolutely disgusting. Hitler would kill Jews in numerous ways such as: mass shootings, overworking, overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, starvation and gassing. Some of the ways he lured the Jews to their deaths were by allowing them to “shower” in the concentration camps and then poison gas would come out instead of water. Other times, he would force them into ovens where their bodies would burn until disintegrated. He would not feed them for days and forced them to sleep on hard wood frames with multiple people inside them. Many Jews died due to diseases gained from the unbearable conditions. Some pictures revealed that the Jews literally looked like skeletons because of the lack of nutrition and care. The Holocaust was counterproductive because one of those millions of people could have cured cancer or done something else to largely advance society.

Elizabeth

Ancestry

Mom: African American

Dad: African American

Religious Affiliation

Christian

Holidays

Birthday

Thanksgiving

Christmas

Harassment:

I have experienced some racism but not a lot of harassment

Do you identify with a given culture than is not addressed in the above questions?

I have spent a lot of time in the white community. I also have a lot of African friends.


Do you have friends that cross ethnic, race, religious, gender, or cultural barriers?

Yes I have all types of friends from around the world. My roommate is from Spain and my boyfriend is Nigerian and I have some black friends and Mexican friends.

Tension

Growing up in the suburbs with not many other black people around and when I hangout out with other black people they think i'm different then them.

VBAER- IDENTITY

Ancestry:

Mother – Danish/Irish/German

Father – German


Religious Affiliations:

I have no religious affiliation. I created my own belief system combined: Buddism, Christianity, Judaism. i call it Vinduism.


Holidays:

Birthdays

Thanksgiving

Christmas

Harassment:

I have never experienced harassment toward my ethnicity or cultural background. I have experience harassment in my high school for being gay in a small rural community. 

Do you identify with a given culture than is not addressed in the above questions?

Gay community


Do you have friends that cross ethnic, race, religious, gender, or cultural barriers?

I have friends from all different types of backgrounds

Tension:

Most of my tensions where growing up in a small town where i didnt identify as Christian and a homosexual.

Mikho_Identity summary

Poster

Assyrian

Christian

Minority

No one knows about Assyrians, we are mistaken for Syrians because they are spelled similarly. People need to know about Assyrians because we are huge contributors to the development of civilization. And now because of our religious dedication, we have been subject to numbers of genocides, holocausts, and massacres in our concurred lands. I want to talk about the need to develop a current awareness of modern Assyrians, because we are kept shut by our ignorance and fear of losing what we have left of our culture. 

Alexandra Research

Ancestry:

Mother – Guatemalan

Father – Mexican American


Religious Affiliations:

I have no religious affiliation


Holidays:

Birthdays

Thanksgiving

Christmas

Fourth of July

Although my family celebrates mostly American Holidays, we do combine Latino influences toward our celebrations. At every major holiday, such at Christmas or New Year's Eve we serve Mexican dishes and other traditions.

Harassment:

I have never experienced harassment toward my ethnicity or cultural background.

Do you identify with a given culture than is not addressed in the above questions?

No


Do you have friends that cross ethnic, race, religious, gender, or cultural barriers?

I have friends from all different types of backgrounds, and we celebrate and are interested in each other’s diversity.

Tension:

The tension I have faced in mainly from those who also belong to the Latino community. I have many friends who were born in different Latino countries and fully embrace their cultural. Although I speak fluent Spanish, I am not proficient. Therefore, I am often criticized by friends and even strangers. Among the Latino community there is a high level of cultural pride. Although, I fully embrace my culture I often face the tension of being "too American" for some and "too Latino" for others.

Francis - Project 2 Research

Ancestry:

Mother – German, French

Father – Scottish, French-Belgium, English


Religious Affiliations:

I am agnostic, but my family is affiliated with Jewish, Episcopalian, and Catholic.


Holidays:

Birthdays

Thanksgiving

Hanukah

Christmas

Passover

Easter

Fourth of July

I identify holidays as a time where I can be around family, enjoy each other’s company, and reunite with one another.

Harassment:

My great grandparents on my mom’s side died in a concentration camp in the Holocaust due to being Jewish, but my grandpa and great uncle escaped and came to America.

Do you identify with a given culture than is not addressed in the above questions?

No


Do you have friends that cross ethnic, race, religious, gender, or cultural barriers?

I have friends from all different types of backgrounds, and we celebrate and are interested in each other’s diversity.

Tension:

I have not experienced tension in regards to any of the above.