Finding Identity

Blog #1

Who am I? Up until recently, I've always thought of myself as an Asian American. But that was just an abstract concept that I hadn't really thought in depth. I wonder how Asian I truly am. On one side, if someone asks me if I'm Chinese I answer, "yes", but on the other hand I feel isolated and distant from others in China because I don't speak mandarin. Sometimes I do feel that culture and image of being Chinese influence my actions, though. I often think of myself as more American and that Asian is a part of me I never really developed. Who am I?

When I looked up identity, I found a research paper from Stanford University splitting identity into two categories. There was personal identity which was identity based on traits or aspects that define you and hold up your self-respect. This was what I had thought identity was and what I had sought to figure out. The other identity was a concept I hadn't been aware of until recently, social identity. Social identity defines what community of people you associate and that communities supposed characteristics.

I realized that I shouldn't have separated Asian American into two separate categories, but rather being Asian American is a category all on its own. I came to this conclusion after reading Amy Tan’s, “Search for My Tongue”. She describes how she speaks English with Chinese grammar to form her own language with her family. She found an identity that fit her as an Asian American and she realized that her identity was reflected by her language. My goal is to explore how language reflects identity.