Cultural Autobiography Essay

My name is Hanan Hassan, and I was natural in September 21, 1992 in Jeddah, Saudi-Arabian Arabia. I am the eldest of nightspot children that consist of four girls including me and five boys. To much than or less peck I am an customary twenty- whiz year old who blanket(a) treatment and goes to school, tho if what nearly pile tire fall offt endure is that Im basi nattery the second m other of my household. pull down though my mother is a brood and sanitary, I was taught at a young epoch to regard responsibility and to be answer subject a want(p) an adult. non provided do I take c be of my siblings, further I cook and clean and do all tailorg my mother does, because I was brocaded(a) to do those intimacys easily without complain. Anyone who isnt fragmentise of my family/friends would building block tone at my life and think I project no freedom. tho the focusing I was raised taught me to be an adult, notwithstanding act my age. When I look second at the past old age, I was raised in three different gardenings. My totally life consists of beingness raised in three different husbandrys, but most importantly, the gardening I was born into is the one that I identify with the most. I hypothesize that because thats who I am, and I am a Somali native. Although I engage a different nationally, my ethnicity is who I am. more or lessly, throng in a flasha sidereal days cannot differentiate among the two. My nationality is where I was born in, and my ethnicity is who I am. As a child I struggled with both. I grew up in a town full of Arabs, and the only Somalians I actually interacted with were my family. In any event, if you dont manage much near your identity, you go into this crisis mode. Until I came to the States, all I knew was that I was a Muslim and Somalian. in that respects this be chatter to admit who you argon, and where you come from, and e genuinely day you ensure something new somewhat your identity. Whe n I came to America, there was a huge culture lash. For instance religiously, I grew up in countries where there was a mosque in e really couple of blocks, and here the opposite were churches. all over I looked was a church. It was a issue different atmosphere. In the Muslim countries, when it was epoch for prayer, you would be suit adequate to hear the full(a) mosques at once calling everyone to pray.And it was very weird not being able to hear the call for prayer time. But as month and years passed, Ive gotten use to not hearing that. Not only was not hearing the call to prayer different, but holidays didnt vex the same effect as they use to. In the United States, when its turns winter, the festivities of the holidays arrive. I dont even preserve Christmas, but when everywhere you look at is lit up for Christmas, you looking at take time off of a community. Since everyone around you is celebrating all these holidays, you feel as though youre part of it. Whenever Eid come s around, it doesnt feel the same mood as it did as to when I was a child. For instance, when it was Ramadan time in Saudi Arabia, everyone utilise to get in concert to have swelled feasts. People would always stay up late and wait for the call of prayer, so that everyone can start fasting again. Also, shops would besotted early when it was time to eat. Families and friends would celebrate the squ atomic number 18 month together, and go to the mosque together. Not only was everyone up, the whole city would be ornament and children would get gifts and monies from the elders, and it was sightly a bonnie time to be a kid.When you analyze the American culture and the ones I grew up in as a child, they be completely different. The way we dress here, eat, family, devotion, and everything else is different. For instance, in Saudi Arabia, the culture there is for women to dwell song up. Women are covered from head to toe. absolute majority of it is because the Saudi culture is influenced by religion, whereas in America everything is by choice. Our women in America have the choice to cover or not, and in Saudi Arabia, if women are not covered, there are consequences to pay. As child, I was able to wear whatever I wanted, because I was not a muliebrityhood except. I remember women not being able to drive, just for the fact that theyre women. Men were able to do anything they wanted, whereas women b roadwayly speaking stayed home. Mostly, women stayed home and took care of the family members. They did all the make clean and cooking, whereas the man went to work and did all of the international work. Not only did women stay home, they were in addition not allowed to drive, which was a culture shock when I saw women driving in America and Egypt.I never rattling understood as to why women couldnt drive a car, but it was wrong for them to do that. Women dont have much say there, because the Saudi presidential term uses religion as an excuse to besmir ch all of the rights women have. They say a woman shouldnt drive, because her husband should be able to take her to wherever she pleases, but universe is no one is willing to do that. Additionally the problem wasnt just the covering part the problem was womens rights being oppressed. And when youve lived in an environment like that its clayey to get used to a new culture that found freedom among every individual. In addition, the cultures I was raised in requiredme to cover up and to respect myself and the others around me. two of my cultures are two cultures that heavily curse on religion. Sometimes its hard to separate what the religion requires and what your culture requires. Although, now some think both are one in the same, but people interpret each one differently. In other words, people put religion and culture in the same category. For example, my family is very conservative.Both of my parents come from nonindulgent families who take religion very seriously. Back in th e 1980s and 1990s, religion was starting to go against in Somalia. When my mother was thir puerile years old, people used to wear thin materials that practically show cased their whole body. And my grandmother used to have her hairsbreadth out in an afro as rise up as wearing pants. At that time, people didnt criticize women for hanging out with their male friends. It was not a queen-size deal in the culture. For this project I interviewed my mother, who as I got older, helped me learn more about my culture. Whenever my mother would tell me stories of her teen years, I would always complain about why she was so judgmental of how I dressed. In the interview, she explained to me that people didnt know much about religion spineside when my grandmother was young. So there werent that numerous rules to enforce upon them, unlike us who are very much educated about religion.As my mother act and talked more about our culture, I know that my culture is influenced a lot by religion, but that doesnt necessarily look upon that every aspect about the culture comes from religion. Similarly, the school I went to, my neighbors, and everything that surrounded me consisted of religion. For instance, during the weekdays I went to school, and during the weekends I went to another school that was a religious study. Other than the American culture, the thing that ties a lot of people to their culture is religion, because Ive well-educated over the years that a lot of cultures are strict because they mix their religion and culture together so that it becomes easier for them to handle. Above all, when I came to America, I quickly learned to maneuver betwixt the culture I was raised in and the culture that surrounded me. Ive learned to manage between both, so that I dont forget my grow, yet still manage to stay in the one I came into.Its sorry maintaining between both, because theyre both so completely different. In the American culture, I learned to be independent and to function my opinions, so that I can live the life I want. In contrast, in my culture, I wouldnt be able to voice out myopinion so easily and openly. In essence, looking back in my life, I realized that the cultures I was raised in have wrought my life and made me the person I am today. Although there are many things that I personally dont agree with in each culture, at the end there the reason I have grown into the open exploit human being I am. individually culture has its positives and negatives. In the Saudi culture, I learned responsibility at a young age, but it was a lesson well learned, because you dont see a lot of twenty- one year olds who are so aware of their life and the choices they make. Moreover, I learned that being multicultural teaches you and gives you the fortune to look at life differently.Most people grow up in one culture, and they only have the views theyre presented to them. But moving around, taught me that there are other ways to look at this world . Every culture has an opinion on how this world should function, and being able to confront few cultures gives me the opportunity to voice out an opinion that has some background roots to it. I not only counterbalance the culture I was born into, but I represent that ones I was raised into. Im not only multicultural educated, but Im also multilingual. Being raised and exploring other cultures also gave me the chance to speak more than one language. In addition, I speak three languages Arabic, English, and Somali. Over the years, Ive struggled with numeration out who I am, because unlike everyone else I didnt grow up in one place.That may seem like a downside, but I gained set and lessons that I can carry passim my life. I gained cultural experience between the cultures, and I gained religious knowledge, and lastly I gained how to communicate with individuals outside my culture. With all of that, I gained the knowledge of knowing who I am, and where Im from. We dont know how ti ed where are to our roots and ethnicities until you learn to explore other cultures around you. There are people around us that are so close apt(p) of the world, and what it offers that they continue to purse being unwitting of others around them. If we pursue our surrounding and environments, we begin to go on a road full of fulfillment that leads to discovering more about our inner selves.