Identity: How do we define it?
Identity is difficult to define, and even more so for people who have several cultures. We are not always aware of having an identity, and often we realize our identity when we encounter otherness. We can be more or less comfortable with our identity. It changes over time, and it also changes depending on the situation and the language spoken.
Let's see how these people define identity.
It's the terms, the words you choose to define yourself, and they can be related to lots of things, and they can be adapted to the person in front of you.
It cannot be torn from its roots, that’s for sure. We cannot neglect where we come from, where we start. And it is a construction that happens gradually, especially when one does not live in their country of origin, and when one is, despite oneself, cut off from a point of our culture. Because often people are torn from their origins. There are always problems of loyalty between the country of origin and the "host country".
Where do we categorize ourselves, and also in relation to others? Because the category in which you classify yourself is not necessarily the category in which others place you.
It’s complicated because actually, I don’t feel like I have an identity. We are in France, so I have French nationality, but I am not really French. And if I go back to my country, I’m not really from my country either. So we’re neither one nor the other. It’s a mix. I think that identity is partly the memories, the language, the linguistic origin, certain traditions that have remained, but it’s true that we also absorbed certain concepts of the country where we are, where we grew up, so that’s why I think we’re not really Asian, and neither really from the host country.
I believe that identity is never all alone. In fact, we can’t talk about our identity if there is no one around us.
It’s also a way to differentiate, to stand out and not disappear. Why is there this desire not to disappear? Because for my part, precisely, there is this desire to continue transmitting.
