Cultural Identity Struggles
By Eman M.
Language is the most important means to express our social identity. Regardless to it's obvious importance in our daily life communication, and how it convey our ideas, beliefs, and our point of views to others. Our language and culture are the reflection of our identity and who we are or where do we belong. Sometimes we across some situations that threat our identity somehow without our awareness and how we act is bushed most of times by the need of being accepted by others, but we forget that the others who must accepts us as we are.
I still remember when I was just eight years old when I used to travel with my family to visit our relatives in Saudi Arabia, and I naturally talk with them using my Kuwaiti accent but children there found it funny so they start laughing, then I changed my accent and tried to talk the way they do just to feel the acceptance. When time came to go back home my friends in Kuwait didn't accept the change that occurred to my accent when I was away, I heard some giggling and laughing whenever I used some of the Saudi's words (such as "duffeiny" rather than "dizzeiny" which means push me).
Another example of how people struggle with expressing their social and cultural identity in a different culture. I have a friend who is living in the U S A. for a year now, and she is wearing "Abaya and Niqab", but she can't were them anymore because of people's reaction toward the traditional black Abaya and Niqab, she says that once a child started to cry aloud the moment he saw her and he was pointing at her with fear in his eyes. After that incident she started to wear colorful Abaya and unfortunately without the Niqab.
