ABSTRACT
This unit explores the complexity of people’s cultural identity in terms of how they want to represent themselves. Consider this example:
Example A1.1.1 Being represented
Parisa had been coming to international conventions on food processing for several years. She had made several good friends; but there was a gnawing problem which always came back unresolved. She was the only person at the convention who came from her country; and no matter how friendly and sincere, she knew that her colleagues saw her in a particular way which just wasn’t her at all. It was from their passing comments, their casual, unguarded turns of phrase, in which they seemed to show surprise when she was creative, assertive or articulate, as though she ought to be somehow unable to be good at all the things she did. One of her colleagues did not actually say ‘well done!’ but certainly implied it in her tone of voice. She also felt isolated as the only person from her particular background at these conventions. There was nobody else to represent who she was. It also hurt her when someone said that because they thought of her as being ‘like them’ really, that she was ‘not a real’ representative of her ‘culture’. This seemed like a no-win situation. If her behaviour was ‘recognised’, she was not real; and if she was considered ‘real’, she wasn’t supposed to behave like that. She didn’t mind them thinking that she was like them, but certainly not at the expense of not being a person on her own terms.
