Running head: CULTURAL BIOGRAPHY

Personal Cultural Biography

Whitney Reyes
Georgia State University

CULTURAL BIOGRAPHY

2
Abstract

To develop culturally competent skills, one conducted a self-analysis of ones social

context and identity. While analyzing ones positionality, dilemmas of Americanization,
family culture, cultural awareness, and intersectionality the student will explore how their
social context influenced their decision to become a social worker. The self-analysis will
also show how one will be able to work with future client groups based on ones personal
values and beliefs.

CULTURAL BIOGRAPHY

3
Introduction

Having cultural competence means having the awareness of ones culture. The
ability to understand ones personal values, beliefs, behavior and cultural heritage will
make the understanding of other cultures more comprehensible (Lum, 2003, p. 136). A
student conducting a cultural biography will help one learn and get closer to achieving
the ability to become culturally competent.
The student was born in 1995, in the city of Gainesville, Georgia. Both her
parents are of Mexican descent. Her dad was born in Durango, Mexico and immigrated to
the United States in his early teens. Her moms parents immigrated to the United States
and received citizenship through the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. This
act authorized a set of temporary, one-time-only immigration benefit programs to
legalize certain undocumented immigrants already living in the U.S. (Baker, 1997, p.
5). In result, the students mom was born in Los Angles, California. Her parents got
married at the ages of seventeen and nineteen, and got divorced shortly after her twin
siblings were born. Nonetheless, both her parents are still very involved in her life.
Having a father, who is very traditional when it comes to his Mexican culture, and having
a mother, who is somewhat Americanized, has an effect in ones cultural biography.
Positionality/Multiple Identities
Gainesville is a city that is made up of mostly people who are European
American. The Latino community is second, and the African American community is
third when it comes to the population by ethnicity. The Census Bureau identified
Hispanics as being the most populous minority group (U.S. Census Bureau, 2014). The
city divides into three areas where one can find the higher, middle, or lower class
citizens. The higher-class citizens live in the main city part of Gainesville, which is
mostly made up of European American families. The only part in Gainesville where one
can find diversity is in neighborhoods around Atlanta Highway. Atlanta Highway is
sometimes referred to as Little Mexico because of how it is filled with low-income
families and the fact that the Mexican culture is seen everywhere. For example, one can
fine Mexican grocery stores, restaurants, and clothing stores in Atlanta Highway. The
student grew up in the rural part of Gainesville, which is mostly made up of European
American, middle or lower class families.
Being a single mother and a first generation Mexican-American, the students
mother did not want her children to loose their Mexican culture. Her mother made sure
her family kept their culture alive by visiting family members in Mexico and by
celebrating Mexican holidays. The student attended an elementary school where every
year she would always be the only Latino in her class. The friends she surrounded herself
with were all European American in elementary school. Her friends became a problem in
middle school for her. Elementary schools from different parts of Gainesville merged
with one middle school, so middle school surrounded her with a little more diversity. The
Latino students would make fun of the student for hanging out with people that were not
her kind and the other European American students would say she was trying to act and
be like somebody she was not. This was the first time the student experienced a sort of

CULTURAL BIOGRAPHY

racist and closed-minded reaction towards her. Throughout her teen years, however, she
had made friends with people who came from different cultures.
In 2007, her mother got remarried with someone who only knew how to speak
Spanish. The student grew up only having to speak Spanish when she visited her father,
but the new marriage forced her to speak Spanish more and helped her become fluent in
Spanish. The ability to know more Spanish made her relationship with her father
stronger. This also made the student realize the constant discrimination her father receives
for not being able to speak English well, and the automatic assumptions that he is
undocumented. English is the language of power in the United States (Nieto, 2011, p.
154). In fact, there were even times when people would assume she was here in the
United States undocumented. Those who are racially profiled as being undocumented are
usually accused of being the reason for high crimes and high unemployment rates
(Rabrenovic, 2007, 351). After high school, the student enrolled in Georgia State
University and was glad to see how diverse the school is. Her love for her culture has
become stronger and meeting new people from different backgrounds makes her
appreciate how diversity.
Dilemmas of Americanization
The student comes from a Mexican background, and being a second-generation,
American-born citizen, she finds that the combinations of both her Mexican and
American culture are at times difficult. The Mexican culture is very old fashioned when it
comes to women. Women stay home to clean and cook, and women only leave the house
when married in the traditional Mexican culture. In the American tradition, when one
turns eighteen they are considered an adult and are encouraged to leave their childhood
home to start their life. The student decided to leave her home at eighteen and move into
her colleges dorms in Atlanta. Her mom encouraged this decision, but her dad who is
very old fashioned was very opposed to this. In the Mexican culture, a family is very
involved with one another. Families are very close and are usually big due to including
members that are within the family. For example, aunts, uncles, grandparents, nephews,
nieces, and cousins are considered part of ones nuclear family in the Mexican culture.
American culture usually only considers family members as those who are within their
household. Mexican culture makes family a priority rather than a luxury compared to the
American culture. Also, in the Mexican culture, gender roles are still very traditional. The
men are supposed to go out and do the manual labor work while the ladies are supposed
to stay at home and take care of everything that needs to be done within the household.
The American culture does not hold those old traditions anymore. Women are now
expected to go to college and find a job. The student is currently in school and working
her way up to get a degree in Social Work.
Family Culture
Living in the United States has made the student adjust both her Mexican and
American cultures. The students family is Latino with a Mexican background. Her level
of acculturation is bicultural. For example, her family celebrates Americanized holidays
such as Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July, but they also celebrate Mexican holidays

CULTURAL BIOGRAPHY

such as Da de Los Reyes Magos and Da de Los Muertos. On these Americanized

holidays, however, her family cooks traditional dishes from their Mexican cultural
background. Most of her family that live in the United States knows how to speak
English fluently. Her family celebrates Mexican traditions like Quinceeras, and when it
comes to Mother and Fathers Day, she celebrates both American and Mexican days for
her parents. The student is currently dating someone who comes from the same
background as her. However, if she had ended up with someone who did not come from
the same background, she would still have maintained her familys culture because it is
very important to her.
Cultural Awareness of Other Inventory
For the most part, the student has mostly interacted with people who are Mexican,
European, and African American. Her mother and father have always told her stories of
their experiences with oppression and told her not to treat someone good or bad based on
someones exterior look. As a child, most of her friends were European American. Now
that she is older, she interacts more with people of European, Mexican, and African
American descent. It was not until college that she was able to meet many different
people that come from a diverse background. As a child, the student did not have much of
an impression towards oppressed ethnic groups such as Asian Americans, Muslim
Americans, and First Nations Peoples but that changed more favorably towards them
when she moved to Atlanta and attended Georgia State University. As she started to learn
more about each of their history of their oppression, she realized her Latino culture
relates to these groups.
Intersectionality (Internal and External)
The students external factors are: she is a twenty-year-old, able-bodied, Latina
woman who can speak both Spanish and English. These external characteristics have both
positive and negative outcomes. Being young and bilingual is beneficial when looking for
a job. However, being Latina and a woman automatically categorize one in the oppressed
group. The students internal factors are: she is a heterosexual woman with some college
education and practices both her Mexican and American culture. Internal factors have
both positive and negative outcomes as well. Unfortunately, being heterosexual and
having some college education is perceived better than being homosexual or not having a
college education. As a social worker, the student will have clients who have different
beliefs, views, and behaviors than her Mexican culture does. It is important to remember
that everyone has different internal and external factors. Understanding a patients
intersectionality and ones own intersectionality will help a future social worker help their
clients with as much as they can.
Conclusion
By doing a cultural biography, one will learn more about their cultural self. One who
grew up in a city that was predominantly European American did not experience diversity
until she moved to Atlanta. Through bicultural integration, one mixes both her American

CULTURAL BIOGRAPHY
and Mexican culture. The student hopes to have more cultural interactions with Asian
Americans, Muslim Americans, and First Nations People. Through school and future
opportunities, she hopes to be able to meet new people from different cultures and
ethnicities so she can become culturally competent.

CULTURAL BIOGRAPHY

7
References

Baker, S. G. (1997). The "amnesty" aftermath: current policy issues stemming from the
legalization programs of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act. The
International Migration Review, 31(1), 5-27.
Diza, C. F. (2001). Multicultural education for the 21st century. New York: Longman.
Lum, D. (2011), Culturally competent practice: a framework for understanding (4th ed.).
Sacramento: Brooks/Cole.
Rabrenovic, Gordana. "When Hate Comes To Town: Community Response To Violence
Against Immigrants." American Behavioral Scientist 51.2 (2007): 349-360.
Academic Search Complete. Web. 24 June 2015.
U.S. Census Bureau. (2013). Quick Facts: United States. Retrieved from
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html