Situational Negotiation: Constructing Ethnic Identity

This essay delves into the multifaceted nature of ethnic identity, emphasizing its construction through cultural knowledge and personal experiences. The author, an Indian-American, explores the layers of their identity as an immigrant, shaped by origin myths and the contrasting historical and cultural contexts of their upbringing. The essay highlights the concept of 'situational negotiation of social identity,' illustrating how individuals navigate various identities across different settings, such as school, home, and community. By reflecting on holidays and personal narratives, the author demonstrates how ethnic boundaries are both maintained and fluid, adapting to different social contexts and personal interpretations of cultural heritage. This exploration underscores the dynamic interplay between imagined communities, cultural markers, and individual identity formation.

Running head: MAKING SENSE OF ETHNICITY
Making Sense of Ethnicity
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Authors Note

MAKING SENSE OF ETHNICITY
Ethnic identity of a person is not a natural formation but a cultural construction.
Ethnic identity is learned using many techniques such as ethnic boundary markers, origin
myths and so on. My identity is the admixture of my personal experience and the cultural
knowledge that has been taught to me. The ethnic identity is one of the most powerful
identity one can develop because it refers to the connection to a group of people who are
distant and imagined. I am born in a middle class family and I come from an Indian-
American ethnic group. Being a non-indigenous person, I have experienced my ethnic
identity in multiple layers. The childhood of my parents in India have been a lot different but
they try to uphold their values and norms even in a foreign land. Various stories of Indian
people and the painful history of colonization forms my version of imagined ethnic identity
of being an Indian. However, the school and my neighbourhood share a very different
historical and cultural construction. Thus at the same time I am immigrant, an Indian, an
American and belong to Caucasoid race. I have developed my sense of identity from the
Origin Myths that are narrated to me and thus it becomes my common reference point.
However, the recent holiday of birthday of Martin Luther King jr. made me realise about the
extent to which one can adapt. There is an inevitable presence of cultural boundary but that
does not mean that the boundaries are rigid because people practice different situational
negotiation as well. My position in this recent holiday contained multiple identities like
school, home, town, state, nation, religion, ethnic group and so on. Thus, I role played
Situational Negotiation of Social Identity and role made from Origin Myth which provided
me the meaning to the context.