CULTURAL IDENTITY
the struggle to fit in
Growing up, Mia had trouble finding where she fit within her world. But as she got older she realized who
she is has nothing to do with her cultural background and everything to do with who she is inside.
words & images by MIA SUTTON
“What are you?”
In a country that prides itself on being a melting pot, where
99% of the citizens have descendants from other countries,
you would think there would be more acceptance of cultural diversity. However, I was often accosted with accusatory
questions, such as:
But if I'm being honest with myself, it's a question that I've
asked myself as well. As a person with a mixed cultural
background of Thai and Italian, any time I've had to fill out
an application for school or work, I always hesitate. Which
box do I check? Am I being disloyal to one culture or the
other if I only pick one?
“You’re Italian? No way. Do you even speak Italian?”
It's a question that I've been asked many times. The question is usually asked with polite curiosity. But sometimes, it
is accompanied by a scowl, as if to say, how dare you not fit
into a neat little category.
Growing up, I always felt like an outcast. When people can’t
put a label on you easily, you quickly become an ‘other.’
Especially when you grow up in a town where (at the time)
there was little ethnic diversity. I could always see the look
on their faces, that asked, ‘Who is this girl who looks Latina,
but doesn’t speak Spanish?’
But the part that bothered me the most was the feeling that
I wouldn’t be accepted anywhere, no matter where I went.
86 | Holl & Lane, Issue 3
“Where are you from in Mexico? Puerto Rico? Stop pretending, I know you speak Spanish.”
“Look at all that curly hair. There’s no way you’re Asian.
What are you, really?”
When I was 16, I went to Thailand with my mom and stepdad to visit family. Before that, the last time I had gone was
when I was 6 or 7, maybe. It was an amazing trip and I got
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