Speaker A
it's asked. Rifu, thanks so much for sending in all of your questions across social media. Keep them coming. I love to hear from you.
Ritu Bhasin answers a viewer question on feeling lost about cultural identity as a child of immigrants, sharing her experience of bullying, parental pressures, and finding belonging beyond her own com
Key Takeaways
- Cultural identity for children of immigrants can be complicated by conflicting pressures from home and school.
- Belonging can be found in unexpected communities that are not one's own ethnic group.
- Identity can be a blend of cultures rather than a choice between one culture and another.
- Experiences of racism and pressure to conform to white norms shape how people navigate identity.
What the video covers
- Ritu Bhasin responds to a viewer question about feeling lost and confused about ethnic and cultural identity as a child of immigrant parents.
- She was born in Canada to Punjabi parents who immigrated from India almost 50 years ago.
- Growing up in a multicultural Toronto neighborhood, her family moved her at age 11 to a predominantly white area, where she experienced racist bullying.
- She struggled at school because being brown attracted bullying, yet she did not feel fully white either.
- Her parents pushed her to be 'really Canadian' at school, but at home they restricted her Canadian behaviors like sleepovers and talking back.
- She found belonging not in her own Indian community or among white Canadians, but among West Indian and Black Caribbean friends.
- In the workplace she struggled with pressure to conform to a white male normative standard, a theme covered in her book The Authenticity Principle.
- She describes her identity as a 'mishmash of cultures' and says she can embrace the varied parts of who she is.
- The core need she identifies is the experience of belonging.
- She directs viewers to a longer video on her channel and to her mailing list for further content.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction to the viewer question
- 00:26The question about feeling lost culturally
- 00:51Ritu's childhood in Toronto and move to a white neighborhood
- 01:20Bullying and struggles at school
- 01:43Conflicting pressures from parents at home
- 01:55Finding belonging among West Indian and Black Caribbean friends
- 02:10Workplace pressure to conform and the search for belonging
- 02:28Embracing a mishmash of cultures and closing remarks
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
parents I often feel lost and confused about my ethnic identity about Who I am culturally what can help me with this so boy do I know all about this and in fact I've done a longer video which you can
Speaker A
The question that I would like to answer today goes like this: "Like you, I was born in Canada to immigrant parents. I often feel lost and confused about my ethnic identity, about who I am culturally. What can help me with this?"
Speaker A
ago now and we're Punjabi and when I was a little kid growing up in Toronto the neighborhood I was in was really multicultural there were lots of Indian people and people from across different cultures but around the age of 11 my
Speaker A
Boy, do I know all about this. In fact, I've done a longer video, which you can check out on my YouTube channel, or at Race Sense, that fleshes this out. But I want to say a few things here.
Speaker A
those first few years of being there and I struggled at school because I didn't want to be brown because it meant attracting bullying but then I also wasn't white and then on the home front my parents were struggling with let's
Speaker A
I can relate to this because my parents immigrated from India almost 50 years ago now, and we're Punjabi. When I was a little kid growing up in Toronto, the neighborhood I was in was really multicultural. There were lots of Indian people and people from across different cultures. But around the age of 11, my parents made the strategic decision to move us to the whitest place on earth that they could move us to. Then suddenly I was immersed with mostly white kids, and unfortunately I endured a lot of racist childhood bullying during those first few years of being there.
Speaker A
talk back to me like a white kid I don't think so and so I really struggled with that there I entered into the work world and I struggled with who I should be culturally there around messages of conforming to a white male normative
Speaker A
I struggled at school because I didn't want to be brown, because it meant attracting bullying, but then I also wasn't white. On the home front, my parents were struggling with, "Let's make her really Canadian," so go and join clubs, be really vocal and activist at school. But then I would come home and bring my Canadianism to my parents, and it would be like, "You're not going on sleepovers, and don't you dare talk back to me like a white kid. I don't think so."
Speaker A
interesting because I did find belonging in cultural communities but often it wasn't in my own cultural community of being Indian or among white Canadians it was among for example my West Indian friends or my Black Caribbean friends and so here's the thing that helped me
Speaker A
So I really struggled with that. Then I entered the work world, and I struggled with who I should be culturally there, around messages of conforming to a white male normative, which I've talked a lot about in my book, The Authenticity Principle. It was a big struggle. I felt really lost, and the thing that I needed more than anything else was to experience belonging.
Speaker A
live and exist I am but job' I am Indian although I have challenges with some aspects of being Indian too I'm a mishmash of cultures I love that I can dance to bunger on one night I can dance
Speaker A
It's interesting, because I did find belonging in cultural communities, but often it wasn't in my own cultural community of being Indian or among white Canadians. It was among, for example, my West Indian friends or my Black Caribbean friends.
Speaker A
to keep hearing from you also please be in touch across social media follow me and please don't forget to visit receive a scene calm and sign up for my mailing list thanks for watching as always [Music]
Topics:cultural identityimmigrant childrenethnic identitybelongingbicultural identityracismPunjabi CanadianThe Authenticity PrincipleRitu Bhasinmulticultural identity
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