Introduction
A cultural group means the unity of people with similar cultural backgrounds and identities: belonging to such a group often defines one’s behavior and interactions with other groups. While a person’s identity is formed based on all personal experiences, culture profoundly influences it. In my case, three cultures comprise a significant part of my personality: my indigenous Filipino culture, the American culture of the United States, and the combined Filipino-American culture. Thus, I belong to three cultural groups: tens of millions of Filipino people, hundreds of millions of Americans, and several million Filipino Americans.
My Cultural Groups
My cultural background consists of two cultures: Filipino culture, based on the nationality from which my family came, and American, based on the country where we live now. The third culture is the combination of both, resulting in the Filipino-American identity, which can be described separately. The colonial past had an enormous negative influence on my indigenous Filipino culture’s expression and value fulfillment (David et al., 2017; Kirmayer et al., 2018). Fortunately, I can now unite the principles of all the mentioned cultural groups in my personality.
Filipino: My Indigenous Cultural Group
My native culture has enormously impacted my life, and my principles are mainly based on Filipino culture. It is the modern culture of the Philippines Islands, and it is complex, combining various factors, such as indigenous beliefs, Christian influence, and colonial past. The principle of kapwa is central to Filipino cultural identity: it means the shared inner self, the one for whole people, and results in a significant connection with family and other people (David et al., 2017). Filipino culture influences my perception of others in the way that I see them as parts of one great family and, thus, tend to be open to others and expect from them a similar reaction. I communicate with others as a living being, equal to me, and even as a potential friend if our views meet. As a representative of Filipino people, I sometimes feel that others perceive me as someone “exotic” and communicate with me with interest.
American: The Group Based on the Country Where I Live
The culture of the country where I lived influenced me and formed another cultural identity, the American one. The American culture may be understood by studying the history of the U.S. It was formed as the culture of emigrants from various European countries and, then, from many other countries in the world (Jenkins, 2017). Its basis consists of a strong strive for personal freedom and, simultaneously, a strong American nationalism, regardless of one’s initial culture. Earlier, discrimination against non-European representatives was present, too, but as the colonial approach moved into the past, the American culture became much freer. As an American, I perceive others as free personalities, clearly different from myself, letting them do what they want as long as it does not harm me directly. I act similarly, communicating with those people who are sympathetic to me and avoiding those who are not. Other people, especially foreigners, often perceive me as a mere American and communicate with me mostly on business or work topics.
Filipino-American: The Combination I Use in the Daily Life
The cultural combination creates a new culture itself, and the result is a new cultural group. There are more than 2 million people in the U.S. who are Filipino-Americans, and they consist of the group I belong to, similar to the separate American and Filipino groups. (David et al., 2017). As one may see, the collectivist principles of Filipino culture and American individualistic principles are very different, but they are interconnected in my personality (Kirmayer et al., 2018). As a Filipino-American, I have a strong sense of family and those people who are close to me, treating them with similar care as I treat myself. I communicate with people based on their personal relations with me: if they are my relatives or close friends, I trust them a lot and am ready to help at any moment, and if they are not, I keep a distance from them. Other people perceive me as a cultural minority within the large American nation and often treat me with hesitation and even caution.
Intercultural Relationships
There are advantages to relationships with various cultures: cultural exchange and more open and effective communication between people. Cultural exchange means the possibility to learn something new from another culture’s representative. As each culture focuses on some aspects of life and neglects others, combinations of several cultures enable a fuller and clearer view of all situations and life events. In that way, culturally competent people, who are able to understand other cultures and build relationships with their representatives, tend to be more successful in their lives.
However, the main disadvantage of intercultural relationships is tensions, which may eventually result in discrimination. The colonial past, unfortunately, still has a big influence on Filipino people in the U.S., and I, too, feel it as a hesitation to communicate with other cultural groups (David et al., 2017). However, being open to other cultures and searching for mutual advantages when communicating with their representatives helps to overcome those tensions.
Conclusion
As one can see, the connection between cultural groups may be beneficial for both groups, but it is not always straightforward. If the representatives of both cultures are open to each other and understand their mutual benefits, the communication will go well. However, if they feel some inconvenience or danger to their basic principles, it may result in avoidance, discrimination, or even open conflicts. My personality is influenced by three cultural identities, combined in it, and I believe that the combination of different cultures benefits the personality.
References
David, E. J. R., Sharma, D. K. B., & Petalio, J. (2017). Losing Kapwa: Colonial legacies and the Filipino American family. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 8(1), 43–55. Web.
Jenkins, P. (2017). A history of the United States. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Kirmayer, L. J., Adeponle, A., & Dzokoto, V. A. A. (2018). Varieties of global psychology: Cultural diversity and constructions of the self. Global Psychologies, 21–37. Web.