so, for my current assignment i've choosen the topic of "cultural identity"..
more so, looking at my own ethnic background, how i've formed it to suit me, what's influenced that formation, both past & present, what other peoples views are, and why my ethnicity is an important part to who i am.
i mean, i've never been able to tick 'only one' box. nor have i ever wanted to identify myself as 'other'. i'm not even classed as "afakasi" because it says that you must consist of one white parent and one island parent. which i don't have. so where do i fit, being the ethnic hybrid i am?
i've found out so far, that my g-ma (dad's mum) is of scottish decent, and my koro (dad's dad) is of french-maori decent. my mum is just straight samoan on both sides.
and does the environment you've grown up in have an impact too? i mean, people in samoa don't see me as "samoan enough" (honestly, WTF?! who gets to decide that?!) and i've recently started to feel my connections up north in the hokianga, (but still don't feel "maori enough" sometimes coz i don't know tikanga & stuff), but palmy will always be home for me.
inspired by kip fullbergs "100% hapa" project, i want to know-
if you were asked the question, "what are you?" what would your answer be?
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