Biculturality and it's Significance to my Identity

“Being bicultural makes me feel special and confused.  Special because it adds to my identity. . . Confused because I feel being both culture isn’t an option.” As noted in this statement by a second-generation Indian-American, having a bicultural identity is difficult to grasp and deal with. I, too, have dealt with the challenge of trying to figure out whether I would like to identify as monocultural or bicultural..  This area of research is still underexplored: how do first-generation children adjust to multiple cultures? Do they choose one culture over the other, proudly integrate multiple cultures, or secretly assimilate with multiple cultures? Researchers use many different models to try and answer these questions as well as gain new insight into what it means to be a first-generation child.  Three specific models are Berry’s model of acculturation; the cognitive-development model of social-identity integration; and the construct of Bicultural Identity Integration (BII). Studies using each of these models show how important many individuals think creating a bicultural identity is. These three models have helped me understand my own quest for a hybrid identity.

Berry’s model of acculturation contains four unique ways in which ethnic group members can choose to interact with their host culture.  The first model, assimilation, involves completely severing ties from one’s mother culture and identifying only with the host culture. The second model involves the experience of marginalization, which includes rejecting both one own’s culture and the host culture.  Third is separation in which one completely ignores the host culture and only identifies with their own culture. Finally, there is integration model, in which one forms a bicultural identity by integrating traits of both their own and host culture. A study done by Farver, Bhadha, and Narang from the University of Southern California used first generation Indian-Americans as well as  one of their parents. In this descriptive study, a child and one of their parents, either mother or father, completed questionnaires whose goals were to determine how family factors affected adolescent acculturation styles and views and in turn how this contributed to the child’s psychological functioning. The study showed that females were more likely to associate with their host culture by way of marginalization while males were more likely to use integration as their model.  In addition, almost all adolescents who filled out the questionnaire identified monoculturally as being Indian, not American or a bicultural hybrid of both Indian and American. It is thought that these subjects probably identify more heavily with their culture of origin while continuing to function biculturally in their daily lives. Also, the study found that those who identified with an acculturation style that promoted fostering of both cultures had higher perceived self-competence in many fields and higher GPAs. The results of this study are interesting because, in my view as well as according to the researcher’s hypothesis, female Indian-Americans seem to use integration more emphatically than their male counterparts.  This could be due to the fact that the adolescents used for the study ranged from ages 14-19, and acculturation and formation of a bicultural identity is a very dynamic process that cannot be determined from a study done at one point in time.

Another, similar model used by researchers is the cognitive-developmental model of social identity integration (CDMSII).  In this model, there are also four different levels of associating with one’s host culture. They include anticipatory categorization, which does not really apply to creating a bicultural identity for first generation children; categorization, dominance of single cultural identity over others; compartmentalization, identifying with multiple cultural groups but keeping them all distinct,; and integration, complete assimilation of one’s diverse cultural identities.  A study done by Yampolsky, Amiot, and Roxane de la Sablonniere from the University of Quebec and University of Montreal was done using the CDMSII model to try and understand which mode of associating with the host culture most positively related to the dimensions of narrative coherence. The study was conducted upon 22 multicultural Canadian individuals who were interviewed by the researchers with their answers analyzed to produce the conclusion. The researchers found that the integrated multicultural identity configuration is associated with greater well-being compared to the compartmentalization method.  

The final model to be discussed is the Bicultural Identity Integration (BII) model.  BII captures the degree to which “biculturals perceive their mainstream and ethnic cultural identities as compatible and integrated vs. oppositional and difficult to integrate.” People who are high on BII tend to believe that it is very easy for them to connect to their multitude of cultures. These people do not consider their cultures to be mutually exclusive but combined into one collective unit.  People who are low on the BII believe that it is very difficult to incorporate both cultures into a singular identity. These people still identify with both cultures, yet they feel an internal conflict in which they feel as though they can only choose to completely identify with one culture.  A study done by Veronica Benet-Martinez of the University of California at Riverside and Jana Haritatos of the University of Michigan served to unpack the difference between the variations in BII. In this study, 133 first-generation Chinese American individuals were chosen to complete an anonymous questionnaire.  The results of this study found that BII involves two independent psychological constructs: cultural conflict and cultural distance. BII emerges from variations people have in cultural distance and conflict. Cultural distance seems to stem from the desire of biculturals to keep their host culture and ethnic culture as two separate entities, in an effort to maintain ties both to one’s ethnic culture as well as the host culture.  Cultural conflict appears to stem from uneasiness one has towards their host culture and pressures that may arise from discrimination and intercultural relations. This study shows just how difficult it is to effectively pinpoint the causes of either adopting or rejecting a bicultural identity.

With these models in mind, I like to think that I have found a way to create a bicultural, hybrid identity which has psychologically been beneficial for me. Following Berry’s model of acculturation as well as the CDMSII model, I would say I have used integration to associate my ethnic Indian culture with my American host culture.  In terms of BII, I would say that I have a high on the BII scale. However, I do not think I have always had these viewpoints about my two cultures. From a young age, I was thrown into the worlds of Indian pop culture and Hinduism. I would go to temple, celebrate religious festivals, watch Indian movies, but never truly understand what any of what I was doing meant.  I always appreciated my Indian culture, but at the same time was always shy or embarrassed to talk about it with other people.

Starting Bollywood dancing in high school helped me start to make a connect to my culture in another way, a way that was more by choice than force.  Before this started, I would say that I had a very compartmentalized way of dealing with my two cultures. After I started dancing, I could see myself shifting towards a more integrated approach.  I would tell people to come watch my dances, take people to the temple with me, and basically start sharing my culture with whoever would care to listen. This still did not lead me to have a true appreciation towards Indian culture.  I would share it with people, but I did not truly understand it. Joining HooSher Bhangra my freshman year really amplified the merging of cultural identities I had started years earlier.

The competitive collegiate bhangra circuit  has created a much deeper meaning for the folk dance than its traditional roots give. According to an article by Elizabeth Chacko and Rajiv Menon on raas-garba and bhangra competitions, performance is “prioritized as a means of expressing Indian identity” among the Indian American youth in colleges.  Bhangra competitions started with Bhangra Blowout in 1994 and have grown since then to multiple competitions across the country. Bhangra along with raas competitions offer a dedication to constructed notions of tradition.  The teams at bhangra competitions are judged on “traditionality,” and the teams all try to find a way to change the circuit by re-imaging what it means to be traditional with the diasporic nature of bhangra and Indian culture. The diasporic elements can most notably be seen in the songs the teams choose to perform.  According to the same article by Chacko and Menon, “In an effort to reorient the diaspora around the homeland, these performers often do not undearth a lost traditionality but reappropriate, reimagine, and transform existing diasporic cultural production in an effort to imagine Punjab.” This truly demonstrates the duality of cultures members on these teams have.  This, I believe, is the whole point of creating a bicultural or hybrid identity: to throw away the notion of two separate entities and create a new entity-- one multi-faceted, fluid identity.