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Constructing My Cultural Identity

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Constructing My Cultural Identity
The Alberta Journal of Educational Research

Vol. 54, No. 3, Fall 2008, 272-282

Erica Neegan
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education/University of Toronto

Constructing My Cultural Identity: A Reflection on the Contradictions, Dilemmas, and Reality
This article provides a critical reflective analysis of my life growing up in Jamaica where I attended colonial school, to making the transition to high school in the Canadian context. I examine the elements that have influenced my cultural/racial identity as a person of
African ancestry living in the diaspora. I ask questions such as how has colonial education influenced my cultural identity and how I see myself? I address the complexity of my racial and gender identity drawing on a Black feminist theoretical framework and anticolonial thought to inform this work.
Cet article présente une analyse critique et réfléchie de mon enfance en Jamaïque, où j’ai étudié à une école coloniale, et de ma transition vers l’école secondaire au Canada. Je me penche sur les éléments qui ont influencé mon identité culturelle/raciale comme personne d’ascendance africaine vivant dans la diaspora. Je pose des questions portant sur l’influence de l’éducation coloniale sur mon identité culturelle et ma façon de me voir. Ce travail repose sur le cadre théorique du féminisme noir, ainsi que sur la pensée anticoloniale.

Introduction
The purpose of this article is to examine the forces that have shaped my identity as a child of the African diaspora, first growing up in the Caribbean and then the encounter between my Jamaican culture and the Canadian cultural context. I attempt to address the following questions: How has my identity been formed? What parts of my life have been honored, and what parts are excluded and why? How does society view me versus my own definition of myself? And more important, how can I salvage and maintain my identity? I critically draw on the reality, dilemmas, and contradictions of life



References: Dei, G. (2002). The resistance to amputation: Spiritual knowing. Transformationl learning and anti-racism Ellis, P. (1988). Education and women’s place in Caribbean society. In P. Ellis (Ed.), Women of the Caribbean (pp Graveline, F.J. (1998). Circle Work: Transforming Eurocentric consciousness. Blackpoint, NS: Fernwood. Hall, S. (1990). Cultural identity and diaspora. In J. Rutherford (Ed.), Identity: Community, culture and diaspora (pp Hall, S. (1997). Representation and the Media (video-recording). (Sut Jhally, Producer). North Hampton, MA: Media Education Foundation. Harp, J. (1998). Traditional parenting. In L. Stiffarm (Ed.), As we see Aboriginal pedagogy (pp. hooks, b. (1993). Sisters of the yam: Black women and self recovery. London: Turnaround. Jegede, I. (1995). Colour me bad: The experience of a dark skinned woman. In Black Girls (Eds.), Black girl talk (pp Maylor, U. (1995). Identity, migration and education. In M. Blair, J. Holland, & S. Sheldon (Eds.), Identity and diversity: Gender and the experience of education (pp McCarthy, C. (1997). Nonsynchrony and social difference: An alternative to current radical accounts of race and schooling Mervyn, A. (2002). The construction and representation of race and ethnicity in the Caribbean and the world Mirza, H. (1997). Black British feminism: Introduction. London: Routledge. Parmar, P. (1987). Other kinds of dreams: An interview with June Jordan. Spare Rib, October. Sewell, T. (1997). Black masculinities and schooling: How black boys survive modern schooling. Solomon, P., & Brown, D. (1998). Badness to sickness: Pathological conceptions of Black student culture and behaviour in re/visioning Canadian perspectives on the education of Africans in the late 20th Talbot, C. (1984). Growing up black in Canada. Toronto, ON: Williams-Wallace. TwoTrees, K.S. (1993). Mixed blood, new voices. In J. James & R. Farmer (Eds.), Spirit, space and survival (pp Wane, N. (2002). Black feminist thought: Drawing on the experiences of my sisters. In K. Wangoola, P. (2000). Mpambo, the African multiversity: A philosophy to rekindle the African spirit Yee, M. (1993). Finding her way home through issues of gender, race, and class. In H. Bannerji (Ed.), Returning the gaze: Essays on racism, feminism and politics (pp Young H. (2006). Haunting capital: Memory, text and black diasporic body. Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England.

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