Malka Niknamfard
Professor Nadell
Macaulay Seminar- The Peopling of New York
In all honesty, I had never really given much thought to the idea of what it means to be an American. I mean, although I was born in America and have been living here my whole life, my parents emigrated from Iran over 25 years ago and they have upheld most of their cultures and traditions, which they have in turn instilled within my siblings and me. So does that mean that I should identify as an American? Or do the strong roots that connect me to my Iranian heritage define the person that I am? I think there are many qualities that help define me as a person, including my nationality, my religion, and the values by which I was raised. These qualities help set me apart from the ‘quintessential American’, and give me a sense of individuality.
Both my parents were born in Iran and emigrated to the U.S because of the Iranian Revolution that occurred in 1979. As Iranian Jews, they were unable to practice their religion freely in their country and therefore moved to the U.S to start a new life for themselves and their family. They constantly tell my siblings and me stories about their life in Iran and the traditions they would keep in their homeland. My parents’ culture has greatly impacted the way my parents raised my family and these traditions have become integrated into our daily lives through the foods we eat, the language we speak/write, and the holidays we celebrate. In addition, my Jewish religion has definitely impacted the way I live my life. I have been attending a private Jewish school my whole life and many Jewish laws have dictated the way I live my life.
I definitely feel as though I had to conform to the standards of the somewhat ‘exclusive’ American society in order to fit in and feel accepted, but I don’t think that I have ever been able to abandon the cultures that define me. I will never be able to identify myself as having one ethnicity or identity, and it is impossible to say that there is but one factor that has shaped the person that I am. It is the constant presence of my culture in my life that makes me who I am and I don’t think I would ever want to settle on being the ‘quintessential American’. Without these qualities, I would not be the person I am today.
