Finding Myself Between Two Cultures: Growing Up Mixed Race

Finding Myself Between Two Cultures: Growing Up Mixed Race

One of the biggest parts of understanding my cultural self is recognizing how my identity has been shaped by growing up between two different cultures. Being half Jamaican and half White has influenced how I see myself, my family, and the world around me. Before learning more about cultural psychology, I mostly thought about culture as something obvious, like food, traditions, language, or where someone’s family comes from. However, I have realized culture is much deeper because it shapes our values, behaviours, relationships, and even the way we define ourselves.

Growing up in a small rural town in Ontario, I was surrounded mostly by White Canadian culture. My dad’s side of the family has a farming background, and my childhood involved many experiences connected to rural Canadian life. Growing up on a farm taught me values like independence, responsibility, and hard work. These values became such a normal part of my life that I never really considered them “cultural.” I just saw them as the way I was raised. Cultural psychology has helped me realize that what we consider normal is often a reflection of the environment and culture we grow up in.

At the same time, my Jamaican background through my mom’s side of the family has always been an important part of who I am. My grandma immigrating from Jamaica to Canada influenced not only her life but also future generations of our family. Even though I grew up in Canada, parts of Jamaican culture were passed down through family connections, stories, food, humour, and values. This relates to the idea of cultural transmission because culture continues through generations, even when families move to new countries and adapt to new environments.

Being mixed race has also shaped how I think about belonging and identity. Growing up, I was often one of the only people of colour in my school and community. Because of this, I became very aware of the ways I was different from the people around me. At times, I felt connected to both sides of my identity but also felt like I did not completely fit into one specific category. Around my White peers, my Jamaican background made me different, but I also sometimes questioned whether I was “Jamaican enough” because I grew up in a mostly White Canadian environment.

This connects to the concept of bicultural identity. People who belong to more than one cultural group often have to navigate different cultural expectations and influences. Looking back, I can see that my identity was not shaped by one culture replacing another, but instead by the combination of both. I carry parts of each culture with me, and they influence different aspects of who I am.

I can also see connections to the ideas of independent and interdependent views of the self. Growing up in Canada, I was often encouraged to be independent, follow my own goals, and create my own future. However, I also grew up with values around family connection, respect, and remembering where I come from. Both perspectives influence the way I see myself today.

Learning about cultural psychology has made me realize that my experiences growing up mixed race have given me a unique perspective. Culture is not always something we consciously notice because it is built into our everyday lives. My identity has been shaped by my Jamaican heritage, my rural Canadian upbringing, my family history, and my experiences being a minority in my community. Instead of feeling like I have to choose between different parts of myself, I now see my cultural identity as something created from all of these experiences combined.