Cultural Identity: Do we really need it?
“Where are you from?” This is a simple question that I find hard to answer. Stating one city or country would imply that I associate myself with the local culture and consider that place as home. This is something I struggle to do, especially with Indonesians. Every time I answer “Bandung”, I get a puzzled look because of not having the accent nor fitting the stereotype. I will then say that I’m actually from Padang, since that is my parents hometown. The second reaction is even more puzzled, like “Oh okay” then the person leaves. One or two times someone got it right by asking, “It seems that you were born overseas, right?” Although this is true, I don’t feel comfortable stating this upfront to avoid being treated differently. More importantly, I have not been there in years so I cannot share any recent local wisdom. I believe my true identity is a blend of different cultures. This is not limited to American and Indonesian, but I also try to adapt cultural values that I learned fro
