Khoury 1

Shadi Khoury
Professor Ditch
English 113B
19 February 2015
Two Worlds Living in One Unique Person
My roots of Arabic culture establish my behaviors, traditions, and everyday communication
that have been the foundation of my identity. I dress, live and speak like an American; however, I
think, communicate, and act like an Arab. To explain, my appearance is American, however my
mentality is Arabic, though I behave with a mix of both diverse culture. Similar to a classic Disney
Channel star Hannah Montana, I get the best of both worlds of Arabic and American culture. To
elaborate, when speaking to typical Arab-Americans, they seem to keep quiet about their culture as
they interact with other cultural groups. This may be due to problems in the Middle East and the
stereotypes that spread from the conflicts. Nevertheless, I am not your average Arab-American. I was
raised in an Arab-Christian household with ideals to be a nice and a respectful person, like any culture.
I was also taught to love everyone and be proud of my background with a mature and professional
approach. I am also very active in my culture and community. I believe that a community is a
comfortable connection of friends, family, and people, in which one can relate to another and be an
individual. That individual works to make the bond stronger within the populace and outside to share
the connection- simply, a big family. Lastly, being a part of two cultures, and having the capability to
adapt to both show that I accept who I am and represent an example of unity between both diverse
cultures.
My cultural space and identity consist of being an Arab-American Christian. I do not find my self,
choosing between the two cultures. I embrace both my ethnicities wherever I go, and throughout both

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diverse spaces. I consider it as the best of both worlds, though the question maybe, what is one world?
When I refer to a world I mean the life that is lived in that culture. As defined by Ronald L. Jackson
II of the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, a culture is defined as People often assume their
cultural identities are normal and universal because they are largely developed and defined in group
settings with people of similar cultural norms and values (Jackson, Glenn, Williams 117). Culture is
defined here as what a group of people identifies themselves as within a community through culture.
Embracing multiple cultures does not consist of a label that says an individual belongs to one and
another. However, displaying both backgrounds in diverse places to allow the populace to know what
one represents. Simply, a multi-cultural person is a member in a comfortable connection of friends,
family, and people, where one can relate to another- becoming a cultural individual. Lastly, being apart
of two cultures, and developing the competence to adapt to both and develop self-acceptance and unity.
However some may claim that multi cultural behavior is an issue for them, for they feel
their identity belongs to two different cultures. In the article My Hips, My Caders, written by
Alisa Valdez-Rodriquez, she found herself at a division in her identity, having been belonged to
two diverse cultures. She never seemed to mix them both. For example, she acted Latin with
Latin-Americans. And then acted white with White/Americans in each of their spaces. She could
not mix both and was not comfortable with who she was at times. Valdez-Rodriguez explains her
struggle in between two cultures; she writes Latinas will set the standards for beauty and
success, when our voluptuous caderas wont bar us from getting through those narrow American
doors (Valdes-Rodriquez 75). Valdes-Rodriquez provides a point that one culture looks down
upon the other so she is forced to side with one, she finds herself prideful of the Latin side,
though insulting the American side. Lastly, individuals do not always adapt to two cultures and
dont feel ok to mix.

Khoury 3
But, I argue that very few individuals and I happen to admire and adapt to the
multicultural identity space and love to mix cultures. I mix. Other examples of the positivity of
multiculturalism include a five-experiment study by Andrew R. Todd and Adam D. Galinsky.
The study was named, the reciprocal link between multiculturalism and perspective-taking: How
ideological and self-regulatory approaches to managing diversity reinforce each other. Briefly,
the discoveries claim that ideological and self-regulatory ways to different management are
personally associated and can strengthen one another. Also, the study concludes that being
multicultural is a good quality, they write, Exposure to multiculturalism strengthened
perspective-taking propensity, but it did not enhance related constructs. It should be noted that
the multiculturalism prime explicitly mentions that, different cultural groups bring different
perspectives to life (Todd & Galinsky). Being exposed to multiple cultures is beneficial for an
individual in a plethora of ways, primarily the idea opens the blind eyes of society for one to see
other people and accept them. The study provides an academic explanation for how certain
members of multicultural communities are happy with themselves and accept who they are
happily. This is where I acquire the best of both worlds theme.
My first culture consumes most of my life being raised in the Arab culture as a child. From
personal perspective, some Arab-Americans keep quiet about culture because of problems in the
Middle East and stereotypes. I do not, making me an Arab-American, prideful of maintaining
multiple cultural identities. Through my Arab roots, I have been raised to be strong, my parents
and culture taught me to stand up for myself. Through my American culture I was taught to
never stay quiet and speak freely, also never to give up. But I found myself bullied in Elementary
school. I was out casted by the different cliques of similar people, just because I was different.
Similar to how Sandra Tsing Loh describes her adventures through returning home to a diverse

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city called Van Nuys, CA in her article, Coming Home to Van Nuys. Tsing Loh found herself out
of place in her own home; she writes, Theyre only communicating with their own people.
Something really fabulous must be going on (Tsing Loh 123). When one person is singled out
in a familiar or unfamiliar space, the feeling is wrong and takes a toll on the individual even if
they belong. These unfortunate events lead me to become antisocial throughout middle school. In
middle school I kept to myself, was pretty quiet, and accepted the fact that being an ArabAmerican is wrong. However, when I became older- I greatly changed by high school. I became
popular, respected, and a prideful kid.
Furthermore, throughout my elementary school years, I had no social literacy. To explain
what social literacy is, The Atlas of New Librarianships esteemed author Elizabeth Gall whose
book won the 2012 Best Book in Library Literature Award, writes The Atlas defines Social
Literacy as (i) the power of identity in groups, and (ii) the process of defining and expanding
social groupings to further our aims (Gall). Simply, the ability to accept ones self in order to
understand and accept other people in society. Going back to elementary school, I handled being
bullied like some would in the American culture being too nice or I let it push me to bullying and
self-hatred. I had no understanding of anyone but myself. In middle School, my days consisted of
behind my back bullying, and I tried to have friends, it did not work because I was thinking like
an Arab about everything. But acted like an American. This confused me and made everything
worse, leading to an identity crisis at such a young age. This opposed to high School, which
bloomed a whole new Shadi. Specifically, no one would dare to mess with me. I had this
newfound confidence. I was not bullied any longer, and it was proud of who I was. I became
super popular because I discovered balance. I showed people my culture and built a large ArabAmerican community being apart of the Middle Eastern Student Association (MESA). Then

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became close to American side and was super popular and well known. I Kind of divided my
cultures and friends. But always managed to join them.
Ultimately, I am simply a proud and open-minded citizen in a diverse society who has
adapted to a multicultural cultural identity. I am proud of whom I am being respected, loved, and
popular in communities. Or my goal is that I aim to become so. My goal is to spread my Arab
culture in America, and be well known and respected for doing so. I act respectfully, friendly,
and happy with an educated mindset. This is how my cultural identity acceptance helped me. I
understand the world, surroundings, and diversity. I have evolved, being apart of two cultures- I
became adapt to both showing self-acceptance and cultural unity.

Khoury 6
Work Cited
Gall, Elizabeth. "Social Literacy." The Atlas of New Librarianship. The Atlas of
New Librarianship, 2009. Web. 19 Feb. 2015.
Glenn, Cerise L., and Kesha Morant Williams. "Chapter 6." Self-Identity and
Culture. By Ronald L. Jackson. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 117-39. Print.
Montana, Hannah. "Best of Both Worlds Lyrics." Miley Cyrus. Lyrics
Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group Read More: Hannah
Montana - Best Of Both Worlds Lyrics | MetroLyrics, 2008. Web. 26 Sept. 2014.
Todd, Andrew R., and Adam D. Galinsky. "The Reciprocal Link Between Multiculturalism And
Perspective-Taking: How Ideological And Self-Regulatory Approaches To Managing
Diversity Reinforce Each Other." Journal Of Experimental Social Psychology 48.6 (2012):
1394-1398. Academic Search Premier. Web. 19 Feb. 2015.
Tsing Loh, Sandra. "Coming Home to Van Nuys." Chapter 7 Observations (1996):
120-23. Web. 16 Feb. 2015.
Valdes-Rodriguez, Alisa. "My Hips, My Caderas." Chapter 6 Reflections (2000):
73-75. Web. 16 Feb. 2015