First-generation Americans born to immigrants??

[WellNoWonder]

Where you guys at? INFJs particularly but I ain't tripping if you participate.

Please post here. I noticed a trend a while ago and wondered if I was just overreaching...

Also, where are your parents from? How do you think your culture has affected you (positively and negatively) in America?

 

[mochi]

First-generation here. My dad came with his family to the United States as a refugee from the Vietnam War. My mom came to escape poverty in Mexico. I think the cultures of both have affected me pretty positively, especially food-wise hehe.

 

[Troisi]

I'm also first generation. My father moved to the United States from Mexico when he was a teenager and met my mother in Italy. I grew up with a sense of not belonging to any culture and it made me an observer of the world.

 

[hk427f3]

I'm a first-generation Canadian born to American immigrants. Does that count, sort of?

 

[MiriUchiha]

First born generation of my Dad who escaped Vietnam from the war I believe and sooner later went to China and brought my mom over to the States to marry. Not sure . . .

 

[88chaz88]

A billionth generation Englishman here. My ancestors came over from Normandy and subjugated the Celtic population.

Sorry I just don't like being left out of threads.

 

[Stu]

My parents are first generation American citizens in that they migrated to the US from Ireland and became naturalized citizens. That makes me a second generation American. ( I learned this in High School, also a first generation American need not be naturalized when determining the number generation of their offspring if born on US soil)

 

[Sensiko]

My father was a Polish WWII survivor and my mother is Filipina 20 years his junior. It was difficult have to teach my parents about American culture, especially when I was really little. For example, when I lost my first tooth, my teacher told me all about the tooth fairy. I obsessed all night about what she would bring me and when she didn't show up, my parents had no idea why I was crying my eyes out. Needless to say she came by the next night with package of barrettes.

It was difficult growing up in a suburb where just about everything about my family was opposite of what I saw, so I always felt like I never fit in. For my mother, marrying a blond haired, blue eyed European and having white grandchildren was her divine purpose in life (a common belief in Filipino women of my mother's generation that goes back to Spanish colonization). She put a lot of focus on my appearance from day one and it was impossible to keep up with her idea of perfection. I internalized all of my anxieties and insecurities she projected to me at an early age, which turned into depression in my teens that I still struggle with.

All that being said, I wouldn't be the person I am today without my experiences and I'm a stronger person because of it. The one thing I did ream my mother for was speaking Tagalog in public. I'm glad she still spoke at home because I can still understand conversational Tagalog I can't speak it.

 

[Barnabas]

I'm second generation American, my grand parents on my fathers side came over in the mid to late 1890's, from England of course. This is the first time I'd ever even thought of this.

 

[Lerxst]

Third here just like [MENTION=2495]88chaz88[/MENTION], I don't like being left out Between Polish and Irish roots, it's amazing I'm not a Darwin Awards nominee!

 

[Stu]

......For example, when I lost my first tooth, my teacher told me all about the tooth fairy. I obsessed all night about what she would bring me and when she didn't show up, my parents had no idea why I was crying my eyes out............

I do not recall hearing anything about tooth fairy activity until my little sister was losing her teeth, at that point my older sisters had taken charge of the more American customs. The first I heard about fairies had to do with the death of my my mother's mother. She died of pneumonia in her early thirties when her children were young. It was said that my grandfather's house was built on a fairy path which brought bad luck upon the family.

 

[Harpy]

I'm a first generation Indo-Canadian. I think sociologists would technically classify me as 1.5 generation. I was 12 when I came to Canada so, I was conscious and functioning in a culture completely foreign (Indian) to my host culture (Canadian). I am unsure if this is an INFJ attribute but I'm drawn towards syncretism and mediation. I try to find the common elements within both cultures (actually, it's way more than two for me- I'm also a practising Muslim and Queer, hooray for holding multiple minority cards!) and celebrate them. I see these cultural influences in my life as a good thing, they allow me to constantly question my core beliefs. It's like having access to different paint colours, I can draw inspiration and knowledge from different sources to make a beautiful portrait. The one truly great benefit of being someone with multiple identities is understanding the core of all cultures, of all peoples. Everyone desires peace, love and acceptance. The human experience fashions itself in different forms but the essential archetypes remain the same. (P.S, You don't need to have multiple identities to come to this conclusion, this is just the the way the universe taught me this crucial lesson).

God, I'm such a hippie.

 

[WellNoWonder]

oh-ho. so I wasn't overreaching so much.

When I was younger, I identifed a lot with African-American culture because I grew up in it. Now, I don't really identify as much. I don't really identify with being African as much either. I don't have anything against either, I'm just not particularly fond of societal boxes and I don't fit in any of them anyway. Also, my interests all over the place. I will be in the hood one minute and the next looking at trees and body of water somewhere while alone.

I'm a hybrid, I guess, being raised by a West African family in America. One can never work too hard or be too practical or have too many goals. You reach one, you find another. Except my goals are not conventional from the African or American perspective. *shrugs* I don't try to figure this out or I'd be struggling all damn day.

I don't feel so left out as I get older. I cherish the new people and circumstances I encounter from being who I am.