Searching and Exploring a Multi-Cultural Identity for Myself and My Daughter through Critical and Creative Thinking

Date of Completion

12-31-2010

Document Type

Open Access Capstone

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

First Advisor

Carol Smith

Abstract

Entering the Critical and Creative Thinking Program, I was unsure where I was heading. Because I was born in Vietnam but raised in America, I was unsure of who I was. I was always questioning my identity, my background, and my culture. As a single mother, I also had questions about how to pick and choose what traditions and values to teach and carry on with my daughter. With the help of my professors and classmates, I have come to understand more about my ancestors and traditions through reading books and interviewing my mother. Also by analyzing and reflecting on my own thinking and experiences, I have begun to develop my own identity with its blending of Vietnamese, Cambodian, Chinese and American culture and values. In this synthesis, I describe my search and struggle to understand who I am; it was a difficult process, but with support from many others I was able to break through the hardship and forge my own self identity. I will explain how learning who I am involved learning more about my parents' background, as well as how I felt about the contrasting customs, holidays, and household traditions of Vietnamese and American cultures. It also involved exploring the contrasts in American and Vietnamese views of relationships and how, through understanding the importance and differences in both those views, I am developing my sense of how to raise my daughter through the lens of both Vietnamese and American cultures.

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