::: Immigrants in Germany :::

Betwixt and between 2 cultures!

In psychology, identity may be defined as the distinctive characteristic belonging to any given individual, or shared by all members of a particular social category or milieu. Nevertheless, the formation of this identity occurs through one's identifications with significant others; primarily with parents and other individuals during one’s biographical experiences, and also with 'milieu' as they are perceived.

For most of us in the diaspora, the idea of ethnic consciousness or the concepts of race and class did not dawn on us until the moment we set foot in our new “homelands”. The irony is we never knew at the time that it will one day be home for us.  Even though the assimilation process (personal definition of integration) sometimes has its hurdles, we all did (and still do) our best to fit in as immigrants, trying to speak accent-free German in complete sentences, but still, we get questions like

“… you do speak very good German, but where do you originally come from and when do you intend returning to your homeland?” 

being thrown back at you.

Anyways, while struggling to deal with our frustration over our acculturation process, we still find ourselves entangled in another labyrinth: the battle with our parents over ancestral muddles of rites of passage and the simultaneous risk of severing the umbilical cord to our tradition. Hence in our bid to realize our dreams and hopes (as well as those of our families) and at the same time to fit in, we have to internalize most of the difficulties we encounter; because the expectation is that we should succeed or rather we MUST succeed.

Thus thrusted by our new environment and encouraged by parents and friends to master the difficulties and become self-sufficient, confident, independent thinkers, we sometimes are double bound: violating venerable traditions of our native cultures while driving to succeed in a new culture.

All in all, living in/with two different cultures may necessarily be negative; it also has its benefits and challenges such as learning and knowing the different cultures and mentalities (remember “knowledge is power”), as well as having opportunities we would never have had in our old homelands. Being able to have such a chance MUST stir in us the strong desire to give back to the land and continent of our origins.

In as much as embracing a new culture sounds exciting and enticing, there is always an aftertaste of having given up something; a part of yourself, your identity or call it your soul: which was part of the old culture you grew up with or once knew. It is like the final sealing of the wax with the knowledge that you no longer belong to the land of your ancestors and at the same time the apprehension that you will never be part of your new society.

These challenges even get bigger with the arrival of the next generation of immigrants, your kids: what do you tell them? What culture do they belong to?  Well while you ponder, I will leave you with the words of some great artist who said …

“Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe, a moment that will never be again. And what do we teach our children?..... When will we also teach them what they are? We should say to each of them: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, and the way you move. You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel. … You must work; we must all work, to make the world worthy of its children.”

Pablo Picasso (Spanish Artist and Painter. 1881-1973)

Diaspora quo vadis?