Faculty Feature: Bicultural? There’s no such thing

By Odile Blazquez

Some people, like me, immigrated to the United States as children and were raised in a

family that observed its original culture and language, while also being influenced by the

American school and social environments.

We’re called/labeled/referred to as bicultural – that word is everywhere - but that’s

incorrect. We grew up experiencing two cultures, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we have

two cultures. Our personalities were formed by assimilating some things from one culture and

other things from the other, so we don’t have two – we have one, a hybrid. We are third-culture kids, and no two of us are alike.

Why? Because while one person may assimilate 35% from one culture and 65% from the

other, others do 60–40 or 29-71, 50-50, and so on. It’s impossible to quantify, but the numbers

help. When we consider the different combinations in all the different ethnicities that

immigrate here, we have an endless number of possibilities.

We are unique.

We are also the proverbial square pegs that don’t fit into the round holes. What holds true for all of us is that in some situations,

we identify with our native culture but not so in others, and the same goes for our American culture. Sometimes our sense of

humor doesn’t fit, our ideas don’t fit, our thoughts don’t fit. We see things differently, we interpret things differently, and we think

differently than what is expected of someone from culture A or from culture B. We are more tolerant. We bring viewpoints and

see solutions that others may not. Sadly, however, this may be unwelcomed at times.

It takes a while to get a handle on this. As kids, sometimes we struggle trying to fit in,

and we may be hesitant or even afraid to say what we think. It has to do with swimming against

the current and all that. Eventually, though, we figure it out and understand our truly special place.

We’ve been given a great gift.