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Cultural Identity and Intercultural Communication

In many ways people get defined by their cultures and systems of belief. As people grow up, they begin to strongly identify with certain groups and practices. Developing a cultural identity entails defining oneself in terms of the family one belongs to, the language the person speaks, the cultural beliefs and practices they engage in, the religion they practice, their race and ethnicity, their sexual orientation and their gender roles within their communities. Defining oneself in terms of all these measures means that the person fully understands who they are and know how their identity shapes their communication and interaction with people from other cultures and places (Lustig et al. p 44). Understanding these components of identity also mean that the person acknowledges that cultural identity is far from being homogenous, and that others definitely have different identities. This paper looks at the development of my own identity, assessing how my family contributed and continues to contribute to the understanding of who I am as a female Indian Sikh.

Cultural Identity

Cultural identity, simply defined, refers to the way individuals see and define themselves, and also how other people see and define them. It is a situated sense of self, shaped by our own cultural experiences and social locations. Because of the nature of interactions today, many people define themselves in different ways depending on where they are. In other words, they possess multiple cultural identities. The double consciousness of people like Fredrick Douglass, a biracial individual with a cultural duality, represents the feelings of him and other groups like Irish and Italian Immigrants, the Catholic and Jewish Immigrants (Yang, 2020, p.197). These identities shape perspectives, beliefs and relationships that we have with others from within or outside our cultures.

I was born into an Indian Sikh family, a female in a Sikh household. From early in life, I was communicated to and learnt to define my environment through the Punjabi language. Later, I would learn that this language was a big part of my identity. Central to the Punjabi identity is the adoption of the Sikh religion. I have grown up actively practicing this religion, and many of my beliefs are shaped by the view that the Sikh religion has on the world. Growing up in our family, I was taught about specific gender roles and values that would help me grow as a responsible woman within my culture. I learnt that the virtues of restraint, patience, caring and love were attributes that would be instrumental to me as a woman. I learnt about the value of a closely knit family and the vitality of close family ties. I still value family and the role it plays in the socialization process. Right now, I speak English too besides Punjabi and I live among people of different other cultures. All these elements make a part of my cultural identity.

Ethnic Identity

Ethnic identity is a feeling people develop over time following a mixture of experience and actions of the individual and entails gaining an understanding of groups and a feeling of belonging to an ethnic group.

Early in life, belonging to the Punjabi community did not matter a lot to me. Growing up though, and as I began to learn about the history and beliefs, the uniqueness and role that the Punjabi have played over time, my feeling of belonging grew much stronger. I felt part and parcel of this ethnic group. Henceforth, I would only define myself as part of a group in relation to other ethnic groups. This sense of ethnic identity became even more exacerbated when I moved to a nation of multi-ethnic identities. Belonging to an ethnic group gave me an identity, and I could share my experiences with others too in a cross-cultural context.

My Family and Identity Formation

I belong to a small family. I am the wife, and then there is my husband and our small dog. However, this is not what the traditional Punjabi family may look like as our culture prescribes. Growing up, I was taught that every individual is a member of a joint family, consisting of three elements—a biradari (brotherhood), a got (exogamous group) and a zat (endogamous group). My family still has close ties to my parents, cousins, aunts and other members of the extended family. The family is a big part of my identity as a Hindu Sikh. It is the foundational unit for me and the members therein. I believe that the existence of the Punjabi culture would not be possible across the world without the existence of families like mine.

Decision making in my family is a group affair. The moment I informed my parents of my intention to get married, extensive consultations begun. Who was my would-be husband? Was he respectful? Was he from a good family? Did he love me? All these questions were to find out the facts before a rational decision could be reached at on whether to support the marriage proposal or not. In this regard then, the rational decision-making model, combined with elements of group decision-making, is the hallmarks of the decision-making process within my culture. It is true that in my culture, people sit as a group to determine the rationality of a proposal before making a decision to either stick with it or go in the alternative direction. Group decisions, once made, are binding and going against them means rebelling against the cultural dictates not only within the family, but in the wider context of Punjabi culture.

How Culture Creates Family

Gender Images in my family

Gender refers to a range of characteristics related to, but also differentiating between what is masculine and what is feminine either in line with biological sex, sex-dependent social structures or the gender identity. Gender roles are the roles that a person learns are appropriate to their gender, and which are culture specific. Gender identity then is one’s personal sense of being a member of a particular gender. This identity may be the same to what one was assigned at birth or not.

My grandmother was a frequent user of proverbs. Among her favourites were “The nature of married women is frailty” and “She does few chores and is about to die”. These proverbs highlight an important part of gender stereotypes within the traditional Punjabi family. They portray women as somewhat unreliable and unfaithful. The first proverb makes us see that within the Punjabi cultural dichotomy, the woman was viewed negatively in terms of her ability and rights. The second one highlights the manner in which the woman was supposed to work extremely hard without complaining. She had to do chores, work in the fields, feed her husband, rear children and look after the house. These proverbs however, highlight an important aspect—the aspect of gender roles in the family. In my family, the woman was supposed to portray aspects of frailty, obedience, hard work and hospitality. The boys were always told to be strong and stop complaining. They were not supposed to be emotional. They had to learn how to be providers to their families. The interpretation of gender images within my family came with the experience of knowing what the expectations were for the children who were male or female.

In my family, there were different expectations about the “maleness” or “femaleness” of us as children. Regardless of which gender you were, you were expected to be respectful, hardworking, obedient and resilient. These were universal expectations. However, females had their other unique expectations. They were expected to embrace house chores, be excellent at serving food in the house, be less aggressive, demonstrate some level of humility and remain obedient. The males on the other hand were expected to be aggressive for what they want, show less emotion, demonstrate leadership and be a provider. These expectations were the traditional cultural demands of the Punjabi people and they had to find their way into the most basic unit of the cultural dimension—the family.

Cultural Identity and Communication

Identity usually affects the way people communicate and vice versa. As people grow up, they learn from their culture the verbal and non-verbal signs of communication, and they internalise the display rules that make them interpret communication in one way or the other. The perceptions that cultures have on respect, acceptable communication and use of non-verbal communication guide the way they communicate with each other and also their expectations of how others should communicate to them. Identity also guides whether communication is formal or informal and how people react to the various instances of formality or informality. Holubnycha, Liudmyla et al. (2019) propose a four-step process in the development of students’ intercultural competence in higher education for non-linguistic students. These steps help form identity too. These stages include increasing the motivation, acquisition of culture-specific and subject-professional knowledge, cultivating varied intercultural competence skills and developing particular skills to be independently used in solving complex issues (p. 246).

The type of communication I usually adopt usually depends on who I am talking to and the context of communication. The degree of formality varies based on who I am conversing with. For instance, while at home with my family, I am more inclined to informalities in speech and gestures, and I often find myself using a mix of Punjabi and English at times. The colloquial expressions and speech I often use with friends and relatives demonstrate that I understand the speech contexts well, and are inclined to adopting the different styles to fit the speech contexts. One of the major components of intercultural competence is context (Lustig, Myron et al. 43). When I am speaking to my professors, mentors or prospective employers on the other hand, I often remain formal and adopt respectful demeanour both in speech and even dressing. I strive not to use gestures that can be misunderstood because in such situations, there is very little room for error.

The topics I often divulged into also vary depending on who I am talking to and also according to the cultural identity that I possess. According to my culture, there are taboo topics I cannot bring up in conversations, especially with people I hardly know. The concept of God in my religion is also another instance. There are ways in which I cannot discuss the concept of God and the supernatural without feeling shame and guilt. I am reserved while talking to my superiors and this respect is borne out of my culture’s expectation of preference to reflection rather than confrontation. In conflicts for example, I usually prefer conflict avoidance because of the cultural identity I have.

My use of non-verbal communication is also conditioned by my identity. I understand the potential of both verbal and non-verbal communication to be misunderstood by the other communicating party. I therefore tend to use non-verbal communication that can easily be understood by many. As a Sales and retail representative, I understand how misinterpretations of non-verbal communication can often affect sales. Some customers interpret silence (which I prefer), as a sign that I am disinterested and does not value them. Some find my respectful talking and calm demeanour as being too formal for business. They believe an essential part of business is to be friends with the person and that cannot be achieved on that level of formality. Semnani-Azad and Adair (2011) explores the realm of nonverbal communication across cultures and explains the concept in the context of cross-cultural negotiation (p. 452).

Communication can also affect and influence identity. Hierarchical communication is one way through which this is evident. As opposed to my culture, it is shocking how a student for instance communicates with the professor or someone in a position of higher authority. Before, I considered this as an inexcusable demonstration of indiscipline. Right now, I do not necessarily think it is. I have engaged in communication in which I talked to people in authority in a manner that I would have not thought possible years ago. These are examples of how communication has lately influenced my identity.

As discussed above, cultural identity is a culmination of various aspects of the individual’s way of life and the community within which the individual lives. It includes a consideration of one’s language, beliefs, gender roles and non-verbal communication all that affect the way the individual sees themselves and how others define them. A person’s identity usually influences how they communicate with others. Communication can also influence a person’s identity. My identity, as a Punjabi Sikh has shaped me from the family level to being a member of our ethnic group. It influences how I communicate, interpret symbols and react to different situations. It is what makes me human.