Abstract

This paper presents an autoethnographic analysis of identity and belonging. I describe some of my own experiences as a member of the Brazilian and Portuguese communities in order to propose that multicultural individuals need to navigate among the many identities they relate to, which make them live at the margins of cultural groups rather than limiting them to one exclusive culture. I examine the period I lived in the Brazilian community and why I do not fit there; and why I fit in the Portuguese community although I do not feel that I fully belong there. Then, I argue that a multicultural individual needs to live at the margins of cultural communities in order to move among different communities; and conclude that more work on multicultural identity is needed to understand how multicultural individuals handle belonging without identifying themselves with specific groups. The sequence of personal experiences presents a progressive development of identity and belonging culminating with an argument that this project can be enlarged into a qualitative study of identity and belonging in ethnic groups to examine multicultural identity in ethnographic studies.

Highlights

  • My ethnic identity is usually challenged because of my accent

  • I examine the period I lived in the Brazilian community and why I did not fit there, I am Brazilian “by default”; and why I fitted in the Portuguese community I do not feel that I belong there

  • The need to navigate the norms and values of different ethnic and cultural groups are part of their identity. They recognize the different influences that they receive through their own heritage, which is their ethnic identity, and the mainstream culture, which blends with their own culture and form their cultural identity

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Summary

Introduction

When I was visiting Chicago, a woman asked me where I had come from and I automatically said Canada. She did not accept my answer and we started discussing about citizenship, until I gave the answer she expected: I was born and raised in Brazil; I could not be Canadian because my mother tongue was Portuguese, not English. In many occasions when I was in Britain, people were satisfied when I said I came from Canada. They did not argue or debate about accents and citizenships; they accepted my answer without challenging it. It is important to say that my contact with Canadians is limited to the Great Toronto Area (GTA) and to information from books, lectures, and the media

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