“What are you?” “No but where are you REALLY from?” “How long have you been in Canada?” these are but a few comments that I have heard in my 18 years in Canada as a 19 year old, mixed race, second generation immigrant young woman. To put the questions into context, I am not one who often likes to get into my background, however when I do, the person who I’m speaking to is often more intrigued by the complexities of my biracial identity than they are by my character and personality.
My mom grew up in the Soviet Union (modern day Russia) and my dad in Kurdish Iraq. Around the early 90s they both migrated to Israel where they met, got married and eventually had me. After a few trips to Europe, we ended up in Hamilton, Ontario where I was raised and grew up my whole life. My entire existence relies on and was only made possible my globalization. Had the soviet union not collapsed due to American influence, my mother would never be able to travel out and meet my dad (and in result, give birth to me). Had Canada’s borders not been open to immigration, my parents would not have had the opportunity to give me and my sisters a better life in the free society that Canada offers. Had I not grown up experiencing a dual-culture household, I would not have the amount of insight and open mindedness as I do now. My very being would not exist had it not been for globalization.
Of course, along with everything else that globalization touches, being of mixed-race identity comes with its cons. Many of these stem from societal expectations that everyone be of one background: either fully immersed in the culture that you are living in or fully immersed in the culture that you were born in. But how can these societal rules operate when you were born into two cultures, naturally? Because a large majority of the global population is not of mixed race, the world has learned to see other individuals as one-dimensional beings, in regards to ethnicity. Mixed race people do not fit the traditional narrative as it is such a newly accepted concept. When I introduce myself to Kurdish friends and family, I can tell they have an impression that I am not as in touch with my roots as I should be. And on my mom’s side, I am somehow not a fully embraced, Russian girl.
But I am not a carton of half and half. Mixed-race individuals are not hybrid dog breeds. We decide our identities and how much of each culture we’d like to embrace. One of the pros of globalization, after all, is the freedom of universal choice.
