UP Shilubane 50177230

Blog-4

The individuals that we are in my opinion are shaped by the different cultures and environment we are raised in. This also shapes the idea of "where one knows from"

As a black female whom was raised by a single mother and had four brother, the way in which my mother raised my brother is very much different. I have two cultures that i identify with; the first being IsiXhosa because in black cultures it is believed that you take after your paternal side and secondly Tsonga which is my maternal side. I speak IsiXhosa but many of the cultural and traditional practices that i have been exposed to were Tsonga based. As stated, i was raised by only my mother and my father was absent most my life which kind of impact the way in which my mother would talk or project her thoughts about gender roles and the behaviours that we allowed.

Growing up with four brothers can be considered a huge roller-coaster of emotions. I also felt as if my mother favoured my siblings more because they we "boys" and i was left to do all the cleaning for them. The way in my mother raised me seemed to intail that she was grooming to be the "the perfect bride" oneday compared to my brothers. My mothers teaching of this have shaped the way i am because it has effected the way i interaction with other males in society and has made me feel as in i need to be the neat and put together individual amongst other males. 

Another cultural value that has shaped the individual that i am the fact that i have parents from two different cultural backgrounds in which the other i know more than the other about, but overall that culture is very flexible depending on the environment in which you are raised in. Environment is important has if i was perhaps raised in the villages my mother would have raised me to be of the cultural flexibility i have, and of course ther were certain things i wouldn't agree on but they just seem to make sense with the type of person i want to be.

In conclusion i believe parents cultural backgrounds shapes where we know from and the environment in which one is raised in reflects on how much cultural adaptation there really is.