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I don't know exactly what "identity" is. However, I have some faint idea about it. I think identity is one's life-self. It includes one's nationality, birth, language, thoughts and past, all the things that someone passes through in one's life.
Josie, in the book "Looking for Alibrandi", isn't completely Australian because her parents were born in Italy. However, at the same time she isn't completely Italian because she is thinking that Australia is her home. I think those facts make it difficult when she's thinking about her identity. Because of those facts her roots look more complicated. When I was in Germany, and still now, I have an impatient feeling like her.
I was born in Germany, but my parents are Japanese. My nationality is Japanese, but I lived in Germany as long as I have lived in Japan. I know that I'm Japanese, but some people have said to me that I'm still German, too. This confused me. I couldn't decide "who I was" or "what I was". I saw in Germany many other embarrassments like Josie's and mine. My Italian friend couldn't speak Italian and had never lived in Italy. A boy in my class had Austrian and German parents, but he said clearly that he was German. Also there were many problems which happened because of some unchangeable differences of nationalism. When the Kosovo War started, we did fundraising at school, but one of my girlfriends didn't, because she was a Yugoslav. Moreover, we Asian people looked to be all of the same stock in the eyes of European people. It was a tiny misunderstanding, but we were nevertheless unable to accept it. We know "who we are", but we can't find out the exact words to explain it.
I think our personalities are formed with the many encounters and experiences, and during this our identities are maturing. I can't explain clearly my identity. I'm now looking for the answer. However, I know that my experiences in Germany and in Japan, all the encounters I have had, on the way to becoming who I am now, all these things are the seeds of my identity. And I know whatever other people say, I am who I am.
Child Research Net would like to thank the Doshisha International Junior/Senior High School and Mayuko Takeda, student and author, for permitting reproduction of this article on the CRN web site.
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Child Research Net is supported by Benesse Co., Ltd. |
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