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Bridging Community & Culture: Mosaic Cultural Identity
Syarifah Nur Fathima is a Japanese International student of Malaysian descent who was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan. She came to Canada 2 years ago (September 2017) and has since been volunteering at the London Japanese School and acting as a TA for Professor Mitsume Fukui here at Western. In Japan, she studied Japanese Literature and Culture at Musashino University. For her graduate at Western, she completed an English Teaching program for International students in order to further develop her English-speaking skills. She just recently graduated and hopes to find work in London before returning to Malaysia. There she hopes to secure a career teaching Japanese while utilizing her polylingual skills.
Negotiating a Bi-cultural Identity: An Interview with Andy Fuchigami
The video features an interview with Andy Fuchigami, a Canadian-born member of the Japanese community in London. He grew up in a North American cultural environment, which resulted in him negotiating between two very different cultural identities. The video focuses on his feelings and experiences as a minority at school, leading to his struggle in accepting his Japanese identity. He explains how he avoided making Japanese friends, speaking in Japanese, and even trying to hide his Japanese name. However, Andy’s views have now totally shifted, and he has completely embraced his Japanese cultural identity, owing to some life experiences he has had. He went from having only Caucasian friends to making more Japanese friends, and he now actively participates in Japanese cultural activities in London.
Exploring Multiculturalism as a way of life
This portrait follows the story of Marwa Ali, a German teacher in London, Ontario. She was born in Egypt, where she spent her childhood, and had the opportunity to attend a German school. In this video she talks about what her experience has been coming to Canada and how growing up with the Egyptian and German cultures has affected her mindset. After a break, she is now living again in Canada and will explain how her multiculturalism has been an asset and how open-mindedness is important in our modern life.
Maintaining & Sharing your Cultural Identity: Through Education, Exposure, & Experience
The video explores the cultural identity of Jose. A. Casanova, with a particular focus on how food serves as reminder of where he has come from. We not only talk about how food has shaped who he is today, but also the people who have influenced him significantly, including his mother. Over time, his core values have not diminished despite a change in location. Through passing on values from his Venezuelan culture and his wife’s Colombian culture to his children, he actively encourages them to be culturally humble and to embrace their diverse cultural identity. He does this by emphasizing that they are not just from one community, but they are from three: Canadian, Venezuelan and Colombian. He provides advice on the best way to preserve one’s cultural identity, so that one can maintain one’s roots and not forget where one has come from. He also stresses on the importance of helping others because having gone through the challenges that come with being a new immigrant in Canada himself, he realizes a little help can go a long way.