Rough Cuts on Identity

PROGRAMNR 100103 /ra2 Rough Cuts on Identity Script Olivia: Hallo! My name is Olivia and I’m 16 years old. I live in Stockholm, which I have done my entire life. My mother is half Swedish half German. My father comes from Algeria, though I always thought that he was strictly French until a couple of years ago. Joel: Hi my name is Joel and I’m 16 years old. I am a person with one Swedish and one Mexican parent. My mother is from Sweden and my father is from Mexico. O: I have got the question from where do I come from many times, and often while travelling outside of Sweden, and then the answer is very simple, because then I’m Swedish. But when you get the question at home it is totally different. Music: My home town – The Wannadies J: When I was a little younger I only identified myself to my Swedish side, but that is a little different now. Cause this summer I went to Mexico and I visited my family down there, and that was really a great experience. Down there in Mexico they kind of thought I looked a little European. And, well, here in Sweden it happens too that people come up to me and ask where I come from. O: In the beginning when I was getting these types of questions, I was a bit unused to them and did not really know what to tell them. I am 50/50 I said. Half Swedish and half French or Algerian. But actually I feel more like 100 percent Swedish and maybe 50 percent French or Algerian. Swedish is my first language and the only country and culture I really know about. J: When I travelled around in Mexico I started to think about the other part of me, my Latino part. That made me feel like; yeah, well, this is my home too, that I also belong here, just as much as I belong in Sweden. I must say I feel more Swedish than Mexican. But that travel to Mexico increased my sense for, well, Mexican people and Mexican culture. 1 O: I can’t speak French so I can’t identify myself to being French either. I can’t speak to my cousins which often makes me feel a bit dumb, especially when the rest of my family does that without any problems. Until I know more I guess it is hard to feel 50/50 or maybe even whole with that big part missing. Music: My home town – The Wannadies “…sometimes it’s hard to remember that my home is as close as yesterday, this is my home town, this is my home town…” O: You’re not completely French, or completely Algerian, or completely German, or completely Swedish. It’s just in-between. J: It kind of makes me not really neither Swedish nor Mexican, I’m like, I’m a mix of those two. For an example, if you would mix red with blue you would get purple. That’s, like, a different thing, a different colour. So, I think that’s what it’s all about. I think it’s a good thing to be well not like everybody else. I mean, it’s fun to be a little different sometimes. O: I think it’s both good and bad. It’s… I guess you get a little bit interesting when you’re in-between but I think it’s hard too because you don’t always want to get the question: “oh, where do you come from?” I always get that question and it’s always focused on that question. So, it’s more about, “oh where do you come from?” not like “what can you do?” So, they want to put you in category, but when they can’t they get confused. And I think I’m quite tired of answering that and just speak about something that I don’t really identify myself with. It’s not me, I want to just say “oh, I’m Olivia, this is me”. They want to split me up, or like, cut me in half… or in four… Music: Lil Kim – This is who I am “…the queen of New York, now let’s get this straight, I’m about to be elected mayor, so say my name – this is who I am, this is what I’ll be, people running around, trying to change me. Oh no no no! No no no no!...” O: I have always seen everything from a Swedish perspective, I think. My first language is Swedish and it’s my first culture too. I know everything about Sweden. And I don’t know much about my other part. People look at me different. They always have this questioning look when they look at me, I think. When you get these types of questions you get confused, and, like, ok who am I, why do I have to answer this? Do they want me to be Swedish, do they want me to be French or what do they want me to be? Music: National anthem of Sweden, France and Algeria O: I’m the only one who doesn’t speak French, so it’s quite boring. It means so much for my family. Always when we have dinner or when we meet our cousins – we often go there on Christmas and other holidays – then, I’m the only one who can’t speak with the others, so I often feel quite outside. I think I feel a hundred percent Swedish and maybe like fifty percent French. But I guess I would like to feel more French. Music: National anthem of France 2 J: Identity for me is, like, the way you are or the way you express yourself. And I also think that you can have different identities depending on who you are with and so on. Well, before when I was a little younger I mostly identified myself to my Swedish part, but after this summer, when I was in Mexico, I felt like, well, this is the other part of me and it’s also like my home. But I feel more Swedish than Mexican, of course, cause I was born here in Sweden and I’ve lived here for 16 years, so, yeah of course it’s hard to say that I’m like fifty percent… or that I feel fifty percent Mexican, cause I really don’t. O: For me the word identity means that you have a place where you fit in. So, I guess you create a lot of different identities just to feel more secure. And I guess that every person has like maybe fifty different identities, or even more. And I think it’s necessary. When I travel to France or to… around the world, then my strongest identity is that I’m Swedish. I like to be Swedish and I like it even more when I’m travelling. 3.

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