Cultural Identity Interview and Analysis with Karen Catalano

After her upbringing in Philadelphia, Mrs. Catalano developed a broader sense of cultural acceptance that she applies everyday despite the hardships she had there; she dealt with no challenges from being Romanian yet she noted the advantages and strengths of being a first generation Romanian American. Karen was the only white girl in her class that led to a situation of reverse discrimination where older African-American kids in an alley had urinated on her. Despite this hardship, Karen held no grudge against the group. She was even happy to see the first black person who happened to be her art teacher after moving to her new home of Feasterville. Mrs. Catalano mentioned that she does not see herself as being distinctly Romanian in terms of traits passed from her parents or grandparents. Karen did note the advantage of being a first generation American coming from Romania as she was not the first-born. First-born children in Romania had preferential treatment. As sources of strength, Karen noted her parents’ ability to come to the USA, to educate themselves about a new culture and provide her and her siblings a good life. Religious tradition was passed to her from her grandmother; with special regard to the Virgin Mary, as she is a key Roman Catholic figure. When asked what about herself makes her strong, Karen replied that when she sees the sunrise on her way to work it inspires her even though she hates to get up in the morning. She said in conclusion, “It’s great to see the morning sun again.”

Romania’s collective culture of festivals and family has been preserved by Karen despite the fact that she grew immersed in a younger culture than her parents did. Romanian celebrations were collective; this aspect of life was not carried to Philadelphia in the same way. Celebrations including the entire community were limited because of being estranged foreigners to a new culture. Karen found her family to be the group that she celebrated with, communicated with and from whom she learned. As Karen developed as a first generation American, she and her parents underwent an intercultural diffusion. She cast aside many of the strict attitudes they had about religion such as weekly church service while she retained the conservative attitude that her family’s religious beliefs afforded her. Karen in turn also provided her parents aspects of the new culture that they had moved to: both positive and negative. Examples of both include the use of English in the home, which helped her parents learn to integrate into a new culture while negatively she faced prejudice in Philadelphia that had caused them to move to Feasterville. Perception of the American culture was all that Karen knew, in particular the culture of Philadelphia. She mentioned that when she had moved to Feasterville she underwent an element of culture shock because of the lack of racial diversity. Karen had described how sensing the culture would give an outsider a better feeling for what Romanian culture is. She was kind enough to share the dolls that her grandmother had passed to her, (figure 1) to show the best of Romanian, traditional dress.