bicultural identity

n. Bicultural identity is the condition of identifying with (i.e., having strong attachment and loyalty to) two different cultures. Bicultural identity is one component (perhaps the most important) of the more complex and multidimensional notion of bi- culturalism. Note that an individual who has been exposed to and learned two cultures is a bicultural person, but only if this individual expresses attachment and loyalty to the two cultures can we say that the individual has a bicultural identity.

Bicultural identities, like other types of dual or hybrid identities where different roles and self-concepts intersect (e.g., identifying oneself as a “working mother” or “gay”), are complex and multifaceted. For instance, bicultural individuals often talk about their dual cultural heritage in complicated ways, including mostly positive terms but often also expressing some negative feelings. Biculturalism can be associated with feelings of pride, uniqueness, and a rich sense of community and history, while also bringing to mind identity confusion, dual expectations, and value clashes. Further, there is not just one way of being bicultural. Regardless of their level of attachment to each culture (e.g., moderate or high), bicultural individuals differ in the degree to which they see their cultural identities as compatible and integrated versus oppositional and difficult to integrate. These differences can be described under the rubric of what psychologists call bicultural identity integration (BII). Individuals high on BII tend to see themselves as part of a “hyphenated culture” (or even part of a combined, “third” emerging culture) and find it easy to integrate both cultures in their everyday lives. Biculturals low on BII, on the other hand, report difficulty in incorporating both cultures into a cohesive sense of identity and are particularly sensitive to explicit or implicit differences and clashes of the two cultural orientations.

More recently psychologists have discovered that variations in BII do not define a uniform phenomenon, as previously thought, but instead encompass two separate independent constructs: perceptions of overlap (vs. distance) and perceptions of harmony (vs. conflict) between one’s two cultural identities or orientations. Work on this topic also has shown that these two psychological identity dimensions have distinct personality, acculturation, and sociodemographic antecedents.

- VB-M