A personal essay in which Valerie Vande Panne writes about learning why she never quite passed as white growing up, despite allegedly being the product of two caucasian parents. She recalls being questioned all her life about her racial and cultural identity; finally learning through a DNA test that her father wasn’t who she thought […]
cultural identity
Posted inEditor's Pick
You Are What You Hear
A personal essay in which Pauline Campos writes about trying to forget the harsh words she heard about her body as a child, and to avoid passing along her body shame to her young daughter.
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Story
Finding My Identity By the Light of My Mother’s Menorah
The African American son of a white mother, Santi Elijah Holley revisits Hannukahs past with his Jewish forebears.
Posted inEditor's Pick, Essays & Criticism, Nonfiction
Finding My Identity By the Light of My Mother’s Menorah
The African American son of a white mother, Santi Elijah Holley revisits Hannukahs past with his Jewish forebears.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Cherokee Artist Jimmie Durham: Not Cherokee
The work of artist Jimmie Durham relies heavily on Native American themes. Durham is not Native American.
Posted inHistory, Quotes
The Re-Kazakhification of Kazakhstan, On Horseback
After years of Soviet control, the country looks to the cultural foundations of its nomadic past.
Posted inEditor's Pick
A Kingdom for a Horse: Kokpar and the Future of Kazakhstan
“[N]owhere in this region is the contrast between the contemporary and the ancient higher than in Kazakhstan. And nowhere is the interplay between the two more starkly embodied than in professional Kazakh kokpar.”
Posted inArts & Culture, Current Events, Nonfiction, Quotes, Uncategorized
Poets Talk to Poets about the Border Wall
In this roundtable, poets from around this world discuss the role borders play in their lives.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Kimberly, No Longer With the Good Hair
How one woman finally styled her hair in a way that determined who she was and demanded that her loving grandmother accept her decision as a sign of strength.
Posted inArts & Culture, Current Events, Nonfiction, Quotes
How Should a German Be?
In Harper’s, Yascha Mounk examines how recent Islamic immigration challenges many Germans’ core idea of their national identity.