“I didn’t belong to the Egyptians, I did not belong to the non-Egyptians.”

This resonated with me because it reminded me of friends, many of whom are immigrants or children of immigrants, who feel that they are neither entirely part of “American culture” nor entirely part of their home culture. (I put “American culture in quotes, because who knows what it is exacty? As Oscar Wilde said, my country is the only one to have gone from barbarism to decadence without first passing through civilization!)

I know that this is a challenge for many people, and that the sense of not-belonging can be very painful. It is difficult for me to understand fully, because, though I try to examine my assumptions with a critical eye and have begun to understand that I must work to dismantle the privilege I enjoy, I am, undeniably, a product of the dominant culture.

A former student, who was born in California and whose parents are from Mexico, once said something to the effect that she’s not American, nor is she Mexican, but that she draws from both. I’m mangling her words, but what I took from the idea was that she embraces the contradiction of being “Mexican-American” and sees it as a source of strength. Perhaps another of expressing this is that by being both and neither, her experience is richer.

I’m also reminded of a quote by Sandra Cisneros (I found it in Carol Jago’s book CISNEROS IN THE CLASSROOM): “I have suspected for a long time now that our job as Chicanos, as mexico-americanos, as amphibians, as citizens with one foot over there and one over here, is to be the bridge of unity, to be the translator in this new age…this age of chaos in which we are living when one world ends and a new one begins.”

(I love the metaphor of being a bridge, of bringing together – whether it’s bringing together disparate cultures or creating a path for families to gain access to resources that they have lacked.)

Your post isn’t quite saying the same thing as my alum or as Cisneros, but you also hint at a kind of power and richness from being “not one of us and not one of them.”