Who are you and where are you from?

In this age of virtual what have you and globalization, the world has shrunk and enlarged all for the same reasons. People are now meeting people from all over the world and making friends with people living in countries they have never been and may never visit. Defining ourselves and identity has never been more complex.

My first encounter with globalization if I don’t count the Indian family in my secondary school, was as a student in Leicester. I was visiting two of my classmates at one of the Halls of residence when one of them said “Wow how much more global can we get?” There we were, the Nigerian, sitting with an American (whose Dad is Polish) and a Chinese eating fried plantain with chopsticks.

I further grasped how this globalization affected people on personal levels when I would hear Asian and African looking people response in long winded sentences that began with “I am originally from…’ before they end it with “… but I was born here” when asked where they where from. Although, I also was born in UK, it never seemed right for me to make the ‘originally from’ sentence until now.

I currently live in the US and get asked a lot where I am from and I find that responding with a simple ‘Nigeria’ doesn’t suffice as people tend to assume that I had endured some sort of hardship in the process of getting here.

Besides, follow up questions often reveal that I have lived in UK and so it has become easier all round for me to say the ‘I am originally from….’ phrase. What I find amusing is the reaction I get when this information comes to light it’s almost as if right there I am transformed into a more interesting person and I get asked even more questions. That really cracks me up.

Just how complex this whole concept of identity and defining ourselves has become fazes me. I can’t help thinking what phrase my Nigerian/British/American kids will coin when they are asked these questions in the not so far future. Perhaps then acronyms will be used and they might get away with saying NBA.

Makes one wonder why there appears to be little if any shift in our mindsets as people despite the changes globalization has brought about or isn't who we are and where we are from not so much about the Nation as it is a product of our cultural and other experiences?