The Italian Culture and Its Differences from Other European Cultures

Individual Ethnic / Cultural Identity Paper

One’s ethnicity and culture are important to consider if one is going to be counseling others. The reason for this is that everyone has a perspective, and if one is unaware of one’s perspective and how it colors one’s outlook, it can lead to a bias or an unintentional prejudice in the way one treats others. Thus, understanding one’s own culture is just as important as understanding the culture, values and experiences of others (Hulnick, 1977). As Pedersen and Pope (2016) show, counseling requires empathy—and if one does not even know oneself it is going to be somewhat difficult to know others. Knowledge starts at home and in empathizing with ourselves we can begin to empathize with others.

My Ethnic Group

I identify as a Caucasian Italian American. I consider myself American first and foremost, but my family ancestry traces back to Italy. Racially, I would say I am white, though many Italians do have a darker complexion and facial features that are Mediterranean and therefore difficult to place if one were to attempt to peg one’s culture just be looking. Many Italians could pass for Middle Eastern or for Eastern European or even for Spanish. There are a lot of different ethnic strains in Italy. I consider myself American because this is where I have been raised, but my family is Italian going back many generations, and we have a good deal of Italian heritage and customs that we enjoy honoring.

What I like about my ethnic group is our honesty. Italians—at least the ones in my family—love to be loud, love to wear their emotions on their sleeve, and love to get excited about things. In my mind, it is an innocent and lovable quality and characteristic. It is rare to find a shy Italian, at least in my experience, though I am sure they exist. My grandmother was born in Foggia and emigrated here with her family when she was six years old. Family is important in my ethnic group and so too is food. Italians in my family love food and love to make food and post about it on Facebook.

One of the things I dislike about my ethnic group is that it has lost some of its connection with the Old World. My grandmother never went back to visit the country in which she was born. I know that Italy has a great history, but my family does not seem to know much about it. Italy is a very Catholic country, but my own family has not retained much of the Catholic traditions, and I feel that is partly because of assimilation in America. I wish there was more genuine, authentic ethnic culture to hold onto, but it seems that my group has not really felt it worthwhile to retain much from Italy in the way of culture beyond food.

Memories of Cultural Differences and History of Coming to America

My earliest memories regarding cultural and racial differences would be when I was young and with my mother and grandmother. We entered a restaurant that was in a part of the city that we rarely went. In the restaurant were a number of African American diners. My grandmother shouted, “What’s with all the tutsones?” I was embarrassed and my mother was as well, because tutsone is an Italian slang word that has a derogatory meaning for African Americans. My grandmother wasn’t really a racist, but like many Italians she would never think before speaking: that is one of the peculiar characteristics of Italians in my family—the words just come out before one even stops to think about them. The point is that I realized we were different from other Caucasians because others could go out without anyone shouting anything offensive like that (and not even think anything of it, as my grandmother did). But we were Italian. We were never quiet about anything, regardless of who might hear.

Still, as one might infer from my grandmother’s words, there was never any lack of racial or ethnic jokes in my family. It was just part of the culture. Back then, everyone made fun of everyone else—and it was never really done maliciously. Italians made fun of other European ethnicities, whether German, Polish, Jewish, French or English, just as they did with Italians. Much of the 20th century was far less politically correct than it is today. So this really should not be a surprise. But that way of acting does color one’s perspective and it was a challenge at first realizing as I did going through school myself that cultural competence is required to be an effective leader and counselor.

Regarding gender, I received a basically traditional or conventional message. Boys were meant to be boys and girls were meant to be girls, and anything in between was just not right. However, growing up there has been more liberal influence in my family and one hears less of this kind of message these days. Sexual orientation is something that most everyone has just decided not to talk about in my family, as they are aware of the current climate. Disability is something everyone is more sympathetic with, because this is not something that goes against the traditional values of my family. So I have never heard anything derogatory with respect to the disabled.

My grandmother came to America with her family after World War 1. Italy was going through some major changes at the time, as were other countries, and it was believed that the best solution was to come here, since my great-grandfather had a brother here who seemed to be prospering. It was hard for my grandmother, not having any siblings and not knowing English. Plus, her father was an alcoholic, so that made matters worse. But the Italian community here helped, and there was a significant German community here, too, and there was a lot of inter-marriage between the families, so there was no real lack of community support at the end of the day.

Experiences with Prejudice, Values and Implications for Counseling

When WW2 broke out, there was some experience of prejudice that my family suffered, as the Italians and the Germans were of the Axis, and the US was of the Allies, at war with Germany and Italy. My grandmother told us that she hated the way others would talk about her family and her people as though she were responsible for wanting to destroy America. She always held a grudge against people who looked down on her.