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Wei-Ting Hung
Dr. Ruthann Lee
Cultural Studies 100
1st December, 2015

Global Fest: Country Questions for Biracial and People Who Live in Other Countries

Humans like to be in certain groups that they are familiar to. When people ask me
Where I come from? I would answer the question without a doubt, saying Im from
Taiwan. Although my passport says I am from Taiwan, I feel I am local to Canada as well.
Since I lived in Alberta with Canadian host families over two years, I know all the people in
the town and knows what life styles most people have, I considered Canada is my second
home. At the same time, more than 400 thousand (1.2%) of Canadians are multiracial
(Government of Canada).

On November 17th, 2015 University of British Columbia Okanagan campuss

International Program Service center launched global fest. Plenty of international students
volunteered to present their own countries. Students from more than 20 countries show their
own countrys cultural by making traditional food or wearing cultural clothes. International
Program Service in UBCO came out Global Fest as an event to make students and stuffs
understanding each other more. Yvette Wang , Sherif Hamza and me set up for our country
Taiwan. The way how I presented Taiwan is writing Chinese calligraphy and wearing
traditional clothes. Yvette Wang, she prepared different local food people eat in Taiwan. The
interesting part of it is, Sherif Hamza is multiracial whos dad is from Egypt and his mom is
from Taiwan. In most years of Sherif Hamzas life, he lived in Dubai. During the global fest,

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Sherif Hamza presented himself as a Taiwanese. Sherif said Although people dont think
Im from Taiwan, I speak fluent Mandarin and know the culture. Taiwan is the place I belong
to. In Sherifs opinion, knowing the language and the culture is a way to define where he
comes from.

The author Taiye Selasi gave a speech Dont ask me where I come from, ask where I
am local in TED. Taiye Selasi mentions her several ethical backgrounds which made her a
huge problem to answer where you come from?. Taiye Selasi thinks rituals, relationships
and restrictions are the elements to define where to belong. Mrs. Selasi clears that the
difference between "Where are you from?" and "Where are you a local?" isn't the specificity
of the answer; it's the intention of the question. Changing a way to ask other people, not only
can solves the misunderstanding, but also can change the view from people.

A country cant describe a person. The color of the skin cant tell what kind of culture
a person belongs to. The passport cant define where a person belongs. The languages cant
determine a persons nationality. The religions cant define a person as a monk, nun or
terrorist. People try to draw lines between continents, religions, colors to show the difference.
Aftermath, everyone is still human beings. Thus only a person himself can choose where his
heart belongs to.

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Work Cited

Taiye Selasi. Speech Dont ask me where I come from, ask where I am local. TED.
September 2015. Web.

Government of Canada. "Population Groups and Sex for the Population of Canada,
Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations Data 2010.
Web.