Return on Equality

It's One Wharton Week 2018 and ROE is featuring a series of stories from the Wharton Community. In today's story we hear from WG'19 Luisa Castellanos on how her experience feeling caught between two identities has helped her understand others.


Join us today at One Wharton Week: AMA: I want to talk about my faith at 4:30pm in JMHH 340 to hear more stories from your classmates, this time on their personal experience with faith.

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“The girl from everywhere and nowhere.” That’s what I’d branded myself to a captive audience of brand new Cluster 2 classmates during a pre-term 60 second lecture. So, I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised when a couple of months later, a classmate asked me in passing whether I identify more closely with Brazilian or American culture. I think she was expecting a simple answer, judging by the fact that she asked this mid-bike ride in Cartagena. The truth is, more often than not, I find myself caught in between two different cultural identities, never fully one or the other, always on the outside looking in.

I’ve struggled a lot with what this means. This feeling of being “caught in between.” In moments of confidence it means highlighting my ability to move seamlessly between cultures and connect people who normally wouldn’t find common ground. But in moments of self-doubt it means feeling like I’m not able to connect with people on a deeper level, like there’s always something I’m missing, or something about me that doesn’t get fully understood. Some have tried to explain this phenomenon, giving it catchy names like “third culture kids” or “cultural chameleon,” but at the end of the day, I think what I’m seeking is a feeling of belonging and being understood.

After initially brushing off my friend’s question with a meek “it depends,” I got back to her a few hours later and unloaded what had been brewing in my head. I shared how I feared my new friends at Wharton would just see me as confused, or at the very least confusing. She then gave me a hug and told me that the thing that sets me apart is my ability to bring people together. That this “otherness” was a good thing because it helped me see the value in understanding lines of difference. I feel a little bit closer to bridging those lines, and for that, I thank her.