The Joy of Writing My History: Ethnic Identity and Education Through My Mother

This three-part article addresses the role of identity as transmitted by my mother and the influences on my life first as a teacher and then as researcher. This ethnography is based on interviews of my mother about her life as a political prisoner in Cuba and her influences on my identity. This article is divided into three acts that address specific ideas of identity. Act 1 discusses the politically charged landscape where it becomes hard to distinguish between the fact and fiction of post-1959 Cuban history. Act 2 recounts the tale of my mother, one of many women who asserted their independence as radicals within their communities. Act 3 connects cultural identity and political strife that led to immigration and exile and ultimately opened the door for women like my mother. I attempt to see how ethnicity and identity are constructed in the home, how they are lived within schools, and how we negotiate them in life.