#5 Identity - Peter Roberts (Sense of Home)

            No matter what part of the world you are currently in, the word identity may have a similar definition. Based on what Peter Roberts writes about, my identity is completely Puerto Rican; and no matter what part of the world I am it will not change, for the time being. I feel as if my sense of home is where I’ve grown up and still live in, which could be said is my habitat. If I were to define my sense of home it would be mainly based on the place I am more attached to emotionally and physically and by where my heart is, as Roberts says. I am more attached to Puerto Rico because most of my good memories come from spending time in the island with family and friends and by visiting places that are two-hour drive or less away from my house.

My main language is Spanish and I can also speak fluent English but no matter where you are in the world my Spanish and my English will differ from everyone else’s, creating a sense of identity. This barrier of languages is what Roberts says that as a factor of place, it distinguishes an outsider form an insider through accent, idiom, structure and word, he also mentions that identity may come from the sense of sameness we tend to build up. I may relate to this given the fact that no matter what are the differences between Puerto Ricans, we all share some similar characteristics that make us relate to one another no matter where we go, it is these similarities that make people from outside the island see Puerto Rico in a way that makes them generalize. It can be generalized through crime, past events in politics or many other factors. These characteristics may come from our food, our festivities, or even from the expressions we make as we speak Spanish or English or maybe any other language that we propose ourselves to learn. In my case I hope one day to learn to speak fluent Portuguese given the fact that one of the countries that may change the sense of home I have for Puerto Rico could be Portugal.  I say it may change the sense of home I have because as I mentioned already my sense of home is the place I am more attached to, and who knows if I could eventually get attached to another country if given the opportunity to live for a couple of years in Portugal for example.

Not only I say that my sense of home can change, but also I want to mention that my cultural identity will remain the same even though I change my residence. This is because as Roberts mentions, cultural identity results from a coalescence over time of highly variable factors, in other words even though my sense of home may change my cultural identity will not because it is something that has been built up over time and it involves allot more factors than sense of home does in determining a possible new identity other than being Puerto Rican.