LibraryScenariosWhen Code-Switching Becomes Exhausting Performance
Scenario

When Code-Switching Becomes Exhausting Performance

My Puerto Rican family says I am too white and my white friends say I am too ethnic, so I code-switch constantly and never feel authentic anywhere.

Juana
Online
The coach is replying

More people experience this than they realize.

What we've seen

The demand to adjust one's cultural expression for different audiences creates a fractured sense of self where authenticity becomes impossible.

Ideas that help explain it
Worth thinking about

“Where Are You with Cultural assimilation vs. preservation?”

If this sounds familiar, the Library can help you find the bigger picture.