The Search for Identity

American University News


Ludy Grandas, an American University professor of World Languages and Cultures, and Backpack Documentary en Español student, sets up an establishing shot in the streets of Columbia Heights for her production titled "Don Antonio, el Barber Panamericano."
For individuals who come from mixed cultures, the search for identity can be an arduous process, rife with a feeling of imbalance that stems from traversing the differences in our roots.
At some point, however, imbalance gives way to equilibrium as these women and men find their roots do not compete, but rather complement, helping each person to accept and absorb diversity as part of themselves and their world view.
Being American and Peruvian has granted me the tools to conquer challenges in the language realm, and has gifted me with the understanding that it is possible to appreciate and belong to different worlds.
For this reason we, multicultural beings, share a special story that feels sometimes unsettling, as we debate and question our sense of belonging to one particular group or another.
I chose to pursue my master's at American University, hopeful that I'd exercise the Latina that is part of me. When I decided to take Backpack Documentary en Español, I found myself in a place that invited me to use my Spanish and to be surrounded by peers with the same fervor for the Hispanic-Latino culture.
For an array of reasons, be it curiosity, passion, or the comfort of company that shares a common language, Backpack Documentary en Español attracted students from different corners of the world, each one with their own motivations for engaging in the experience.
The course, offered for the first time last fall, represented the first time in its nearly 25-year history that the School of Communication offered a class taught entirely in Spanish. As students of the course, what we experienced during the semester was ...

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