I refer to myself as a citizen of the
world I don’t know where I’m from
because some of the places that are in
my blood
I’ve never been to so I’m even allowed
to say I’m from there I’ve traveled to
more than 40 countries and this means I
have had to introduce myself to a fair
number of people and there’s always one
question there is impossible to avoid
where are you from this question has
raised many different answers and for
everyone it has a different meaning for
some people it could mean what’s your
ethnicity and for others it could be
where do you feel is home however for me
the question is also no long awkward
poles and me eventually saying that I’m
from everywhere or saying that I’m from
London but that’s not what they want to
hear because I don’t look like a
stereotypical London City girl so if I
say I’m from London the person perceives
to expand on the question and say no
where are you really from this now turns
into a whole different answer which
requires a different and more
complicated answer and goes into what is
your ethnicity for me this is also long
and hard to answer
so I say my mother’s from Pakistan
Malaysia Indonesia Denmark we grew up in
Hong Kong and my father is from Taiwan
after I say this I think in a response
like wow you’re so exotic or it’s one of
my good friends once referred to me as a
mutt now I can make things even more
complicated and tell people that I can
speak French and that I took a year off
school to travel around China and I’ve
lived in London France Singapore Monaco
and now Hawaii but then that isn’t
answering the question where are you
from anymore it becomes time constantly
having to answer the same question so
over the years I’ve decided to have fun
with it I can tell people I’m from the
Philippines or I’m from Hawaii and they
won’t question anything because I have a
slightly darker skin tone but then they
detect my accent and it just gets
difficult again sure if you are you
consider yourself a hundred percent from
a country then the question where you’re
from is a no-brainer and you can still
move on to other topics but if you
aren’t or don’t consider yourself a
hundred percent for my country and for
you it can be a struggle to answer I
conducted a survey on how many people
could truly answer the question where
are you from and last as many people as
I could from my school and my other
friends back home based on the answer I
gave the based on the answer that I
received I categorize the individuals
into one of two groups hesitant and
clear answer the people who would ask
what do you mean or do you mean where my
parents
from we’re putting the answer hesitant
putting the category headstone and the
people who may be answered and didn’t
change the answer were put into the
clear answer category here are my
results as you can see the number of
people who were hesitant in answering
the question is far greater than the
people who had a direct answer honestly
I think the reason the numbers differed
so much was because I have grown up in a
very diverse community and I am
constantly surrounded by third cultured
people the company Mohan dough did a
similar survey
however they lot went a lot further in
detail they got a handful of
participants and awesome where they were
from and a lot of them had a clear
answer then they asked him if there were
any countries and nationalities they
felt like they didn’t get along with
after collecting their DNA they brought
back to the results to the participants
and it was shocking the participants was
so surprised because the surveyors gave
them answers that they were not
expecting some of the participants were
from the places that they said they
didn’t get along with and it was an
eye-opening experience for them and the
audience because it goes to show that
most of us simply don’t know it doesn’t
surprise me that most of us don’t know
what countries line our blood because
our world has changed so much and it’s
constant developing there are so many
people born every day and each of them
have a different story and our world
population is expanding where are you
from is also linked to your culture if
you grew up learning specific things
from one culture then you might
recognize yourself as being from there
and you can share that culture with
other people leaving them to question
where they come from
you all answered a question at the door
I asked this question because I wanted
to demonstrate that even in this room
migration plays a huge part in our lives
it is often said that America is a
country of immigrants and it is this
historical migration that helped
increase cultural racial and ethnic
diversity within the country when you
move from one place to another
you obviously grow as a person and take
in aspects of the local culture
similarly with globalization increased
communication between different
countries cultural values are more
easily shared across borders personally
I grew up in England and France where my
friends and I used to watch American TV
read American books and listen to
American music this portrays how
globalization plays out in action we
gather our cultural influences from many
different places and therefore our
personal identities a blurred I know I’m
not the only one who thinks this
question is daunting I think asking why
are you from is also
closely related to your looks like a
previous said your accent for example if
you look slightly Asian that people
typically assume that you come from Asia
however someone who looks more Asian
might not concern themselves in their I
catch by himself as British or American
or any other nationality also if you
have an accent the people will or can
assume that you come from that specific
specific area but you are not but you
might not be and you might have just
lived there for a while or your whole
life so I think the question where are
you from is asked and answered to clear
unwanted or ambiguous assumptions why do
we ask this question at the end of the
day no one should really care what we
come from do we ask it because it has
become something to say when you’re
meeting someone for the first time may I
propose some alternatives next time you
meet someone awesome how their day was
ask them about the weather or ask them
what their favorite colors are some
questions they have answered too if
you’re still curious about where they
come from pause and think to yourself
could I answer this question myself
maybe the answer to this question is
simply earth we come from Earth thank
you
[Applause]
world I don’t know where I’m from
because some of the places that are in
my blood
I’ve never been to so I’m even allowed
to say I’m from there I’ve traveled to
more than 40 countries and this means I
have had to introduce myself to a fair
number of people and there’s always one
question there is impossible to avoid
where are you from this question has
raised many different answers and for
everyone it has a different meaning for
some people it could mean what’s your
ethnicity and for others it could be
where do you feel is home however for me
the question is also no long awkward
poles and me eventually saying that I’m
from everywhere or saying that I’m from
London but that’s not what they want to
hear because I don’t look like a
stereotypical London City girl so if I
say I’m from London the person perceives
to expand on the question and say no
where are you really from this now turns
into a whole different answer which
requires a different and more
complicated answer and goes into what is
your ethnicity for me this is also long
and hard to answer
so I say my mother’s from Pakistan
Malaysia Indonesia Denmark we grew up in
Hong Kong and my father is from Taiwan
after I say this I think in a response
like wow you’re so exotic or it’s one of
my good friends once referred to me as a
mutt now I can make things even more
complicated and tell people that I can
speak French and that I took a year off
school to travel around China and I’ve
lived in London France Singapore Monaco
and now Hawaii but then that isn’t
answering the question where are you
from anymore it becomes time constantly
having to answer the same question so
over the years I’ve decided to have fun
with it I can tell people I’m from the
Philippines or I’m from Hawaii and they
won’t question anything because I have a
slightly darker skin tone but then they
detect my accent and it just gets
difficult again sure if you are you
consider yourself a hundred percent from
a country then the question where you’re
from is a no-brainer and you can still
move on to other topics but if you
aren’t or don’t consider yourself a
hundred percent for my country and for
you it can be a struggle to answer I
conducted a survey on how many people
could truly answer the question where
are you from and last as many people as
I could from my school and my other
friends back home based on the answer I
gave the based on the answer that I
received I categorize the individuals
into one of two groups hesitant and
clear answer the people who would ask
what do you mean or do you mean where my
parents
from we’re putting the answer hesitant
putting the category headstone and the
people who may be answered and didn’t
change the answer were put into the
clear answer category here are my
results as you can see the number of
people who were hesitant in answering
the question is far greater than the
people who had a direct answer honestly
I think the reason the numbers differed
so much was because I have grown up in a
very diverse community and I am
constantly surrounded by third cultured
people the company Mohan dough did a
similar survey
however they lot went a lot further in
detail they got a handful of
participants and awesome where they were
from and a lot of them had a clear
answer then they asked him if there were
any countries and nationalities they
felt like they didn’t get along with
after collecting their DNA they brought
back to the results to the participants
and it was shocking the participants was
so surprised because the surveyors gave
them answers that they were not
expecting some of the participants were
from the places that they said they
didn’t get along with and it was an
eye-opening experience for them and the
audience because it goes to show that
most of us simply don’t know it doesn’t
surprise me that most of us don’t know
what countries line our blood because
our world has changed so much and it’s
constant developing there are so many
people born every day and each of them
have a different story and our world
population is expanding where are you
from is also linked to your culture if
you grew up learning specific things
from one culture then you might
recognize yourself as being from there
and you can share that culture with
other people leaving them to question
where they come from
you all answered a question at the door
I asked this question because I wanted
to demonstrate that even in this room
migration plays a huge part in our lives
it is often said that America is a
country of immigrants and it is this
historical migration that helped
increase cultural racial and ethnic
diversity within the country when you
move from one place to another
you obviously grow as a person and take
in aspects of the local culture
similarly with globalization increased
communication between different
countries cultural values are more
easily shared across borders personally
I grew up in England and France where my
friends and I used to watch American TV
read American books and listen to
American music this portrays how
globalization plays out in action we
gather our cultural influences from many
different places and therefore our
personal identities a blurred I know I’m
not the only one who thinks this
question is daunting I think asking why
are you from is also
closely related to your looks like a
previous said your accent for example if
you look slightly Asian that people
typically assume that you come from Asia
however someone who looks more Asian
might not concern themselves in their I
catch by himself as British or American
or any other nationality also if you
have an accent the people will or can
assume that you come from that specific
specific area but you are not but you
might not be and you might have just
lived there for a while or your whole
life so I think the question where are
you from is asked and answered to clear
unwanted or ambiguous assumptions why do
we ask this question at the end of the
day no one should really care what we
come from do we ask it because it has
become something to say when you’re
meeting someone for the first time may I
propose some alternatives next time you
meet someone awesome how their day was
ask them about the weather or ask them
what their favorite colors are some
questions they have answered too if
you’re still curious about where they
come from pause and think to yourself
could I answer this question myself
maybe the answer to this question is
simply earth we come from Earth thank
you
[Applause]
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