Study these terms before completing the activities below.
1. accumulation
a gradual buildup; a collection of many things that grow over time
“Every year she adds another layer to her identity — the accumulation of places she's lived, languages she's learned, and the people she's become. (from "All the Places That Made Me")”
2. migration
the movement of people from one place to another, often across national borders or regions
“Her family's migration story goes back three generations, each leg of the journey adding new layers to who they are. (from "All the Places That Made Me")”
3. permanence
the quality of lasting or remaining unchanged; the state of being fixed in place
“The house they rent has no permanence — every few years another lease ends and another move begins. (from "All the Places That Made Me")”
4. displacement
the forced or unwilling movement of a person away from their home or homeland
“When you don't fit neatly into one box, the question "where are you from?" can feel like a small displacement — your identity shifted and squeezed. (from "What I Say When They Ask")”
5. ancestral
relating to or inherited from family members who lived in past generations
“She keeps ancestral recipes in her head — dishes her grandmother made that were never written down anywhere. (from "All the Places That Made Me")”
6. heritage
the traditions, culture, and history passed down through generations of a family or community
“When someone asks her to choose one heritage, she thinks of all the pieces that make her whole — none of them single. (from "All the Places That Made Me")”
7. navigate
to plan and find one's way through something; to move skillfully through a complex or difficult situation
“Navigating between her family's expectations and her own dreams is something she does daily, reading the room before she speaks. (from "All the Places That Made Me")”
8. resilience
the ability to recover from hardship or difficulty; inner strength that helps a person keep going
“Her resilience isn't dramatic — it's the quiet practice of showing up every day to school and being fully herself. (from "What I Say When They Ask")”
9. layered
made up of multiple levels or dimensions; complex and not easily reduced to a single description
“Identity is layered, she realizes — you can't separate where you're from from who you're becoming. (from "All the Places That Made Me")”
10. reconcile
to find a way to make different or opposing things fit together; to accept that two things can both be true
“She has to reconcile being American and being from somewhere else — both true, both her. (from "What I Say When They Ask")”
11. indirectly
not in a straightforward path; through several steps, connections, or influences
“The way her name sounds to other people affects her indirectly — it changes the questions she gets, the assumptions people make. (from "All the Places That Made Me")”
12. inevitably
in a way that cannot be avoided or prevented; certain to happen
“She inevitably gets asked where she's "really" from — as if the answer she's given isn't real enough. (from "What I Say When They Ask")”