Coming of Age...Between Cultures 9/22

Carly Yuenger


Coming of age is all about becoming independent from your parents, right? But what if your parents made huge sacrifices to move to a country with greater opportunities and you grew up between the culture they brought with them and the one of the country you grew up in? How do you find your place, your identity, then?


On today's show, the story of Rocky Otoo. She was born in the United States to Ghanaian parents, grew up in the Bronx and, the summer before she left for college, she went back to Ghana to visit her father.


Rocky's story is unique and universal, a story of how we learn to negotiate different parts of our identity in an increasingly complex world, and, more poignantly, how we do this within our own family when family members grow up in very different contexts.


Rocky's story is documented in the film Bronx Princess, directed and produced by Yoni Brook and Musa Syeed which premieres tonight on PBS. You can check your local listings for show times here.

Help us tell the story of a multicultural world through the eyes of immigration. What are your experiences of growing up between cultures? Did the tensions reach a crisis when you had to set out on your own? What can we all learn from the experiences of those who have grown up in multiple cultures about what it means to live in a multicultural world? Share your thougths and stories by adding a comment below.