Photographs provided by the Farjami Family.

The Heart of My Journey: Family and Identity

 As the first-born daughter of Iranian immigrants, I’ve always felt the pressure of honoring my parents’ sacrifices. They fled Iran at the onset of the Revolution, seeking a future filled with opportunity and hope. Their courage to leave everything behind has profoundly shaped the woman today, fueling my commitment to advocate for justice and honor their sacrifices. I feel so blessed to be apart of a line of generations that represent resilience, determination, and the eternal power of family. I am forever grateful for my parents, grandparents, and relatives for their dedication to becoming Americans by choice. I am blessed to be living a fortunate, safe, and liberating college experience that previous generations in my family were not allotted.

This multimedia piece serves as a tribute to my family and this opportunity they have provided me in higher education as a result of their cost. Every step I take is one inch closer to making them proud.

For first generation American college students, navigating their identity requires a unique balance between honoring their family’s legacy and their aspirations to pave a new road in the land of opportunity. While it is very motivating that their parents’ became American by choice, it is a lot of pressure to live up to the sacrifices that came before them. Despite the fact that the students are shaped by their parents’ courage, finding their own identity is not straightforward. 

Spotlighting three first-generation American college students with varying degrees of separation from their cultural roots revealed both the struggles and achievements that come with blending cultural identities. Living in between two worlds while undergoing the all-American college experience at the University of Southern California, these students are left in a crossroads of cultural identity— when to assimilate and when to stay focused on their cultural traditions. Their personal values and day-to-day experiences uncover how college students honor their culture while also chasing their professional and social goals.