Author Obejas talks multiple identities

Achy Obejas has juggled her identities of being Jewish, Cuban, a lesbian, an American and a writer over the course of her life.

“Who we are changes with each outing,” Obejas said.

“When I was born in Cuba, I was white, presumed to be a heterosexual and Catholic,” Obejas said. “When we arrived 90 miles to Florida on our creaky little boat I became a Cuban refugee. By 1980, it was Cuban-American, still Catholic, still presumed heterosexual. By college I was Hispanic, going through a phase and a lax Catholic. Later on I learned my hidden Jewishness.”

Obejas, an author and journalist who attended IU in the late 1970s, spoke about “Navigating Multiple Identities” at the Helene G. Simon Hillel Center on Wenesday.

Obejas said you can’t allow others to define you because they will try and make you one dimensional. People are more complex than one identity, she said.

Obejas’ public identity has changed throughout her life.

In Hawaii, she’s white. In Istanbul, she’s Jewish. In America, she’s Cuban.
“I am a specific breed of an American,” Obejas said.

While Obejas was in a southern airport, a group came up to her and said that they “wanted me to meet Jesus and save my soul.”

She didn’t want to tell them she was a lesbian, but she did tell them she was Jewish.
This was the first time she had identified herself as such.

Her father was Jewish, but her mother was Catholic. But growing up in Michigan City, Ind., she lived in a large Jewish population, and as she grew older she identified with that part of herself. However, she wondered how this would fit into her Hispanic identity.

“Because I am a Latina does that mean I climbing up or down the hierarchical ladder of oppression?” Obejas said. “Oh, where oh where has my identity gone?”

Obejas said that while labels choose her, she knows who she is. Although Obejas’ mother is from African descent, she does not identify herself as black or African because that would be misleading.

“My identity is fluid,” Obejas said, “ ... but it is not a purely subjective experience.”

Obejas solidifies all parts of her to one identity.

“Constant cultural intercourse is a good thing,” Obejas said.

Obejas’ sometimes-conflicting identities resonated with students.

Freshman Shaily Hakimian identifies herself as Persian, Iranian, Moroccan, Jewish, Israeli and “big in the queer community.”

Sometimes these sides of her are difficult to balance.

“Obejas taught me that I could be one human instead of being three to four,” Hakimian said. “She helped me put myself together in the mix of craziness.”

Senior Heydi Correa is from Puerto Rico, but moved to Bloomington when she was eight.

“In Puerto Rico, I’m Puerto Rican, but when I say I’m from Puerto Rico in the U.S., people say that’s part of America and that I’m American,” Correa said. “It’s kind of weird. In different doors I’m looked at one way, and then looked at as something else.”