Effects of Enculturation\Acculturation on Mexican Americans
Mrs. Garcia & Mr. Ervin
ENGL 1302 & HUMA 1305
February 27, 2014
Effects of Enculturation\Acculturation on Mexican Americans
Every culture has its own specific characteristics to help differentiate itself from all of the other cultures. They all are composed of the same categories such as foods, traditions, values, holidays, language and many more. All of these things play their own specific roles to help create the big picture; they help define the culture. If some of the traditions, like language, from another culture were to be adopted into the current culture, it would enrich it rather than deprive the culture of meaning. Language is only one of the many aspects that help define a culture so, if another language is used, then the culture will still survive without losing meaning. The adoption of a new language into a culture will not always have an effect that makes the culture lose meaning in values or traditions.(Semantic cohesion with next sentence)
Rather, it could have an acculturation effect. Acculturation is when one culture mixes itself with another culture that is dominant in the current location and inherits values and traditions to form a bigger, more enriched culture. This is greatly shown in the blending of the American language and culture with the Mexican culture. By adopting the English language into the life style of Mexican Americans, the Hispanic culture has experienced a huge acculturation affect. This effect of aggregation to the culture can be shown in Mexican traditions such as birthday parties, acting, and quinceañeras.
A birthday party is a tradition that is celebrated differently in various cultures. Traditions are everywhere in the Mexican American culture, especially in the way that Mexican Americans celebrate their birthday parties. The Mexican American way of celebrating birthdays has experienced an acculturation effect since the adoption of the English language, rather than a loss in tradition or meaning. This is shown not
ENGL 1302 & HUMA 1305
February 27, 2014
Effects of Enculturation\Acculturation on Mexican Americans
Every culture has its own specific characteristics to help differentiate itself from all of the other cultures. They all are composed of the same categories such as foods, traditions, values, holidays, language and many more. All of these things play their own specific roles to help create the big picture; they help define the culture. If some of the traditions, like language, from another culture were to be adopted into the current culture, it would enrich it rather than deprive the culture of meaning. Language is only one of the many aspects that help define a culture so, if another language is used, then the culture will still survive without losing meaning. The adoption of a new language into a culture will not always have an effect that makes the culture lose meaning in values or traditions.(Semantic cohesion with next sentence)
Rather, it could have an acculturation effect. Acculturation is when one culture mixes itself with another culture that is dominant in the current location and inherits values and traditions to form a bigger, more enriched culture. This is greatly shown in the blending of the American language and culture with the Mexican culture. By adopting the English language into the life style of Mexican Americans, the Hispanic culture has experienced a huge acculturation affect. This effect of aggregation to the culture can be shown in Mexican traditions such as birthday parties, acting, and quinceañeras.
A birthday party is a tradition that is celebrated differently in various cultures. Traditions are everywhere in the Mexican American culture, especially in the way that Mexican Americans celebrate their birthday parties. The Mexican American way of celebrating birthdays has experienced an acculturation effect since the adoption of the English language, rather than a loss in tradition or meaning. This is shown not