Once her father realized how Barrientos felt about her native culture, he sought to rectify her feelings by sending her to Mexico City. He told her that living there would allow her to see what Mexican culture had to offer. “That way when anybody calls you Mexican, you will hold your head up” (Barrientos, 2011, p 59). His plan worked, and now Mrs. Barrientos reveals in an enlightening tone that she has spent the…
In Leif Jensen’s article, “Ethnic Identities, Language, and Economic Outcomes among Dominicans in a New Destination,” Jensen observes Dominican immigrants, who migrated to Reading, Pennsylvania from the Dominican Republic, and how they identify themselves in America. He and his fellow researchers start their observations by giving some of the Dominicans, in Reading, surveys about their homes, health, stress, migration history, and other things. They find that 7.6 percent of Reading’s population is Hispanic, which is double Harrisburg’s percentage (Harrisburg is the community with the next closest percentage of Hispanics). They also used open-ended questions concerning race to give the respondents the opportunity to indicate how they classify…
Diaz stated “ Due mostly to their geographical proximity and to the continuous flow of more Hispanic into the United States ; and the fact the largest groups of Hispanics, Mexican Americans and Puerto Ri-cans are geographically and politically an integral part of this country; these factors, among oth-ers, make us different”(48). What she is referring to is, Hispanics accepting their difference doesn’t make them better or worse than any other minority but simply different, has to be the Hispanics way for others to understand them. She also mentions that the Hispanic race is geo-graphically and politically an integral part of this country, explaining how Latinos participate and are as involved as an average American citizen because of the lifestyle Hispanics are introduced…
The majoring groups of Latinos living in the United States. Each of the following groups is described in this section: Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Cubans, Dominicans, Central Americans, and Columbians and Panamanians share a chapter. Within the chapter, Gonzalez writes about individuals or families in order to reflect the general migration story of the larger groups. Thus, these individual portrayals serve as representations of the larger collection of immigrants. In the third section Gonzalez discusses several topics relating to Hispanics living in the United States. The topics include politics, immigration, language and culture, free trade, and the state of Puerto Rico. His theory is that different societies exist as a result of the historical antecedents to our modern society. In the immigrant descriptions help to personalize each of the different groups and allow the reader to identify with their stories. Also, Gonzalez stresses the important differences between each of the various Latino immigrant groups in the United States. Gonzalez combines much historical research with personal interviews he has conducted of various immigrant families. Gonzalez raises several issues concerning Hispanics living in the United States that are timely. He also asserts changes and believes that are essential to ensure Latino prosperity and assimilation in the United States. The changes he suggests are thought provoking and stimulating. Although the book has much strength, it also has limitations. The most obvious limitation of the section is its brevity. Gonzalez attempts to summarize more than 500 years of history in less than eighty pages. As a result, much of the history described is generalized and collapsed into short, summary statements. This book is well suited for those wishing to learn more about Hispanics in the United States.…
Take a glance of what is cultural tradition. There are two types of cultural influences: Traditional culture and Non-traditional culture. The first one is a cultural construct rooted in traditions, rules, symbols, and principles established predominantly in the past. The other one which is often called modern is based on new principles, ideas, and practices. While the traditional tends to be conservative and intolerant to innovations, the non-cultural tradition tends to be absorbing and dynamic (Eric Shivaev & David Levy, 2007). Assimilation is a main subject in the Pocho and religion and gender are two other aspects that we focus on to see the problems. Jose Antonio Villareal, in his novel Pocho, pictured of assimilation as it applies to the experiences of Richard Rubio and his family. The Rubios are Mexicans attempting to start a new life in the United States, and the book records the difficulties they…
As a child I never really noticed that my life was just a slight different from other “normal girls.” My family and my neighborhood had always been filled with many families that were similar to ours. So seeing how my life had been filled with many Hispanic and Latinos around me at all times I never thought of how others would view our many traditions. I would say that like many Hispanics we see our crazy, dancing, fun-loving families as the norm. However after many moves and many changes of friends I started start to notice that the way my family was…
Her father was a world war 2 veteran who loved to travel, so their family traveled a lot. One of her favorite trips that she would go on was to Tijuana, Mexico to visit with her aunt Joan and uncle Juan at the orphanage. Her family would also take some of the kids back to Holland with them for a month or so at a time to let them see what America was like. The boys names were Pepe, Ramon, Christian, Antonio, Pablo, and Danny. Her Aunt Joan picked which boys she thought would be the best for traveling to the United states. Before they came Joan made a cassette tape recording of some basic Spanish to English translated words. The boys were taken to the beach to see Lake Michigan, local parks to play on the playgrounds, and a cottage on an inland lake were they went boating and fishing. In the winter the boys went sledding and even got to sled behind my grandpa's car through the neighborhood. They enjoyed taking the boys shopping and buying them clothes and toys for their time in America. She said how the kids were so amazed to even see grass in the lawns because where they were from it was mostly gravel and dirt. The kids were also amazed to experience what snow was like because they had never seen a real winter before. The boys had so many questions and things to say about America. Most of them were around the ages of 4-12 and had never really known who their parents were. Now, after more than…
“Patricia deja de comer comida en la calle, para eso cocino.” These are words that I constantly hear from my mother whenever I eat outside of the house. My mother is a strict Dominican mother who believes that food from the streets will make me sick or gain weight in an unhealthy way. In the story We’re Not by Andrea Roman, author mentions that her parents could not understand certain unacceptable actions in their culture were acceptable to practice in the United States. My mother is a person who I believe does not understand that neither. Most of our latino parents want to follow and continue to contribute to their culture traditions and beliefs. Sometimes they just make it hard for us to understand, just like the author of the book does not…
* The Taino - indigenous inhabitants of Hispaniola prior to the arrival of the Europeans - divided the island into five chiefdoms and territories.…
I was raised in a Mexican-American home. My parents had my older sister when soon after they graduated high school, so they struggled to provide the economic needs for my older sister’s heart surgeries when she was an adolescent. Because of these conflicts in their life they continued pursuing higher education while allowing my grandmother to look after my sister. They eventually started dedicating their lives to more work than play; therefore, that lead to me and my siblings to raised by my grandmother. Moreover, I grew up living in my grandmother’s house chasing chickens and being forced to eat everything on my plate. My cousins were in the same situation, and we were all around the same age. That lead us to spend everyday together, making…
The culture I chose to explore is the Hispanic culture. The term “Hispanic came from the United States federal government in the 1970’s to group a large but diverse population to connect the language and culture from a Spanish-speaking country. Hispanic is not a race but an ethnic classification (Understanding the Hispanic Culture, n.d.). The Hispanic culture has a wide ancestry which includes Spanish, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, Central and South American regions. Over the past thirty years the Hispanic population has had a tremendous rate of growth in the United States (Clutter, n.d.). The Hispanic culture is often misunderstood or misrepresented as having stressful financial issues or poor education. The important aspect of their culture that is being ignored is the importance of family values, which is a large part of a traditional Hispanic family.…
Cultural conflict as a Hispanic American female is fueled by multiple complex variables. For a typical Hispanic girl living in America the choice of food, clothing, customs, and beliefs are fueled by family traditions and often twisted by American media. Traditional Hispanic girls, speak Spanish, eat Puerto Rican food, confess their sins to a priest every Saturday and going to their church every Sunday. The environment of the tropics inspire colors of clothing while the climate impacts that amount of skin that is often shown. In many ways, traditional Hispanic culture is very strict in terms of how a young girl should behave. Traditional Hispanic females are expected to be unpretentious, to dress modestly, and in every circumstance show respect and honor the family. The misconceptions that society often holds with respect to Hispanic culture and women in particular stem in part from wide range of socio, cultural, and environmental differences. Never the less, the misconceptions and stereotypes that surround Hispanic females have long ranging impacts that are emotional, social, financial, and political in nature.…
The Dominican Republic is a place where many go on vacation to see the country's culture, history, and scenery. Many native Spanish speakers know it has La República Dominicana. The national language is Spanish; however, English is also spoken. As of 2012, the census population was 10.24 million (Nations of the World 532). It took a while for the country to reach this number since it was not inhabited until 1492. This was when Christopher Columbus was sent on a journey to Hispaniola. When he heard of an abundance of gold that had been discovered south, he and his crew journeyed to the spot and settled in Santa Domingo. Santa Domingo is the national capital of the Dominican Republic (Wiarda). In 1795, the French gained control of the land as…
Buffington, S. (2008) Dominican Americans. Retrieved June 23, 2008, from Every Culture Web site: http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Bu-Dr/Dominican-Americans.html…
Many people believe that since Puerto Rico is a common wealth of the United States, that we do not experience the same conflicts as other immigrants but I believe it to be a different kind of struggle. In most cases, the immigration experience is accompanied by acculturation. Acculturation can be defined as the process of cultural change and adaptation that occurs when individuals from different cultures come into contact. Acculturation includes the adoption of ideals, values, and behaviors of the receiving culture. Acculturation represents changes in cultural identity and that personal identity has the potential to ‘anchor’ immigrant people during their transition to a new society.…