As a result of her parent’s decision, Tanya Barrientos(2011) explains in a somber tone how she rejected her cultural identity because she wanted to fit in with her new fellow Americans. She paints a portrait of how Americans during that time were not culturally tolerant, and expected those who entered America to leave their culture at the border. Thus, she felt that being a “Mexican” had a negative connotation. She states, “To me, speaking Spanish translated into being poor. It meant waiting tables and cleaning hotel rooms” (p. 57). Thus, she took pride in not being able to speak her native tongue; and, furthermore, she took pride in her American peers saying that she did not seem Mexican. The authors states that comments such as those “made me feel superior. It made me feel American. It made me feel white” (p. 58).…
Culture is What Matters Richard Rodriguez’s essay “Blaxicans and Other Reinvented Americans,” reveals race should not matter on how you identify yourself but instead it is culture what matters. Throughout, the essay Rodriguez highlights how when people were coming into neighborhoods “They were being welcomed within a new community for reasons of culture”(90). This suggest how it did not matter which race they were. Race does not matter because people might identify themselves as the culture they believe in. Not everyone is going to chose the race they belong too but instead choose what they believe they belong in.…
In elementary school, my classmates and I would treat each other equally despite our different ethnic backgrounds. We distinguish each other by personalities as a whole rather than the color of our skin or ethnicity. In fact, according to studies by the Huffington Post, by 2042 the racial minorities will become the majorities of the United States population. In Richard Rodriguez’s article, “Blaxicans and Other Reinvented Americans”, he states how immigrants aren’t getting the credit for what they deserve. In addition, he describes how the younger generations are changing and forming the cultures in America. I agree with Rodriguez’s claim that assimilation happens slowly because it’s only natural to gradually assimilate the cultures in life.…
John Nieto-Phillips book “The Language of Blood” studies the reasons behind New Mexicans effort to label themselves as people of pure Spanish decedent. Following Spain’s conquest into Latin America and their subsequent war with the United States, Nuevomexicanos were keen to promote the idea that they were the direct descendants of the Spanish conquistadores. The goal was to gain the full inclusion of New Mexico into the United States and to dissuade the belief that they were the result of breeding between Spanish colonist and Native Americans. To discourage that sentiment, a rigid caste system emerged, which served to re-invent the identity of Nuevomexicanos. This “invented” Spanish identity managed to persuade white Americans that they were worthy of statehood. However, the caste system that persisted subjugated and segregated their own people, which was similar in fashion to the way whites worked to sequester them.…
Immigrants and their assimilation into America is a long standing occurrence, with initial experiences by the Pilgrims of the early 1600s to the first documentation of mass immigration with the arrival of Catholic and Jewish immigrants, from Italy and Russia during the colonial era in the late 1800s to early 1900s. With this influx at the time being labelled as “New Immigration”, “Nativists feared the new arrivals lacked the political, social, and occupational skills needed to successfully assimilate into American culture” (Wikipedia). These historical concerns continue to evolve in modern debate of the pros and cons of immigrant assimilation, the conflicting interests of Immigrant and Nation, and examination of the meaning of the term “assimilation’…
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…
One of the greatest questions we ask ourselves is “Who am I?” We gain life experiences, entertain ourselves with personality tests, and even inquire psychics about our being. The truth is, our identity is not a static matter. Richard Rodriguez struggles with his cultural identity between California and Mexico. His conflicting feelings are conveyed within the introduction of his written work, Days of Obligation. Through juxtaposition, paradox, and oxymoron, Rodriguez compares the cultures, and eventually comes to the conclusion that both represent him equally.…
I’m talking to. If I know that the word “Hispanic” bothers people, then I’ll say Latino. But if they ask me from what country,…
The year is 1776. In an act of defiance of the oppressive rule of the powerful nation of Great Britain, the political leaders of the British-American colonies sign into existence the United States of America. Even before this inception of the United States, North America had been seen as a place where one could move to start a new life and reap the full rewards for one’s work. These opportunities combined with the new United States government founded on the ideals of freedom and equity have attracted countless families from all over the world, making the United States truly a country of immigrants. Immigrants from European nations coming to America both assimilated and helped to shape the culture of the nation. Others, either immigrants or those forced to come to the United States, were marked with distinguishable differences from the European majority. The Africans and Asians are examples of some of these minorities, but, in my belief, one of the groups that has had the most unique struggle to become part of the ‘great melting pot’ of America is the Latino culture. For many different reasons Latin Americans have struggled to assimilate with the American culture for hundreds of years.…
What does it mean to be an “American”? To each individual person it means something very different. For the writer Bharati Mukherjee, who wrote the essay, “American Dreamer”, to be a true American someone has to want to be an American, not just prove that they merited citizenship. Her essay “American Dreamer” goes in depth into this idea and her opinion that as an American one should believe in bringing together the cultures in America. “We must think of American culture and nationhood as a constantly reforming, transmogrifying “we” (Mukherjee 438). For the author James Baldwin, who wrote the essay “Stranger in the Village”, an American is a person who is integrated with other cultures, and will never be a strictly “white” culture. “This world is white no longer, and it will never be white again.” (Baldwin 449) There are vast differences in the cultures of the world and to be integrated into a new culture can often be troublesome. These two essays have agreeing opinions on both of the authors’ predictions for the future of America and the refusal of the American culture to accept cultures other than their own, however they contrast with the authors’ own personal experiences in a culture other than their own.…
With the alleged increasing influx of immigrants the intensification of racism and nativism has taken a new shape and seeped into the media, as well as local, state, and federal policy. Particularly, the escalation of nativism is concentrated at Latinos, and has thus, created an issue of illegality. In addition, nativism, an adverse outlook on foreign individuals, has remained molded by dynamics that shift with historical occurrences and has influenced anti-immigrant sentiments (Higham, 2002, 3).…
There are many different cultures in America, every one of them unique and plays an important role in our society. The very definition of culture: an individual’s world view, experiences, symbolism, behaviors, values, morals and all other learner attributes are what collectively make up any one culture. Within our American society, there exists many different co-cultures or subcultures as they may be referred too. Among these co-cultures are two dominants; the Hispanic and Chinese communities. The two co-cultures account for roughly 37 million and three 323 million of the US population respectively. (WorldAtlas)…
Becoming Mexican American: A study into the cultural developments of Mexican immigrants to the United States The purpose of this paper is to review and discuss the inviting work of George Sánchez, Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture and Identity in Chicano Los Angeles, 1900-1945. While reviewing this work of Sánchez, the essay will make use of an article written by Grace Peña Delgado relating to the immigration issues of the United States in the early twentieth century. Delgado`s article, ‘_At Exclusion’s Southern Gate: Changing Categories of Race and Class among Chinese Froterizos_’ discusses the Chinese immigrants in northern Mexico. To provide the reader with accurate and concise information the original works of the two authors will be used extensively, as the purpose of the essay is to criticize these works. The essay will also make use of a number of internet web-sites for general information on the Mexican and American historiesof the early twentieth century. A detailed list of books and resources used in writing this paper will be provided at the end, in the form of a bibliography. In conclusion, the essay’s purpose is to provide detailed and concise criticism of George Sánchez’s book, Becoming Mexican American, while supporting the criticism with Grace Delgado’s article. Ceren Keskin 207138579 BIBLIOGRAPHY Sánchez, George. Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture and Identity in Chicano Los Angeles, 1900-1945. Oxford University Press, 1995. Delgado, Grace Peña. “At Exclusion’s Southern Gate: Changing Categories of Race and Class among Chinese Froterizos_”__. _In the Continental Crossroads, 183-200. Duke University Press,…
The culture of the United States of America is essentially Western, yet is affected by African, Native American, Asian, Polynesian, and Latin American societies. A strand of what might be portrayed as American society began its development once again 10,000 years back with the movement of Paleo-Indians from Asia, Oceania, and Europe, into the district that is today the mainland United States. The United States of America has its own particular one of a kind social and social attributes, for example, tongue, social propensities, music, expressions, legends and food. The United States of America is an ethnically and racially various nation as an aftereffect of vast scale relocation…
One of the first steps of finding one’s cultural identity is analyzing your family’s background. Since a majority of my family grew up or lives in Florida, and I did as well, I can say that I am a native Floridian. Also, most of my family grew up as or is Christian, and I can say that I am as well. My parents grew up in a small town, and I did as well. There are a lot of similarities between their identities and mine when one looks the surface. However, there is much more to cultural identity than what one’s family’s identity…