HISPANIC AMERICAN DIVERSITY JASON STRAWBRIDGE ETH/125 4/23/11 DAVID DIBARI The United States is a place of many different cultures. Diverse people from all over the world make up our diverse communities however; most groups still retain some of their original heritage. Hispanic Americans make up a large part of our nation and even though the people that make up this group come from vary countries all over the world, they are grouped together by their language and not their different cultures. Hispanic Americans do have many similarities however there are also vast amount differences between the nationalities that most Americans refer to as Hispanics. Mexican Americans Mexican Americans make up the highest number of Hispanics in
Filipino Latino culture has been much more about Asia than Africa. There are numerous consequences for the ways in which the past shapes the present for these different types of Latinos. Those in the Philippines are more deeply influenced by the great religious traditions of Asia, while those with Caribbean aspects to their lives are much more unilaterally affected by Catholicism. Those who have come via the Caribbean are touched by the relatively fewer languages of the Caribbean islands, which are fewer than those spoken in the
Mexicans traditionally have bigger families, but over the years the rate has declined. Mexican Americans tend to usually have bigger families compared to the national average. Family is very important to them and they like to keep close ties with not only their family, but their extended family as well. “Newly arrived immigrants generally continue to seek out relatives in the United States, as did the initial generations after 1848, and may rely upon these individuals and their families for temporary residence as well as assistance in arranging employment, especially in rural regions.” (Englekirk & Marin, 2012, para. 4).
Hispanic are aware of big differences within the group especially among the Mexican American (largest group) and the Cuban American the latter being more conservative, to vote Republican, to become American citizen. (92). Reference: Allard, J. M. and Harvey, C.P. (2009). Understanding and Managing Diversity.
Clean Cut Guaman Poma de Ayala, descending from mitmaqkuna, was a native Andean who was assimilated to the Spanish language and religion. He would have been known as indio ladino meaning that he was “presumably proficient in Castilian, Christian in belief, and Hispanicized in custom,” (Adorno in Andrien, 145). Due to the loss of lands to the Chachapoya family and the injustices that Poma had to face because of the political system, Poma would become increasingly involved in the political sphere. As a result, he would agree with the statements made by the cabildo of Uyumbicho dealing with deforestation around the time of the late 16th century. Guaman Poma initially was driven by his own self-interest for land.
Inter-racial and multi-ethnic families are growing rapidly. More and more children are being born with two or more different ethnic or racial backgrounds. Richard Rodriguez, a noted American essayist and social commentator, calls this the “browning of America.” He is not speaking of just skin color, but how we have started to borrow from these cultures. What is emerging is a new blending of people and culture. Economic changes are slowly taking place to accommodate the intermixing of cultures.
The third and fourth generation of immigrants is particularly different from previous generations of immigrants because of the failure to become a custom with economic status, intermarriage rates and education norms. Like I have said before, I believe that the Spanish language is such a powerful thing, but more and more immigrants are using Spanish as a primary language and not speaking English. Even if they do speak English it is often not the best. There is such a huge concentration in certain areas that amongst them English is not needed. I personally feel that as a American born citizen, all immigrants need to learn English.
(OCDE 2006) In the past Americans have placed blame on immigrants for social and economic instabilities. We have seen anti-Semitism, racism, segregation and various other forms of discrimination toward immigrants for decades. As a result a sense of “otherness” has developed towards particular minority groups, creating a separation between “us” as citizens, and “them” as immigrants. Intern this separation has fostered social diasporas amongst generations. Currently American society is establishing the same sense of “otherness” as we have seen in the past towards Latino’s, our most recent immigrants to the United States.
When bilingual education first came around Mexican Americans took advantage of the education in both public and private schools. In 1997 Proposition 227 was supported by Californians supporting the end of bilingual education in public schools. Mexican Americans were opposed to the ending of the bilingual education. “Most Mexican Americans are Roman Catholic and are ardent believers.” (Kwintessential, unkn) A large number of Mexican Americans do however participate in other similar religions, however. Mexican Americans used religious-based celebrations and cultures to foster solidarity amongst them.
Would you rather have a professor that speaks one or two languages? People may think that knowing two tongues is impressive and important to the students, but it could also bring confusion to the other peers. A student in an English class would feel more comfortable knowing that the instructor’s first language is English. Then by surprise the students find out that the instructor messed up the student’s attention by speaking in Spanish. Students will start to think, “I thought we were in an English class?” The reason why the instructor spoke in a different language may be that he/she has students from Mexico, the most common language spoken around here is Spanish, or perhaps Spanish is the first language he/she learned.