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Ethnocentrism vs cultural relativism
Ethnocentrism vs cultural relativism
Acculturation theory of language acquisition essay
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After reading “From Longhouse to Village” by R. Daniel Shaw, I was able to understand the point that he was trying to make throughout the chapters that I read. In chapter 5: From Micro dialects to Language Identity: Linguistic Synthesis. Shaw states, “The comparison of words on lists spread across a room provides a greater understanding of linguistic connections that, in turn, give us a perspective of cultural similarity as well as variation. Language and culture work closely together; what people do, they talk about. Language use assists in classifying people—identifying them by the way they speak. It also sheds light on the way people classify each other.” (From Longhouse to Village).
I can relate to what Shaw is stating in this chapter. I have seen how many people use language to classify and identify them. I have been classified and identified by the way I speak. I have a Spanish accent since English is my second language. Many people have asked me if I am Spanish since I have an accent and I tell them “yes”. But the way they answer will be by “I knew you was Spanish because of your accent.” This makes me mad because people just make assumptions based on what they hear out of a person mouth.
My friend also experience something similar but her experience was really harsh because she never thought that she would be treated that way. What happen to her was that she was in school and she notice that she was being treated different by a classmate. She thought she was imagining that attitude from that student, but she notice that it got more difficult each time and she talked to that student and asked her why was she treating her like she was invisible. The student answer was “I don’t like people that speak with accents bec...
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...e viability of the community and how the Samo will call this individual ayo which meant one with authority. This caught my attention because in their community he was like the president that one that will have the authority to do everything. The only difference was that the Samo leader wouldn’t enforce authority as our president does but he could if he wanted.
R. Daniel Shaw makes relevant statements throughout each chapter that that I have read. The ways that he describes and talks about the Samo is very interesting since he got to live with them and study them I find what he says very accurate. Reading this book has open my mind to understand different aspects of this culture. It has provided me with a different view of my society based on another society way of living.
Works Cited
Shaw, Daniel R 1996 From Longhouse to Village: Samo Social Change
Maggie's American Dream is Margaret Comer's inspiring biography written by her son James P. Comer. It also doubles as the autobiography of James P. Comer himself. It a great story of a person overcoming obstacles to reach their goals and dreams.
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros is about a girl who struggles finding her true self. Esperanza sees the typical figures like Sally and Rafaela. There is also her neighbor Marin shows the “true” identity for women on Mango Street. She also sees her mother is and is not like that at the same time. The main struggle that Esperanza has is with beauty. This explains why most of the negative people that Esperanza meets on Mango Street, and her gender, helped her see the mold she needed to fill in order to give herself an identity.
Through the article, "How the School Shortchange Boys," by Gerry Garibaldi implies that the school setting has experienced a transformation towards feminization. In the past, the child faced numerous conditions that vindicated her trouble in a male dominated society. However, after the deceitful discharge processes, the woman was finally free and all institutions welcomed her input seeking to create a fair society. According to Garibaldi (2006), the modern school setting deprives the boy child freedom to interact and relate in a natural environment (Garibaldi 54). Girls are kind, complacent, understanding and conform to salient regulations without emphasis. With these elements, girls comply with school regulations delivering assignments on time. The boy child is inquisitive, rational and desires logical explanations explaining the reason behind every instruction. The modern school setting does shortchange boys as it creates an unequal platform where teachers favor girls and victimize boys because of their inherent traits.
The Europeans changed the land of the home of the Indians, which they renamed New England. In Changes in the Land, Cronon explains all the different aspects in how the Europeans changed the land. Changing by the culture and organization of the Indians lives, the land itself, including the region’s plants and animals. Cronon states, “The shift from Indian to European dominance in New England entailed important changes well known to historians in the ways these peoples organized their lives, but it also involved fundamental reorganizations less well known to historians in the region’s plant and animal communities,” (Cronon, xv). New England went through human development, environmental and ecological change from the Europeans.
There are people existing among us with a special trait or characteristic that makes them stand out above the masses. They are “heroes” in a sense, who perform great acts of sacrifice and promote hope when it seems that the last drop of faith has evaporated from one’s soul. These individuals remind us of saints who walked before us, healing and caring for the sick and destitute when no other man dared. Author, Tracy Kidder (2004), brings to the forefront the noble deeds of a modern day saint, Paul Farmer, through his writing in Mountains Beyond Mountains. He illustrates how a single man can lead nations toward healing, even in the midst of war, turmoil, limited resources, or “mountains” of bureaucratic red tape. Although the book tells a story about Farmer’s life, academic achievements, and global contributions toward curing infectious diseases, the main theme, as illustrated by the book title, is that no matter what a person does, there is always more to be done. Beyond the hills and valleys of Farmer’s journey, Kidder (2004) provides scenes of leadership styles along the way. Is a leader born or is leadership learned? A review of Paul Farmer’s mission, through the eyes of the author, may provide insight to support both philosophies.
Gabriela Quintanilla Mrs. Allen A.P English 12 12 March 2014 The House on Mango Street Sandra Cisneros once said “'Hispanic' is English for a person of Latino origin who wants to be accepted by the white status quo. ’ Latino' is the word we have always used for ourselves.” In the novel I read, The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros, the main character, a twelve-year-old Chicana (Mexican-American girl), Esperanza, saw self-definition as a struggle, this was a major theme in the novel through Esperanza’s actions and the ones around her. Esperanza tries to find identity in herself as a woman as well as an artist throughout the novel through her encounters.
Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate is the story of an African boy, Kek, who loses his father and a brother and flees, leaving his mother to secure his safety. Kek, now in Minnesota, is faced with difficulties of adapting to a new life and of finding his lost mother. He believes that his mother still lives and would soon join him in the new found family. Kek is taken from the airport by a caregiver who takes him to live with his aunt. It is here that Kek meets all that amazed him compared to his home in Sudan, Africa. Home of the brave shows conflicts that Kek faces. He is caught between two worlds, Africa and America. He feels guilty leaving behind his people to live in a distant land especially his mother, who he left in the midst of an attack.
The question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” is often asked by teachers, parents, friends, and family addressing younger children. It would seem that most Americans have within them the sense that dreams do have the potential to become reality. People often choose to see the “bright futures” of children in order to reassure them they can be anything they want to be. It seems as though there are no barriers to reach a goal if enough hard work is applied. Does this truth transcend cultural divides? Do people of minority in the United States have the same hope about their futures as the majority does? Sandra Cisneros depicts the unique dreams of Mexican-American women despite cultural depression in her story The House on Mango Street.
In Richard Lederer’s article “All American Dialects”, he states the ironic truth that “most of us are aware that large numbers of people in the U.S. speak very differently than we do.” (152) How is it that one language can have so many speech communities? It is because of the way our nation was developed. Our language is a mixture of culture and lifestyle that has diverted our English dialect, so that each region’s speech is unique. How I speak can define who I am, determine what I do, and locate exactly where I’m from in the U.S. This is the value of my, and my language’s speech communities. If one was to travel to Germany they would be constantly hearing German. What they wouldn’t notice is that each city within Germany tends to have their
Flannery O'Conner has again provided her audience a carefully woven tale with fascinating and intricate characters. "The Displaced Person" introduces the reader to some interesting characters who experience major life changes in front of the reader's eyes. The reader ventures into the minds of two of the more complex characters in "The Displaced Person," Mrs. McIntyre and Mrs. Shortley, and discovers an unwillingness to adapt to change. Furthermore, the intricate details of their characters are revealed throughout the story. Through these details, the reader can see that both Mrs. McIntyre and Mrs. Shortley suffer from a lack of spiritual dimension that hinders them as they face some of life's harsher realities. Mrs. McIntyre struggles throughout the story, most notably during the tragic conclusion. Her lack of spiritual dimension is revealed slowly until we ultimately see how her life is devastated because of it. Mrs. Shortley, on the other hand, seems to have it all figured out spiritually -- or at least she believes that she does. It is only in the last few minutes of her life that she realizes all she has convinced herself of is wrong.
The video “American Tongues” is about variety of English dialect in America, and people still carry prejudice and stereotypes in people’s accents and dialects. These accent and dialects are not limited in pronunciation. There are different words, phrases and grammars in their dialects, therefore, some people are noticed where they are from. As a premise, everyone has an accent. However, some people believe they don’t have an accent because people around them have the exact same accent and dialect in their community. Therefore, they haven’t noticed differences. In the video, there was a scene of a woman was correcting her accent for work to speak “standard dialect”. It was required for her to speak “standard dialect” for work because when she was out of her original community where
When reflecting and writing on Eiseley’s essay and the “magical element”, I balk. I think to myself, “What magic?”, and then put pen to page. I dubiously choose a kiddie pool to draw inspiration from, and unexpectedly, inspiration flows into me. As I sit here in this little 10x30 foot backyard, the sky is filled with the flowing gaseous form of water, dark patches of moist earth speckle the yard, the plants soak up their scattered watering, and the leaves of bushes and trees imbue the space with a sense of dampness from their foliage. As my senses tune into the moisture that surrounds me, I fill Braedon’s artificial pond with water. I stare at the shimmering surface, contemplating Eiseley’s narrative, and the little bit of life’s wellspring caught in Brae’s pool. I see why Eiseley thought the most abundant compound on the earth’s surface is mystical.
The Friday Everything Changed” written by Anne Hart describes how a simple question challenges the
A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid presents the hypothetical story of a tourist visiting Antigua, the author’s hometown. Kincaid places the reader in the shoes of the tourist, and tells the tourist what he/she would see through his/her travels on the island. She paints a picturesque scene of the tourist’s view of Antigua, but stains the image with details of issues that most tourists overlook: the bad roads, the origin of the so-called native food, the inefficiency of the plumbing systems in resorts, and the glitches in the health care system. Kincaid was an established writer for The New Yorker when she wrote this book, and it can be safely assumed that majority of her readers had, at some point in their lives, been tourists. I have been a tourist so many times before and yet, I had never stopped to consider what happens behind the surface of the countries I visit until I read this essay. Kincaid aims to provoke her readers; her style of writing supports her goal and sets both her and her essay apart. To the reader, it sounds like Kincaid is attacking the beautiful island, pin-pointing the very things that we, as tourists, wish to ignore. No tourist wants to think about faeces from the several tourists in the hotel swimming alongside them in the oceans, nor do they want to think about having accidents and having to deal with the hospital. It seems so natural that a tourist would not consider these, and that is exactly what Kincaid has a problem with.
The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss is a story about a family who are shipwrecked on an uninhabited island.