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Writing a narrative about myself
Autobiographical narrative 4 pages long
Reflection on writing personal narrative
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In the famous essay “Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian”, Edith Maude Eaton asserts her opinion that “individuality is more important than nationality.” I have to agree with this. People are not labels. For example, I’m not just a writer, or bisexual, or blonde, or smart, or an American. I’m me. The only me. Sure, each of those labels can be applied to me, but they do not define me. My nationality, as a label, is only important on official paperwork that I want nothing to do with. Most labels that are applied to me don’t bother me, but at this moment in time, I don’t want to be an American. Our presidency is very possibly going to be the next Hitler, our school system is a redacted string of swears I cannot repeat on an official
...American often assumes a person ethnicity by their appearance rather than their ancestries. The race relations in the U.S are nowhere near the idea of a blurred color line.
Within the recent years there has been many changes occurring in our nation that had never happened before. Well defined social understandings such as gender, race, sexually as well as other self-identifying terms that had been previously well understood were starting to change and evolve, no longer fitting the social mold that it once had. A great illustration for my previous statement of change can be seen in the article “The Year We Obsessed Over Identity” by Wesley Morris, which highlights specific major events that had occurred in recent years till two thousand and fifteen. One case discussed in the article was the idea that race was defined by your skin color and other biological characteristics that landed
In this world we are constantly being categorized by our race and ethnicity, and for many people it’s hard to look beyond that. Even though in the past many stood up for equality and to stop racism and discrimination, it still occurs. In this nation of freedom and equality, there are still many people who believe that their race is superior to others. These beliefs are the ones that destroy our nation and affect the lives of many. The people affected are not limited by their age group, sex, social status, or by their education level. Their beliefs can cause them to attack other groups verbally or in silence and even reaching to the point of violence. All of this occurs because we can’t be seen as a “people”, but rather like “species” that need to be classified. An example of racism due to race and ethnicity as categories of identity is seen in the article written by Daphne Eviatar entitled “Report Finds Widespread Discrimination against Latino Immigrants in the South.” In this particular case white supremacy groups discriminate Hispanics that are both legal and illegal in the southern states of America, portraying several theoretical concepts.
Therefore it has become a source of division within the working class that only works in favor for the bourgeois and capitalist. On the there hand, Ethnicity has a wider concept than race but still can be useful and counterproductive. To begin, one obvious reason why ethnicity is useful because it allows for other cultures, customs to express themselves. Secondly, promotes multiculturalism and diversity. Be that as it may, it is counterproductive and overlapping because the systematic distinctions within ethnicity lead to equality and inequality in society Therefore resulting to racial supremacy and privilege. Given these points, in this paper, I will discuss in details the ways in which the concepts of race and ethnicity are useful and how they are counterproductive with regards to different authors; Peter Wade, Robert Milles, Etienne Balibar, David Nirebeng, Roman Grosfoguel and Joan
In the past, race could be so narrow a definition as to indicate what country a person was from. It could also be an indication of class in many ways, as anyone not of certain European descent was often considered of lower social standing, particularly during the times before slavery was outlawed. In modern times, this definition has fallen by the wayside and instead we use nationality to indicate a country of origin while race is considered a broader term. Race is defined by Dictionary.com as “an arbitrary classification of modern humans, sometimes, especially formerly, based on any or a combination of various physical characteristics, as skin color, facial form, or eye shape, and now frequently based on such genetic markers as blood groups” (dictionary.com, race). This c...
...cities in some area. Mohr had many situations similar to Nagel’s ideas that were brought forward through the English lesson. Mohr insinuates how the immigrants are seen in different perspectives, socially and politically, by American Citizens. Through the “English Lesson” Mohr describes how the change in surroundings over time can influence the construction of ethnicity. She also points out specifics on how some ethnicities have advantages over others. While reading both texts, it was clear that Nicholasa Mohr could provide support to Joane Nagel’s theories and ideas on ethnicity.
I have never been hyphenated as German-American, like many ethnicities are titled in ways such as Mexican-American, Asian-American etc. This leads me into talking about Symbolic Ethnicity, Symbolic ethnicity is a term coined by Herbert Gans (1979) to refer to ethnicity that is individualistic in nature and without real social cost for the individual.” From the reading “Mary Waters, A Professor Of Sociology At Harvard University, Is The Author Of. Optional Ethnicities: For Whites Only? By Mary Waters (n.d.): n. pag. Web.” Why is it that it is so easy to obtain the “all American” title for someone who is Caucasian, but so difficult for a minority to identify as an American. Although my family has been in the United States for only 50 years, I will never have someone try to discredit me if I only identify as American. For example, when referring to the brown bag rule or the one drop rule, your ancestors can date back in America since our founding fathers were around, but if they appear to physically have some kind of non European descent, they will always be written off as just hyphenated American. This is strange to me, because I don’t understand how just because you are not fully some
Nationality can be important to many but to others it is not important. Many humans believe nationality is
I am an American. Although I say that, there are prefixes I must place before that as to be properly identified. I am A Native American; a population which has a rough history with America. An LGBT American; another population which has a rough history with America. I am a minority American, like the majority of the citizens in our amazing and diverse country. These prefixes result in unfair descrimination. My only hope for the future is that minority drop their prefixes to become simply American.
is based off your physical appearance and the ancestry of a person. Society sees race as
Personally, I believe the U.S. government should continue to categorize its populace into racial categories but keeping in mind that everyone are still human beings with different cultural backgrounds. These categories provide characteristics that identify each person within the society and in what culture groups these individuals belong to; therefore, the categories play a role in the community. The idea of emphasizing that race is real has some advantages and disadvantages. The advantages include being able to analyze the differences that shape who and how unique an individual is and the cultural practices that certain ones follow while others don’t. In contrast, the disadvantages involve an idea that contradicts the deeply held values and
Labels carry strong attributes, one of the harshest the is negative effects of labeling. You can negatively label yourself or others. "Just one those things. You know, everybody makes mistakes. And a dead nigger ain 't really such big mistake when you think about it. Matter of fact you mize well forget the whole thing. Nigger wasn 't going nowhere, nohow. I mean he wasn 't no brain surgeon or astronaut, no movie star or big-time athlete" (Bartholomae, Petrosky, "Our Time", p. 662). In the event that society or you consider yourself or other as a nigger, that individual is present as just another black indolent person in the public eyes; he or she conveys the attributes of that negative label and that title sticks.
Being able to identify with a certain group has been an issue that individuals hesitate with daily. Am I Black, are you a girl, what religion do you practice? These are all common questions that society has forced individuals to concentrate on. Should an individual have to pick a side or is it relevant to the human race to identify with any group? One may believe not, but for others having and knowing one’s own identity is important, because it is something that they have been developing their entire life. Along with how their identity influenced their life chances and their self-esteem. This can also affect how society interact with whatever identity an individual chooses to live. Which is why it was important to recognize how identifying
Labels are powerful. I’m a sister, daughter, niece, cousin, best friend, co-worker, confidant, masochist, volunteer, submissive, girlfriend, bisexual, sadist, polyamorous teacher... wow! What kind of assumptions would one make by reading that sentence? What would happen if I wore a button that listed all of my “labels”? Would I be treated differently?
Ethnocentrism, group identification, and labeling are all counterproductive to creating a positive culture of diversity in the United States. Group identification and labeling promote discrimination and prejudice. Ethnocentrism prevents us from growing as a nation. The United States is a diverse melting pot of cultures, and we need to practice pluralism if we are to prosper.