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The importance of cultural identity
The importance of cultural identity
How does culture influence identity
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Despite the traditions Mexicans are brought up with everyone is given the opportunity to decide and choose which specific traditions to enforce in their own lives. The Herrada’s and the Zapata 's are both mexican families that follow very strong Mexican traditions, yet despite the Mexican lifestyle they both choose to live their lives completely different. These two families both share the same cultural beliefs but choose to welcome or categorize people differently. Mexicans are people that strongly believe in enforcing the Mexican culture on their children, they believe that the next generations to come must carry the hard and known mexican traditions. The Herrada’s believed that people who don 't enforce these characteristics are shamed upon and highly judged. The Herrada’s are a family who strongly fits under that characteristics of judging others for not be a certain way or not following the “mexican traditions”. The Herrada’s are a family that believe and strongly follow every mexican tradition by the books. They believe in ever mexican festivity as well as every mexican myth ever told. The Herrada’s are a family who are definitely considered old fashioned for following these beliefs. They strongly believe that anyone that is mexican and does not choose to follow these certain traditions …show more content…
The older women stated that “everyone that wasn’t Mexican, black, or Asian were okies.” (390). Like Soto’s Grandmother the Herradas are quick to judge people that they consider different. Sotos Grandmother categorize people based on the their ethnical background. This came to prove that she did not approve of people that did not fit under a certain technical background. Like soto’s Grandmother the Herradas are a family that discriminate others for not loving the same lifestyle. Although they don 't discriminate towards Mexicans they high criticize Mexicans that have chosen to follow other beliefs and live a differently from
In the essay, Mr. Soto spends a good part of the paper thinking whether he should continue his relationship with his new Japanese girlfriend. An example of his struggle was a conversation between Mr.Soto and his mother, “ But the more I talked, the more concerned she became. Was it a mistake? ‘Marry a Mexican girl.’ I heard my mother in my mind” (pp. 220). All Mr.Soto doubt about his relationship stems from the beliefs of his family. He was raised with the notions that a Mexican wife was the best and only option for him. It was only through visiting her family, his inner qualms were calmed: “ On the highway, I felt happy, pleased by it all. I patted Carolyn’s thigh. Her people were like Mexicans, only difference” (pp 222). From the experiences of meeting people he properly never would 've met, Mr.Soto found that race has no bounds, one
The grandmother holds a special place in the family for that reason. Women organize feast days, celebrate rituals and offer prayers. The mother sets up the alter in the home where prayers are offered for the living and the dead. She makes the home a domestic church. Hispanic women are the evangelizers and teachers of values, yet their leadership has often gone unrecognized.
Mexico’s problems originally began upon the arrival of the Spanish in 1492, as illustrated in Major Problems in Mexican American History by Zaragosa Vargas as well as in the video documentary, Chicano!. The sequence of events which date back to the precolonial Spanish days and take place in Mexico’s history eventually provoke the national movement that called for social justice and equality, especially after the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Then came the question of group and individual identity. Those of Mexican heritage were broken up into the groups "Chicanos," which were the ‘Americanized’ Mexicans or the Mexicans born in the United States, and the actual "Mexicans," who were the native born people which were discriminated against the most.
Mexican American struggles in the United States date back to the Spanish discovery of the New World in 1492. For over five hundred years, Mexicans have endured social injustices and inequalities at the hands of their superiors. The mistreatment of the native people of this land is constantly overlooked for "…the main goals shaping Spanish colonial policy were to maintain and expand political control and to convert Indians to Christianity." (Vargas p.30) With this mindset, the basic nature of relations between the dominant Anglos and the inferior Mexicans was that of suppression, rejection, ignorance and separation as opposed to establishment of ideals that would foster cultural relations and produce the true definition of a "melting pot" society.
It seemed like the author made many jumps from the evidence that they supplied and the conclusion. Throughout this essay, the author mainly focuses on how the authorities view the Pachucas, like how authorities thought they were involved with gangs, that they dangerous and violent, that they committed many crimes. And how the authorities reacted to this, how they sent these young women to juvenile detention centers and blamed the families for the girls being this way. The author does not focus on how the Pachucas effect their community. While the author briefly touches on how the families felt about the Pachucas and how the parents would react when their daughters would first start acting and dressing in this way, the author does not address how the Mexican American community went from the feelings of shame, dishonor and disapproval of the Pachuca fashion, attitudes, and actions to just accepting this part of the new Mexican American women. It seems that the author made too many leaps without actually showing the thought process behind it or providing enough evidence of this in the
The way of behaving or thinking, beliefs, custom, or arts in a particular society is known as culture. There are many different cultures in todays society, however some parts are alike while other parts are more diverse. American culture versus Hispanic culture has some similarities and differences. Whether its food, religion, language, politics, marriages, sports, family, hobbies, or technology; Americans share some of the same things as Hispanics.
Williams, Norma. (2009). The Mexican American family: tradition and change. New York: General Hall. (Primary)
We tend to be like those around us that have the same values and beliefs. So we also tend to do the same things and are raised the same way. Marrying into an Anglo family, this family does not have the close family relations that my Mexican family has. Some Anglo families may, although not to the extent of Mexican households. If you have ever seen My Big Greek Fat Wedding, well this is how Mexican families tend to live their lives, always in each other’s business. I don’t see much of this in my husband’s family and for me, it was a huge adjustment. There almost seems to be a distance and lives are not shared. Where Mexican women think family is most important, Anglo women think family is important, but so is the status. Anglo women seek it all; they want family and career; although not an impossible task, it can take away from family time. “Since prestige, power, and self-esteem are not derived from achieved status to as great an extent among Mexicans, employment is more crucial to psychological well-being for Anglo women than form Mexican” (Ross et al. 1983). Inequality among races shows that Mexicans take immense pride in the household chores while Anglos take great pride in status. By tradition, Mexican women are praised and revered for their roles as homemakers. This view is a status of prestige that is very respected in the Hispanic community. “Ministering mothers are respected revered and recognized important figures despite their alleged low status in the family” (Mirande, 1977:752). On the other hand, “Anglo women are not in traditional homes where the wife receives prestige for her role in family, yet they are not in nontraditional homes where the husband and wife share the work (both outside and inside the home) equally” (Ross et al. 1983). As stated earlier Mexican women in the roles of homemakers in their home are viewed as pillars of strength and respect in their homes and
If one were to visit different countries and societies throughout the world, they may notice the many differences and similarities each region shares. This makes the world a very unique place because there is constant change and diversity everywhere we look, no matter the distance traveled. A prime example of this would be the similarities and differences between the United States of America and Mexico. Although the two are neighboring countries, there is a great deal of diversity amongst them that deserve a thorough examination.
I will begin to examine the Mexican American ethnic group, probing the historical circumstances that impelled them to come to America, focusing on the structure and functioning of their family life to determine or, at least, to raise clues about how and why they have been able or unable to maintain an ethnic identification over the generations, and take a brief look ahead to being to speculate what the future endeavors are for this ethnic group and their constitutive families.
To help me understand and analyze a different culture, I watched the film Selena. The film tells the life story of the famous singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez. Not only does it just tell personal stories from her life, it also gives insight to the Mexican-American culture. Her whole life she lived in the United States, specifically in Texas, but was Hispanic and because of that both her and her family faced more struggles than white singers on the climb to her success. Even though the film is a story about a specific person, it brought understanding into the culture in which she lived. Keeping in mind that these ideas that I drew about the Mexican-American culture is very broad and do not apply to every single person in the culture, there were very obvious differences in their culture and the one that I belong. Mexican-American culture identifies with their family rather than individualized or spiritual identities and the culture has gone through significant changes because of discrimination and the changing demographics of the United States.
Culture is customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group. It includes behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, values, and norms that is shared by a group of people to sustain their lives. Mexican culture is influenced by their familial ties, gender, religion, location and social class, among other factors. Today life in the cities of Mexico has become similar to that in neighboring United States and Europe, with provincial people conserving traditions more so than the Mexican living in the city. In the United States Mexican includes any person of Puerto
Americans and Mexicans perceive masculinity and feminism differently. Some examples in Mexico would be that females tend to stay at home and men tend to be more familiar with labor. In the United States women are used to working for themselves and learning how to save and earn their own money same as men do. Traditionally Mexican men are to be independent and dominant and Mexican women are more dependent and submissive. Americans play the same role whether they 're women or men. Another way how these two countries differ is in education. Young teenage hispanics usually stop going to school or don 't go at all. They normally get taught to work at young age while in the United States teenagers continue their education, it 's rare for one to drop out. They are more successful in life.
Despite this, popular dichos reflect many of the basic, underlying values of contemporary Mexican society and offer a window for examining the beliefs of greatest value to Mexican culture (Roy 288). While some of the dichos are uniquely Mexican in origin, many more were brought to Mexico after 1519 by the Spaniards and therefore reflect the merging of cultures between said Spanish and the indigenous languages of Mexico’s native populations, predominantly amongst which is the Nahuatl, further frustrating any attempts to fully develop an understanding of true Mexican culture. However, because many values are universally human, parallel axioms may be found in cultures around the globe. For example the saying "like father, like son" would be the American equivalent to Mexico’s "de tal palo, tal astilla" (from such a stick such a splinter.) The Mexican linguistic culture has a tradition of mischievousness within its phrasing, often using double meanings, or words or phrases representing the exact opposite of their intentions, thus not everything should be taken literally. These affinities originate from ancient roots in pre-Columbian Mexican linguistic practices (Roy
In the short reading “Like Mexicans” Gary Soto is undecided about what route he should pursue when moving on into the future. In his early teens his grandmother told him to become a barber and to marry a Mexican girl, Soto’s mother told him this as well. When Soto was in his twenties he ended up falling in love with a Japanese woman named Carolyn. Towards the end of the story Soto realized that the reason his mom wanted him to marry a Mexican girl was because they are in the same social class as him. At the end of the story when Soto is at Carolyn’s house he perceived that her family was different, but they were just like Mexicans because they were poor. Throughout this story Soto crossed three life changes: Culture, food,