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Essay on diversity in america
Immigration to the us in the 19th century introduction
Impact of cultural diversity
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The climate and landscapes of America are as diverse as the 300 million people that live here, and the choices to which region to live this often determined by the cultures and traditions of its people. Most citizens chose to live in (or around) one of America’s largest cities, where you will be exposed to the unlimited diversity of races, cultures, art and architecture. Other people may prefer to live in much smaller cities or towns, where one culture may be more traditional and consistent. There are many American’s who prefer to live in a more rural or private area, like in remote mountains, isolated forests or vast desserts. Yet wherever a person lives within the United States of America, there will be a blending of heritages, the mixing of traditions and the merging lifestyles. The immense combinations of people and cultures have been brought here from all around the world. Since the beginning of the Spanish settlements in the West, to the earliest European colony in the East, America has had a great mix of multicultural peoples living together. For instance the millions of ‘Native Americans’(living amongst their native cultures for thousands of years) were the first peoples/tribes encountered by European inhabitors when reaching this continent (which later became the United States of America). This excessive gathering of diverse peoples: in a new land, holding on to their own customs and cultures, has created the America we know today. This combination of multi-cultural people, are who formed together and later gained their independence through war and became a strong and powerful nation. The history of America’s ‘mixed inhabitants’ is complex yet fascinating. America has been called ‘The Melting Pot’ of the world, ...
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...le of Spanish Colonial architecture built in Santa Fe around 1610 is the historical Palace of the Governors which too has the authentic Spanish adobe style and is the nation’s oldest continuously occupied public building. It has housed 60 governors of New Mexico and became a place of refuge for Spanish colonialist during the Pablo Indian revolt of 1680. The long covered side walk serves as a market place which faces the plaza. There are several rooms re-created with furniture and artifacts from its original time period. Robert Hughes uses clear yet detailed information when describing Santa Fe’s troublesome history. His descriptions are expressive and confessing. Robert Hughes views the history of American Art as only an outsider would. He defies our biased notions of America’s past while challenging use to see historical art and architecture in a renewed approach.
In the town of Santa Rosa California, in the county of Sonoma sits a very run down structure in need of either reconstruction or preservation of the remaining structure. Whether they reconstruct the structure or not, it is a prime example of a structure to be added to the National Register of Historic Places. This building is called the Carrillo Adobe and was owned by a woman by the name of Maria Ygnacia de Carrillo. However the site and part of the structure was constructed before Maria Carrillo moved to the area which would later become Santa Rosa, California and constructed the first structure in the town. The foundation was laid by monks of the Franciscan order, as they planned to build the twenty-second mission in California. However the monks moved on to build a mission in the surrounding area. In 1837 Carrillo, who had just become a widow, moved from San Diego County with her children to the area, which was not yet known as Santa Rosa.
He makes a point of how American’s place an extreme emphasis on “lineal order”, we take pride in “lining things up, getting thing in line… We have it all neatly separated and categorized” (16). This statement is absolutely true, if we look about our society, the city we live in, the design of our houses, the way desks are arranged in a school, everything is in straight, orderly lines. In contrast, in Native American communities “the reverse is true… instead of separating into categories of the sort, family groups sit in circles, meeting are in circles” (17). These are examples of how the Native American culture places great value on coming together and including people in their traditions. In Toelken opinion, these differences in spatial systems also affect our relationships with
Johns recognizes the architectural dependence of the influential Mexicans constructing Mexico City when he states, “Mexican architecture, on the other hand, was an expression of a city run by a people who were looking to create their own culture while entirely dependent on the industry and ideas of Europe and America” (22). The same construction that the elite felt was a celebration of a newfound dignity in the Mexican people was criticized, by visitors and locals alike, as grandiose and a futile effort to shield the native roots of a circle of imposters. Johns’s argues that the “Mexicans knew little of their adopted European tradition, had acquired even less of its taste, and enjoyed none of its tranquility” (23). While the influence on the Westside led to development, the squalor and lack of authority of the peasants on the Eastside created mesones, or as Johns described them, “.a little more than ‘a bare spot to lie down in, a grass mat, company with (the) vermin that squalor breeds.’” (48).
The author starts the chapter by briefly introducing the source in which this chapter is based. He makes the introduction about the essay he wrote for the conference given in at Vanderbilt University. This essay is based about the events and problems both Native Americans and Europeans had to encounter and lived since the discovery of America.
America was formed on the basis of culture. Many different cultural backgrounds flocked to this one area and in the process many existing cultures were destroyed, while the new influx of humanity meshed to create an American culture. This constant flow of cultures from all over the world has kept the American culture in a state of flux. Each historical period has presented its classical viewpoint of American culture through the eyes of its most accomplished authors. There are narratives about clashes of cultures, presentations of cultures and even some focused on teaching a culture. The narratives provide a glimpse into an era that may no longer exist.
There are consistent patterns or themes regarding Native American world views and the differentiation of cultural elements and society. Native Americans retained control of institutional and cultural orders against the assimilation effort because all aspects of Native American societies are interrelated, guided by the broader cultural world views. Each cultural or institutional element is, in fact, overlapped with other elements, so change in one element inevitably affects the broader cultural and social complex. While adopting to a new environment and small changes was possible in the West, where social and cultural elements are separate from each other, Native Americans were faced with conflicts and a potential, large disruption of the existing social orders.
In the early 1830s, “nearly 125,000 Native Americans lived on millions of acres of land in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, and Florida” . These were areas of land that the American Indian people and their ancestors had occupied and cultivated for generations. However, to many White Americ...
Long before the Europeans set foot on American soil, the American Indians, or rather the Native Americans had been living on this land. Ever since the first Europeans inhabited America there has been a fascination with its land. It’s beautiful scenery and its rich soil made, for the settlers, an attractive place to settle. In the distance the Native Americans (dubbed Indians by the settlers) watched as more and more Europeans came into their homeland. Unfortunately the American government took advantage of the Indians by tricking them into selling their land and forcing them off if they refused; this started to aggravate the Indians because they were constantly being forced off their own land. This cultural phenomenon is what Mary Louise Pratt has termed the “contact zone” which is to refer to the “social spaces where cultures meet clash and grapple with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power such as colonialism, slavery or other aftermaths as they are lived out in many parts of the world.” (Pratt 34) I believe what Pratt is referring to is the situation that is created when two completely distinct cultures, which operate on totally different levels, attempt to interact. Each culture brings with them their own values and traditions that the other culture may not entirely understand. This can often lead to confusion, misunderstandings or sometime worse. The meeting of western and Indian cultures created exactly this “contact zone” situation that Pratt defines. The aftermaths of certain situations have been both positive and negative and also have had simultaneously posed a threat while providing opportunities.
“Rituals and Traditions; It Takes a Tribe,” written by David Berreby and “Indians: Textualism, Morality, and the Problem of History” written by Jane Tompkins, both exemplify a typical controversial topic in the United States of America today. The US prides there self on the basis of freedom, and how Americans are made up of individuals with backgrounds from all around the world. Many consider the US to be a “melting pot”, a society where cultures are just blended together and not recognized fully on their own, where as others consider the US to be a “salad bowl”, where people of international cultures hold fast to their traditions and practices and coexist with the cultures around them. Both authors of the readings propose that generally speaking,
Ethnic identity discourse by nature is rather complex, and it entails the discussion of several cultural components such as; the material, dietary, architecture, spatial organization, and deposit patterns that exemplify how it is a culture identity is forged, and how it changes or continues in a different setting other than its place of origin. In this paper, I will argue that Native Californians and Native Alaskans forged their native identity in their own unique way, and aspects of such identities persisted or changed in the pluralistic setting of Fort Ross. To do so, I will critique the case study by Lightfoot et al. in which guidelines for a comparison of cultures are provided. Although I agree and believe in most
The Culture of Americans is diverse and evolving constantly, due to changing interests, landscapes, religions, and geography.
In the 1880’s, it was thought that common stewardship of land was one of the biggest obstacles to cultural assimilation for the Native Americans. This sentiment lead to the creation
Among us there are a lot of diverse people, even our ancestor are from different places. No one can say that they are not from a specific place, because before these diverse people gathered here, our great-parents, parents were from different places, People move to the United States “ the land of opportunity” to the search for that American Dream.
Traveling From New Spain to Mexico: Mapping Practices of Nineteenth Century Mexico. Durham: Duke University Press, 2011.
America has been know to be the land of opportunity, it has also been refereed to as the melting pot. Due to the fact that American is the land of opportunity, many different diversities of different cultures and con tries came to obtains the chances that America could provide, becoming a melting pot of diversity. Although, while the “immigrants” were trying to establish settlement there were a struggle for equality and Deculturalization. The Europeans seemed to be the start of this problem. Their settlement according to the author was know as an invasion. It was invasion due to the fact the Europeans believed the were superior over other cultures, starting with the Native Americans. Though, as time goes on we look back and see other cultures experienced inequality including Asian Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans, and African Americans. Although each experienced their own effects of prejudice and power better know as racism, I believe American culture, and myself, are