Summary
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the culture and beliefs of four Hispanic groups. The groups I have chosen to cover are: Puerto Rican, Mexican, Dominican and Cuban. Included in the paper will be each group’s linguistic, social, economical, political, familial and religious ties or beliefs.
Hispanic American Diversity
Puerto Rican
Puerto Rico’s linguistic background is strongly defined by Spanish and English. Most Puerto Ricans speak both languages fluently and use both in everyday life such as; work, travel and communication.
Puerto Rico’s major political division is the Popular Democratic Party (PPD), which supports commonwealth rank for the island; has been the leading political party since 1940. The PPD was accountable for helping Puerto Rico achieve commonwealth rank, and was the main political party of Puerto Rico until the late 1960s. Most of the PPD’s support comes from the rural areas of the island, backed land improvement in support of the island’s social class. Over the years, and urbanization of the island, there has been a decline in the popularity of the PPD. Even with the decline of popularity of the PPD; it still remains the island’s main political party.
The social behaviors of Puerto Ricans are not much different than the social behaviors of non Puerto Rican individuals. Every day greetings are used, of course Spanish is more commonly used, one may hear “Buenos Dias!“ instead of, “Good morning!” When conversing with individuals in formal situations, titles of respect are used such as Senor (Mr.), Senora (Mrs. or Ms) or Senorita (Miss). They shake hands to say hello or hug close friends, women greet one another with a tap on the shoulder and kiss on the cheek. Closeness is common whe...
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...minican Americans. There is a minuscule amount of Dominicans that follow the Protestant community, and a small number of them follow African religious ideas.
Dominican American family is a unlike family in the Dominican Republic. Even though relationships are still important to immigrants in the United States, most families have become smaller and a lot more nuclear, the longer they stay in the U.S. The Dominican family has male dominate heads of the household. They have control over budgets and make the decisions for all the other family members. Dominican women in the home are mostly relied on for domestic tasks and daily home maintenance; though over the past few years women of Dominican background have become more equal to the man in the family. Women become half the bread winners, to keep the family afloat and slowly have gained some dominance from their “men”.
The debate on Puerto Rican Identity is a hot bed of controversy, especially in today’s society where American colonialism dominates most of the island’s governmental and economic policies. The country wrestles with the strong influence of its present day colonizers, while it adamantly tries to retain aspects of the legacy of Spanish colonialism. Despite America’s presence, Puerto Ricans maintain what is arguably their own cultural identity which seems largely based on the influence of Spain mixed with customs that might have developed locally.
The intention of this essay is to demonstrate to a vision rational, concordant political leader to the Puerto Rican, American and worldwide reality. It responds to the necessity that to the statehood it is necessary to imagine it and to expose it with all the evidence available, since many Puerto Ricans, including many political leaders, do not know like defending it or exposing it before the peculiar ones or our adversaries.
The Island political status has been an issue over many years since Spanish-American War. Puerto Rico is a Commonwealth “Free Associated State of P.R” of the US. In fact, Puerto Rico became a US territory in 1898, when it was earned from Spain after the Spanish-American War. It gave Puerto Ricans the right
In both cultures, grandparents and elders are highly respected, the father holds most of the power and is the decision maker of the household, the mother is the caretaker of the household, and the children’s only responsibility is to go to school and receive an education. This is the case in almost every Hispanic family because they tend to keep traditional values. This hierarchy also occurs in traditional American families. It was always thought that the “absence of a father is destructive to children, particularly boys, because it means that children will lack the economic resources, role model, discipline, structure, and guidance that a father provides.” (Biblarz & Raftery, 1999) However, this is no longer the case. The differences between American family structures can be most clearly seen when separated by socioeconomic class. Now, studies have shown that “children from single-mother families do approximately as well as children from two-biological-parent families.” (Biblarz & Raftery, 1999) This encourages mothers to believe that a single-mother household is still successful. Therefore, the mother becomes the decision maker and caretaker. This concept also applies for opposite genders. In single-father households, the father is not only the decision maker but the caretaker as well. These family structural differences make way for another similarity in Hispanic and American cultures. Faith
An important factor in facilitating Dominican migration to United States has been the 1965 Family Reunification Act, which has allowed many Dominicans to enter the United States through strong family networks, making these distinct elements of the Dominican male immigration context from the beginning. Interestingly, the Dominican community is considered a transnational community, where member maintain strong ties to the Dominican Republic and the United States, Rodriguez
As a traditional, collectivistic cultural group, the Latino population is believed to adhere deeply to the value of familismo. (Arditti, 2006; Calzada, 2014). Familism is an emphasis on the importance of the family unit over values of autonomy and individualism”. (Santistaben, 2012). Family is considered to be the top priority in the Latino culture. Comparatively, at times, this isn’t true of our busy, work devoted western culture. In western culture we think of our family in a nuclear sense made up of a: mom, dad, and siblings. Conversely, Hispanic culture focuses on the whole extended family including aunts, uncles, grandparent, and cousins. Their culture believes having close connections with the entire extended family benefits the development of their children. The entire family helps the child by giving them differing levels of social and emotional support. (American Home Resolutions,
Although some of Puerto Rico's food and drinks are the same as our diet in the U.S. they also drink items like despite beer, rum, cocktails and fruity planters which are not typical here. They also end some of there meals with a strong cube of coffee. For dessert they have custard molf, gauva jam, bread pudding, creams, and and freash tropical fruits. They also have codfish fritters and empandadillas. They eat many soups with beans, herbs, and spices. They have stews made with chunkey meat, potatoes and spices a...
Clutter, Ann W., and Ruben D. Nieto. "Understanding the Hispanic Culture." Osu.edu. Ohio State University. Web. 20 Nov. 2011. .
Kanellos, Nicolás, Felix M- Padilla, and Claudio Esteva Fabregat, eds. Handbook of Hispanic Cultures in the United States: Sociology. Houston: Arte Publico Press, 1994. Print.
Over a 7 week duration this ethnic group is the largest population. What’s intriguing is how the same culture may have cultural different amongst the subgroups or between the two populations when an individual are classified or identified as Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish. Today this essay may highlight one platform through interchangeable Spanish may connect different cultures and sub-groups within the Latino/Hispanic descent to existing under the same nation with different values, beliefs and language dissimilarities from one another, but are identified as the Latino and Hispanic descent as Spanish people under the same racial/ethnic-group. It is important to understand that the term Spanish creates the difference since, individual may be of
...ife, giving spiritual meaning to the Hispanic culture. I feel that is one of the Hispanic’s group strong point is the balance of spiritually and how it important to the family way of life.
Traditionally meals followed Spanish custom with a continental breakfast, a large midday meal, and a modest supper. Now, Puerto Ricans eat a large breakfast, a light lunch, and a large dinner. Although fast food is eaten, most Puerto Ricans prefer a home-cooked meal. There are some fast-food establishments that serve rice and beans or other local dishes as an alternative as well.
Every day , Puerto Rico is slowly adapting into the American way of life and is gradually losing what is left of their culture. Perhaps this is because Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of the United States. The poem “ Coca Cola and Coco Frio” by Martin Espada is a great example of someone who encounters the Americanized culture of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is struggling to preserve their own identity.
The article’s main focus was determining the role of communication in process of assimilation of Hispanics into the greater American culture. This topic has grown increasingly important over the years as more and more hispanics are moving into the country. When these people do move into the United States they have to integrate into society in order to fully grasp the fruit of the nation. However even though they are integrating, a part of their original cultural heritage will live on and ultimately change the definition of American culture as a whole. Now when looking at this it can be seen why the study was conducted. With the researchers oral justified they went about various Midwestern schools asking their Hispanic inhabitants various closed-ended
Addressing the issues of women’s hardships and further hardships regarding Latina women, this discussion will address cultural barriers set by the Latino race not to state Latino/as bring each other down, but simply stating what may be seen as a side effect of this cultural standard. To address the cultural barrier, it must first be understood what this cultural barrier is, this has to deal with Latina women being caretaker of families. It may seem as a stereotypical ideal, but in reality Latina are responsible for family affairs that regard the household environment. “Latinas with family responsibilities, the salience of ...