Over the course of decades, America has been through many events that forever changed it as a whole. In most cases, change was made for the greater good, but other times not so much. While reviewing 3 history sections, it is clear that the U.S. developed and became more united through well thought out innovations, expansion, and visions that steered this country in the direction that it needed to be in. To start off, in section 7 there were new and advanced ideas that were introduced.
In Barbara Ehrenreich’s essay, Cultural Baggage, she talks about the topic of ethnic heritage as the author in the paper is replying to a friend that’s asking her what her background is. Barbara states that her reason for writing her essay is to make readers conscious that having no ethnic background is in fact an ethnic background. She takes on an uncommon view of herself as most people pride themselves in stating where they came from and the traditions of the culture they abide by, rather than feeling embarrassed to claim their background. Perhaps Barbara is trying to get us to understand that a family that doesn’t cling to their culture and abide by its standards can be just as successful as those that do ,and also that being different isn’t always a bad thing.
Deviance is categorized as a violation of cultural norms. In order for one to express deviance, they must act out against societal norms which are known as expectations and rules that "lead the way" for how an individual should act. Therefore, its much easier to depict from there that mostly one's society is what ultimately differentiates what the rules and expectations are as well as what it needed to break those rules that they have somewhat instilled and ingrained into our daily lives. To add, due to society and different eras of socialization deviant behavior evolves over time.
I had the grand honor of being born into a culturally diverse family. Although Dominican culture dominates our customs, we are 25% Middle Eastern from Lebanon, and 25% Spanish from Barcelona, Spain. The cultures have all laced into each other in such a way that I find it utterly ordinary to eat Arabic food while listening to Dominican music while serving Spanish desserts. My parents came to America at around the age that I am now, met each other, and my mom had my first sister at 18 while my father was 22. My mom went back to high school to finish her GED while my father enrolled in an institution that he never got around to finishing because his english was not well.
In the film, Our Family Wedding (Rick Famuwiya, 2010), which first public appearance in cinemas in 2010, focus in an interracial couple formed by Marcus an African American man and Lucia a Mexican American woman and the obstacles that come from being in an interracial relationship. In today’s society it is more common to see interracial couples than in the past but it does not mean families are okay with it. One can think the stereotypes and discrimination faced by interracial couples are a thing of the past. But the film shows it is not true even in this time interracial couples experienced discrimination, obstacles, and a hard time of acceptance especially from their families. Rick Famuwiya’s Our Family Weeding (2010) uses different scenes through the movie focusing on the variety of issues face interracial couples.
I talk about my race and culture being independent of each other. My race is Chinese, but I associate myself
In the past I have struggled with my biracial identity. As a child I was confused about which community I belonged in because I am a mix of Navajo and Caucasian. As I got older, I began to question myself and who I was. I felt like I did not belong to either the Native or Caucasian community because in both groups I felt like someone else. I felt as if I had to live two lives that were completely separated.
I began taking steps to establish my own identity, interacting with a variety of different people, Christian teachers, Jewish friends, my Black mother, White father, and classmates that span multitudes of sexualities and ethnicities. As my life became more varied I came to see that the ties to both sides of my family
In the novel The Known World by Edward P.Jones, the theme of most family life is chaotic, sorrow and a little bit of happiness. Because of the slavery, black family life faced more hard time than white family. They faced hunger, punishment and separation from their family. Meanwhile, white family is more calm and peaceful.
I want to start my story before I was even born. My dad came to the United States but my mom was still in the Philippines. Then when I was born in the Philippines, my mom took care of me for five years while my dad was working a minimum wage job in the U.S., trying to earn enough money to send both my mom and I to the United States so we could all have a better life, one where we could prosper more due to the opportunities that the U.S. provides. I grew up going to a public school from kindergarten to 5th grade where I met people of different races. When I was in school being in ESL (English as a Second Language) exposed me to even more people of color such as Mexicans, Middle Eastern people, Turkish people, Latinos, and other Asian people.
South Africa is one of the most diverse countries in the world or better known as the “Rainbow Nation.” With diversity comes acceptance of all race. The ethnic groups of South Africa consists of indigenous tribes or Afrikaners, Europeans, and Asians (Malaysians, Indians of India decent, and Chinese). Collectively as a society South Africans value family. They place high importance in their core family including extended family members and close friends.
This distinction of identity crisis is impacted by multiracial or multiethnic counterpoints in society. Multiracial people internalize the variety of messages alluding to their identity from parents, family, friends, media, society and other outside influences. Basing their identities primary on those reflections and perceptions of others and society, believing their perception of themselves should match the perception of others. The extent of societal reflections and perceptions on the multiracial population is immense, even if the multiracial individual identifies with one side of their heritage, in society discrimination could affect adaptation and acceptance of that individual into the group.
When I was younger, I always used to wonder why I did not look like my mother. I had pale skin, blonde hair and blue eyes in contrast to her tanned skin, dark hair and dark eyes. Growing up, I realized it was because of all the ethnicities I have in my background. It’s always as if I am on an amusement park ride when someone asks me about my background. “Where do I start?”
I participated in a survey concerning interracial relationships. The survey purpose was to study the beliefs people have about certain romantic relationships. The questions in the survey asked about personal outlooks on different types of interracial relationships. The survey was conducted by a Stevenson psychology student and it took about 5 minutes. The survey provided a hands-on experience of a common method of research that is used by psychologists.
• My parents, brothers, sister , including my extended family belong to the same race and ethnic group. Where did your parents grow up? What exposure did they have to racial groups other than their own? (Have you ever talked with them about this?) •
