Cultural Identity Interview and Analysis Essay Example for Free

Cultural Identity Interview and digest EssayAn wonder with a member of the Mexican American community was conducted on December 1st, 2007. This explore will provide a summary of that interview particularly, it will include a description of the rules, norms, traditions, and determine of Mexican American kitchen-gardening.The research will also discuss a) how the assumptions regarding cultural norms affect the interviewees way in his daily life b) any disadvantages related to his socialisation being outside the norm and how he reacts to that c) any advantages related to being assimilated to the normative agriculture and how he reacts d) his sources of strength or support e) an abbreviation of the four dimension surmise and how it relates to the interviewees life. Finally, the research will provide some insight on how one can effectively communicate with people of a nonher(prenominal) cultures.In fact, communication with various members that decease to other ethnic grou ps (i. e. Arab Americans, Hispanic Americans, African Americans, etc) may be difficult some at quantify because of the cultural difference that exists betwixt the groups. Jose Luis Aguilar was born in Tijuana, Mexico on January 7th, 1972. Mexican is the ethnic group he belongs. He lived in Mexico for 29 years. In 2001, he immigrated in Los Angeles, California. Job opportunities, presence of family members, and the presence of a massive Mexican community were the factors that brought him to immigrate into the United States.Mexican Americans are the largest Hispanic or Hispanic ethnic group in the United States. concord to the 2000 Census, approximately 20 million Hispanic or Latinos of the 35 million in the United States are Mexican Americans (U. S. Census, 2000). Mr. Aguilars native lecture is Spanish. However, during the departed years spent in California, he was adapted to learn basic English, although it remains a secondly language as the majority of the Mexican American w ho live in the United States.Richard Schaefer stated as of 2002, about 23 percent of Mexican Americans are English dominant, 26 percent are bilingual, and 51 percent are Spanish dominant (Schaefer, 2006, p. 241). Mr. Aguilars religion is Catholic. Indeed, Mexican Americans represent the largest number of Catholic immigrants to the United States comes from Mexico Mexico also sends the largest number of Protestant immigrants to the United States (Murray, 2006). Mr. Aguilar is married. He has a 1 year-old give-and-take.Aguilars family has a decrepit organization as the same as other many Mexican American families have. According to Kathleen Niska, Mexican Americans Families continuity was characterized by mothers doing tasks inside the house, fathers doing tasks outside the house, and both parents performing toddler and early childishness tasks (Niska, 2001). One of the Mexican traditions that Mr. Aguilar mentioned during the interview was quinceanera. This ritual is celebrated in c hurch when women reach the age of 15 to thank God that they arrived to this stage of their lives.Similar to a wedding day celebration, the celebration of a girls 15th birthday is a major event in most Hispanic girls lives as it means that she begins her jaunt to adulthood (Mattel, 2001). They are ready to get married. The ritual of quinceanera is viewed not only as a move to strengthen faith and family but also as a means to prevent teen pregnancies. A quinceanera also allows for sending a message of sexual responsibility (NC Times, 2008). Mr. Aguilar is an independent contractor mainly for substantial estate management companies. He provides general maintenance services at $10 an hour.So far, he had limited choices regarding the jobs (e. g. janitorial, landscaping, and maintenance) he could do since he moved into United States. Lack of education and his pending experimental condition with INS (he has not received his green card yet, work permit only) were the obstacles that di d not allow him to obtain correct paid jobs. According to David Spener, Mexican immigrant workers play an important economic role inside the United States as well. They constitute a significant portion (8 percent) of the total U. S. manufacturing work force (Spener, 2000). Mexican Americans are unremarkably have been seen by American companies as cheap labor.Mr. Aguilar shared that members of his culture had been affected by any form of racism, damage or discrimination. In particular, he pointed out the bilingualism issue and the tension that the suggest 227 created among his community. Proposition 227 went into effect in 1998 and required that all public school instruction had to be in English. A) How do assumptions about cultural norms impact your interviewees behavior on a e preciseday keister? Mr. Aguilar pointed out how one particular assumption regarding Mexican Americans culture affects his life on a day-to-day basis.He mentioned that one of his cousins was a gang memb er he was killed months ago. A popular assumption is that Mexican American gang membership is generational which means the membership from a father to a son or from a family member to another one. Therefore, based on this assumption, people believe that he is a gang member. So, Mr. Aguilars behavior is direct to prevent anything that may mislead people in this sense, e. g. wear adequate to(p) red or blue, or specific clothing, or having tattoos. B) Does your interviewee recognize any repugns or disadvantages related to her/his culture being outside the norm?How does he/she respond to those challenges? Similar to several other fellow Mexican Americans, Mr. Aguilar is able to communicate in his native language without learning English properly. In fact, Spanish language is putting greenly spoken in the city of Los Angeles. Almost every place (grocery stores, restaurants, public offices, and so forth) has signs and directions in Spanish language. This massive promotion of Mr. Aguila rs native language in the United States encouraged by Mass Media represents a disadvantage. Radio and television have also been factors that allowed Mexican Americans, as Mr.Aguilar, to maintain their legitimate cultural values. In fact, in 2004, thither were over 678 Spanish language radio stations compared to 1982, when there were 12 Spanish language television stations in the United States. This number more than three-fold within 10 years. Several artists (e. g. Jennifer Lopez or Shakira) helped to promote their cultures by singing in their traditional languages (Jandt, 2007). Mr. Aguilar has responded to this challenge by enrolling himself in an adult school in order to improve his English. However, as of today, he is lock away struggling to write, read and speak English fluently.C) Does your interviewee recognize any privileges or advantages associated with assimilating to the normative culture? How does he/she react to that recognition? Mr. Aguilar recognized that being ass imilated to the normative culture has some advantages. In particular, he stated that a positive aspect is that immigrants learn the language of the normative culture they are able to avoid any form of isolation and segregation. Furthermore, these immigrants likely will not face any prejudice from the dominant society as he experienced during his stay in the United States. During the interview Mr.Aguilar recalled a few family acquaintances with 3rd generation sons and daughters who had an adaptation in the American culture different compared to their parents. In fact, they were able to go to school, learn the language, get a college education, and obtain a good job. They became a part of the American culture. In fact, they celebrate the 4th of July and the Thanksgiving, which are truly American holidays. They also had to learn about maestro sports other than Mexican soccer. He now is also watching baseball, basketball, and American football games. D) What does that person consult a s being sources of strength or support?Mr. Aguilar cited church and family as his sources of strength or support. As many others fellow Mexicans Americans, Mr. Aguilar gives exceptional importance to religion and family on a day-to-day basis he is very active in his community especially with humanitarian initiative promoted by his catholic church. Mr. Aguilar is very family orientated. He tries to spend as much time as possible with his family it may be common to see him doing business with his families around. E) An analysis of the four dimension theory and how it relates to the interviewees life A theory from the course that was well related to Mr.Aguilars interview is the four dimensions of culture by Geert Hofstede. Particularly, Aguilars interview confirmed that in the Mexican culture masculinity is predominant, mostly collect its history. Mexican families were mainly patriarchal therefore men were in charge of the family they were working to provide money and food while women were at home taking care of the children. Mexican culture is based more on collectivism due mainly to the fact that more people with financial difficulties seek to one another for help or gather together (e. g. two or three families living in the same apartment).Power outmatch is embodied in the Mexican culture. Mexico is a developing country with significant financial problems. The difference between people (e. g. poor and rich people) is well marked. Finally, the fourth dimension, uncertainty avoidance, is correlated to religion and history of the cultures (Jandt, 2007). roman type Catholic Christian cultures and cultures with Romance languages (e. g. Mexico) tend to score high. In conclusion, communication with various members that belong to other ethnic groups may be difficult at times because of the cultural difference that exists between the groups.However, comprehensive language can be an effective way to communicate with such members. Mr. Aguilar and the interviewer are f rom different culture backgrounds. There were times during the interview where inclusive language was used to avoid miscommunication. Choosing the right words when communicating with members who have different backgrounds may help to prevent miscommunication that may end up stereotyping them on the basis of race, gender, disability, religion, or other factors.Furthermore, conducting research and gathering information on members with different backgrounds may help not only to overcome language issues but also can assist people in bonny more culturally sensitive. References Jandt, F. E. (2007). An introduction to intercultural communication (5th ed. ). Thousand Oaks, CA Sage Publications Mattel Inc. (2001, May). Happy fifteenth quinceanera barbie mattels girls office launches first hispanic-tradition theme barbie doll. Retrieved on January 11, 2008 from http//www. shareholder.com/mattel/news/20010515-43065.cfm Murray, B. (2006, January). Latino Religion in the U. S. Demographic Shi fts and Trends. Retrieved on expansive 19, 2007 from http//www. facsnet. org/issues/faith/espinosa. php Niska, K. (2001). Mexican American Family Survival, Continuity, and Growth The Parental Perspective. Retrieved on August 19, 2007 from http//nsq. sagepub. com/cgi/content/abstract/14/4/322 NC Times. com (2008, January). For Latino Catholics, Quinceanera ritual provides lessons on faith, family - and sex. Retrieved on January 11, 2008 from http//www. nctimes.com/articles/2008/01/05/faith/17_56_271_3_08. txt Schaefer, R. T. (2006). Racial and Ethnic Groups. New island of Jersey Prentice-Hall Spener D. (2000). Mexican labor at the center of North American economic integration. Retrieved on August 19, 2007 from http//findarticles. com/p/articles/mi_qa3688/is_200007/ai_n8892489 U. S. Census Bureau (2000). Profile of General Demographic Characteristics2000. Retrieved on August 19, 2007 from http//factfinder. census. gov/servlet/QTTable? _bm=y- geo_id=01000US-qr_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_DP1- ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U.