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Italian culture quiz
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When presented with the question, “What does your Italian Heritage mean to you?” one particular idea exceeds the rest. The overarching notion of family in an Italian household is overwhelmingly present. In any heritage, family and love are two of the most concrete phenomenons that exist among people; however, these ideas are stronger as well as more prominent in an Italian lifestyle. To me, family transcends above everything. My grandmother, Nonna, is an immigrant from Parghelia, Italy. She traveled to this country when she was only eighteen, having lived her entire life submerged in an Italian atmosphere. Once settled in America, my Nonna made a promise to herself never to lose her Italian culture and values. She speaks to all four of her
Growing up in New Jersey as an Italian must be quite difficult as you are known...
Although many families today are dysfunctional and fragmented, “Cakes” serves to show the importance of unity within a family. No matter what we do or where we go, family is something that will carry us and define who we are. Family serves as a building block or blueprint for success. The values that a family instills allow the “strength” of an individual to prevail. In this short story, La Puma is able to highlight the role of family as an educator, and protector, and depict the importance of family values in Italian-American immigrant culture.
Many scholars have written about the particularly intimate connection between food and family prevalent in Italian-American culture. Herbert Gans interprets this to be a legacy of the traditional Southern Italian peasant culture that the immigrant generation successfully passed down to the younger generations in America. Thus, the connection is implied to be a “transplanted” cultural trait. However, when viewed in light of the social changes in America, this bond was inevitably affected by the Italians’ experiences in America. Italian-American food culture was a tradition shaped by changes outside and inside the family. An examination of the Italian-American family of the interwar years (c.1919-1940) demonstrates that the critical role food came to play in the family life of Italian-Americans was very much the product of inter-generational negotiation. The second generation , largely affected by public discourse, originally viewed “Italian” food as a marker of social inferiority. Therefore, food became a major source of family conflict between generations. But, through inter-generational negotiation, food was ultimately to become a fundamental unifying force of the Italian-American family. Today, in light of the rise of inter-ethnic marriage rates between Italians and Italian-Americans in America, a new form of negotiation centering on food is taking place within the Italian-American family—‘inter-spousal’ negotiation.
Each ethnicity has its own unique characteristics and knowledge from religion, language, food, art, music, and social traits; this is their cultural make- up. This Heritage tool is used to obtain a small fragment of family history, to help analyses their culture. The three people interviewed with the Heritage tool are from three distinctively different backgrounds. The first is from the rural Midwest, second is from Barbados and the third is from.
Life in Italy is much different than life in the United States. Italians live at a much slower pace, than American’s and they have a desire to enjoy life instead of rushing through it as many American lifestyles exhibit (Zimmermann, K. (2015). The extended family is very important in Italy, whereas in the United States, the focus tends to be on the nuclear family, which includes mom, dad, and children (Zimmermann, 2015). The differences in Italian culture and American culture are vast and varied, but with a few comparable components to demonstrate similarities.
Italians came to America for a new start and with the visions of achieving the American Dream. In the late 1800’s and through history, people saw America as the “land of opportunity”, “the land of milk and honey” or “The Promised Land”. They believed that America was the place that they could turn their life around and get a job to support their family better than they could in their native country. The jobs that they found were not always easy. The first Italians to America often became fruit merchants in New York and wine growers in California. Many agricultural states atte...
Unless you are a wealthy Italian, you live a much humbler lifestyle. A lot of Italians homes are meager, and the material goods Americans want and vie for, aren’t as important to them. I realized how fortunate I was for all the belongings I took for granted. Some Italians would view the home I grew up in as a mansion compared to their own. They seemed so much happier and it was humbling to see them content by having a lot
In Gloria Watkins’s essay “Keeping Close to Home.” Watkins claims that she connects to her family through communications and being open and honest with them. From her family, Watkins learns that she should respect and value the skills and talents that other people might have, not just focus on those that she likes. Watkins’s family has influenced her perspective on life by telling her to remember her own identity, and never forget about her past and history. There are some that thinks we do not carry much of our own family, but I think we do carry a lot of our own family with us whether is good or bad. We would carry traits such as admiration of others, daily habits, and being respectful to others.
Last but not least, the Italian-American’s contributed greatly to America’s past and left quite an imprint on our ‘melting pot’ culture. The Italian-Americans came to America following a dream; whether it be temporarily ‘escaping’ South Italy or a lifelong aspirations toward music. There perseverance and bravery left an impact stronger than words can express which assisted our future successes. Slowly yet steadily, Italians rose up the social ladder, opening up like a blossoming flower to their fellow Americans. Establishing their roots, then blossoming into a beautiful flower, revealing all beyond everyone’s expectations. Today, Italians have surpassed all the other ethnic groups in average job income and job prestigious, a true example of hard work paying off. As for, “Chi la dura la vince,”-He who perseveres wins at last...
When Italian immigrants came to America, many were not welcomed in the communities of the Germans and Irish. The neighborhoods that the Itali...
Right next to food, family is the most important thing in Italian culture. My mother was born and raised in Naples, Italy and lived with her mother and three siblings after her father passed away when she was only six years old. My mother and my grandmother had a very close bond, the same bond my mother and I share now. My grandmother was a very hands on type of mom my mother tells me. Like most mothers, her children were her pride and joy. My mother’s most vivid memories of her childhood involve my grandmother teaching her how to make tiramisu and lasagna. Practices my mother has now passed onto me. Aside from the cooking lessons, my mother also taught me what it means to be a women. Being independent, never giving up, and working for what
She told us, “On the first day of school, I didn’t want anyone to talk to me because I was afraid I wouldn’t understand so I just walked around by myself.” Now, she is much more comfortable here and confronts people when she doesn’t understand. Besides the language barrier, the biggest difference she noticed between Italy and the U.S. was the food and social life. Here, fast food is much more common and she does prefer Italian food. When asked if she has had Olive Garden, she said, “No and I don’t want to.” Even though she doesn’t like the food as much, the thing she does like about the U.S. is the outgoing nature of the people. Chiara said she admires how when we think something isn’t fair or right, we say it. Even though she enjoys the states, she does think we should change the way we greet each other by adding a kiss on the cheek. In Italy, when you see someone you know, you give them a kiss on the cheek and if you are closer to that person, you hug them. To Italians, hugging is more intimate, so everyone kisses. One thing she wants everyone to know about Italy is they do not, and I repeat, do not wear open toed shoes with socks. “Especially white socks.” Chiara
Traditions cultivate connection between immediate family members and between generations. Family scholars Nick Stinnett and John DeFrain say that traditions are the "we always" of families, like "We always make snow ice cream at the first snowfall," or "We always have games and popcorn on Saturday night." Because such traditions have meaning that is special to an individual family, they create feelings of warmth and closeness. By spending time together in a fun and s...
There are a lot of different cultures in the world we live in today. Finding the place you belong and discovering your own culture can be a challenge. This is especially true when you look at culture as an individual versus culture in your family, or even within your community. I’ve always been very family oriented, so that plays a big part in who I am and how my family’s dynamic works. I believe that my family has had a huge impact on the development of my culture, and I hope that I have had the same impact on theirs.
The capital city of Italy is a very extraordinary place to visit. The population of Rome is well over two-million. The people there are very friendly and are extremely proud of their country. Rome is a beautiful bustling city that has a moderate cli mate. The temperature usually stays around eighty degrees. The main way of transportation is by bus.