Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Impacts of culture on development of identity
Relationship between culture and identity
Relationship between culture and identity
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Impacts of culture on development of identity
Change catalyzes development. In nature, if species do not mature, life ceases. The same concept applies to culture. Cultural stagnation yields a dying culture, but cultural conflict incites transformation. In Bharati Mukherjee’s “American Dreamer,” Mukherjee analyzes cultural conflict through her experience emigrating from Calcutta to North America. She describes individual and holistic responses and reactions to immigration that she discovers among several levels of society; today, millions of refugees migrate to democratic nations in pursuit of unalienable rights that their homelands deprive them. Immigrants usher unique cultures into the nation they reside. Cultural conflict fruits both positive and negative changes in character. Cultural conflict promotes identity transformation.
An introduction of foreign cultures polarizes a national persona. Excluding minority races from the national identity
…show more content…
Insular people groups react to changes in their communal identity by combating the sources of new cultures. Mukherjee (1997) cites the Immigration and Naturalization Service opening an enforcement office in Iowa as a severe response to a flood of immigrant refugees (para. 5). Such cultural conflict in a community prevents cultural blending, dividing neighbors based on race, religion, and tradition. Guilt for balkanization lies not only on the community’s natives but also on the community’s immigrants. Mukherjee (1997) spotlights self-balkanization of emigrants from her native India; “Some first-generation Indo-Americans, embittered by racism and by unofficial ‘glass ceilings,’ construct a phantom identity, more-Indian-than-Indians-in-India, as a defense against marginalization” (para. 29). Such extreme rejection of the community culture in which they reside prevents optimal assimilation. Communities’ addition of cultural balkanization to their identity handicaps symbiotic
The systematic racism and discrimination in America has long lasting effects that began back when Europeans first stepped foot on American soil is still visible today but only not written into the law. This racism has lead to very specific consequences on the Native people in today’s modern world, and while the racism is maybe not as obvious it is still very present. These modern Native peoples fight against the feeling of community as a Native person, and feeling entirely alone and not a part of it. The poem “The Reservation” by Susan Cloud and “The Real Indian Leans Against” by Chrystos examine the different effects and different settings of how their cultures survived but also how so much was lost for them within their own identity.
Ethnic Identity and Culture.’ New Tribalisms: The Resurgence of Race and Ethnicity. New York University Press. 1998
Ahead of the decision by current president Donald J. Trump to phase out the DREAM Acts’ Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, (DACA), dreamers are pursuing amnesty options the ensure their stay within the United States. The Deferred Actions for Childhood Arrivals program, (DACA), grants two-year deferments to immigrant minors and young adults facing deportation because of illegal immigration status. In a response to the current president’s decision to phase out of the DACA program, former president Barack Obama included that, “dreamers are Americans in their hearts, in their minds, in every single way but one: on paper” (Obama, ). Dreamers have become model citizens, quite parallel to Americans. Dreamers attend school, go off to college, obtain degrees, and become employees, even owners of businesses, and corporations. Dreamers make contributions to the economy by working, culturally adjusting and honoring the laws put forth by the United States of America. Although dreamers do not live in the country legally, dreamers feel a part of its fabric. And with the uncertainty surrounding the ending of the DACA, dreamers are pursuing the amnesty option to
The American Dream. What is it exactly? Well, it is the ideal that every U.S. citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. However, can everyone really achieve it? Yes, anyone can achieve the American Dream with enough hard work and dedication to pursue a good life. In order to maintain the American Dream there are some important ways to achieve it. Such as: a strong work ethic, a good education, and being determined.
Mukherjee begins her essay with an exposition of her and her sister’s story. She uses repetition in order to emphasize the main differences between the two. For example, she states, “I am an American citizen and she is not. I am moved that thousands of residents are finally taking the oath of citizenship. She is not.” This line is used to set up her subject. She is stating that she is an immigrant whose dream was to envelop the American culture, while her sister does not believe that she should be assimilated into it. The use of repetition also appeals to her audience, Americans, by capturing their attention. Many Americans are nationalistic, if not jingoistic, and believe that America is the greatest country in the world. The notion that others do not feel this way may intrigue them, or potentially offend them, causing them to read on in attempt to find flaws within her argument.
Notwithstanding Brubaker (2001) argues that there are two basic meanings of assimilation, namely: the general and abstract sense and the specific and organic sense and both differ in their affective overtones, moral and political connotation, and intellectually respectability. The general and abstract sense, deals with the process of increasing similarity or becoming similar or likeness but not identical. It focusses on the process and not the final state — designates a direction of change, not a particular degree of similarity. While specific and organic sense, focuses on the final state and assimilation is a matter of either /or, not of degree. Assimilation in this sense implies complete absorption into the system or community (Brubaker, 2001).
Immigrants are defined as people who permanently move to a forgiven country from their origin country. Immigrants can move for the purposes of seeking better living, better education, or in order to avoid any sort of issues in their origin country. Despite the reasoning behind the decision of the movement, an immigrant will be affected by the change of culture, way of life, social system and community. The process of the movement effects each individual differently depending on their, age, gender and their level of connection to their past culture. Having that said, the younger the age of the individual, the more venerable and easily they become to changing their way of life in order to feel a part of a community. Gender however is also related to the race of the person. To elaborate, females and black males are more open to the idea of changing any of their factors to adjust to their ‘new society’. An individual’s connection with their past culture, has a great impact on their personality and their standing and belief in their values, morals and culture. Therefore, the stronger and deeper the connection with their original culture and way of life, the more satisfied the individual becomes. Therefore, they don’t feel the urge to compete with another culture. Therefore, their current standing with their own culture has a strong impact on their future judgment on other culture. The weaker the connection the more prone they are to changing their current culture. Thus, an individual’s stability level towards their culture depends on other factors that are concerned with them. [Different age groups are faced with different situation that leads them to deal with different issues and therefore they are exposed to different kinds of expe...
People usually do not have a concrete plan for their future, so they do not know what direction they are going to take; it is so difficult for people to set themselves up for success when they have no real support system put in place. They often have negative people around them that will bring them down, too, which will lead to a lack of motivation, and this will set them up for failure, especially when they set goals that are not clear enough or realistic. People are usually not motivated or disciplined enough, use too many excuses, and get overwhelmed by obstacles, causing them to fail.
In the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck shows American dream as an unreachable goal for the characters. Of Mice and Men is a novel based on two childhood friends, Lennie and George, who travel together in search of work. Lennie, the gentle giant, has a mental disability and an obsession of petting soft objects. One day, while stroking a girl’s hair, Lennie accidently kills her. And eventually by the end of the novel, George is forced to shoot Lennie. Steinbeck shows American Dream as an unreachable goal because of a character’s standing in the society, their dreams to be unreal and their dependency on other characters.
The interaction between the immigrant and the citizens of the receiving country varies on whether or not their introduction into the new country is seen as a loss or something positive. These differing stances serve as a buffer for an immigrant’s desires, as they can either advance or stagger depending on how far their new situation allows them to advance. For this reason, the likely success of the individual depends on the descending community’s desire to embrace them. This acceptance or denial presents itself in the form of the resources available to “the other.” If these outsiders are not given the tools with which to function properly they will likely find solace in the ethnic specific networks that provide them with a means to survive.
In Stuart Hall’s “Ethnicity: Identity and Difference,” he claims that identity is a volatile social process through which one comes to see the self. Hall argues that identity is not a thing rather a process “…that happens over time, that is never absolutely stable, that is subject to the play of history, and the play of difference.” These factors are constantly entering the individual in a never-ending cycle, re-establishing and affirming who one is.
Everyone grows up with the thought of an American dream in mind . Unfortunately that American dream is only limited to the people who are not of color. Sadly the people of color and the american dream don 't match up to well. I feel that this is because it can’t be easily obtained due to improper education and never being given the opportunity to show what they’re made of. Maybe if we weren 't categorized by our living arrangements, or the amount of our wealth, or better yet being presumed as these incompetent animals who aren’t good for nothing. Then we too would be able to achieve our own american dreams ,but as people of color the chances of that are not likely living in a world that feeds us with this improper mindset.
The ‘American Dream’ means different things to each individual. What the ‘American Dream’ means to me is that I’m an American citizen who is free to do as I please under certain circumstances of course. I understand that many people have troubles trying to achieve this ‘American Dream’ though. If you look at the illegal immigrant problem, they have problems achieving this American Dream. I know that to get into the United States of America, you have to take a test, along with years of being in the system until you’re picked. You also cannot be a criminal and either you come here to work or you come here to stay; it costs quite a bit as well to achieve this dream. In my opinion it makes me mad when people come here illegally and claim that they
Modern identity often takes shape in the blending of lines that weren’t supposed to blend. No matter how coded or enforced, labels never hold all of one’s identity in place. The lines bounding the identity of the refugee are determined by the UN, and dictate a system of values foreign to many would-be refugees. For the Tamil mother from Sri Lanka, individual status as a refugee does not make sense; she is connected to the bones of her son and the soil in which they lie in Canada (Daniel 278). Terms of individuality are relative in the cultural understanding of many displaced peoples: collective identity in family structure supercedes that dictated by Western nation states, though the argument for asylum depends upon cognizance of Western value systems.
The American Dream The American dream has always been a talk amongst the American culture. When people speak of it, they often think back to the 19th century. The American Dream can be thought about when learning information on the Declaration of Independence which states that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed with certain unalienable rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. This was written by Thomas Jefferson.