More handpicked essays just for you.
Effects of Cultural Diversity essay
Effects of Cultural Diversity essay
An article on the impact of cultural diversity
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
I always thought I knew the true me. I am Greek, I’ve never known any better. I was always referred to as being “Greek” not a Greek in Australia, but only a Greek. I didn’t mind that at all, I thought that this title was meaningful; it brought depth to who I was. The others around me always asked me about my culture and traditions. I was considered special because of my differences. I was born in Australia and so were my parents, yet I felt this close connection to a country I had never been to. It wasn’t only within my family I felt an influence, I felt in in the streets in Melbourne, in the restaurants and shops. Greek Australians have become an established member of Australian society and have had a major influence on the development …show more content…
of many industries such as, arts, education, businesses and sports. We have Greek radio station, newspapers and banks. There are many Greek festivals mimicking the culture that is back at home. I grew up around my family; there has always been an emphasis on family unity because we are collectivists not individuals. Others find it very strange that I spend so many days with my Yiayia and Pappou, because they only get to see their own grandparents once or twice a year, where as I will see my own at least twice a week. I spend Tuesday and Thursday nights with Yiayia and Pappou because they wanted my siblings and I around. Easter has always been intense and loud, bigger and better than any other celebration in the calendar year. Church was a must and I was dragged to go Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. I wouldn’t go to school on Greek Easter Good Friday, which usually fell at least two weeks later. I stayed home and didn’t eat meat, dairy and oils. My Friday nights weren’t spent participating in sport, but stuck in another classroom for the night at Greek school. For me this was normal, it was part of being Greek. I could never wrap my head around the fact that my father was called, ‘baba’ but others called ‘dad.’ When I spoke about my parents I always had to make everyone aware of the translation because my baba wasn’t my dad he was in fact my baba. Language was a fundamental part in ensuring I belonged to my culture. I grew up with all these traditions around me.
I was considered the “Greek” of my school. I was the different but the interesting one. I learnt of my culture from birth, it has always been the most important part of me. Yet, my perception was quickly altered when I spent three months in Greece. I travelled and visited my extended family I had only heard of in the stories I was told. I met so many new people, so many of them changing my perception of whom I was. Maybe I wasn’t “Greek enough”, maybe these people who had been born in Greece were “more Greek” than me. It was different, simple. I lived in the home of my Yiayia and Pappou, a flat roof, three-bedrooms with a small kitchen. No comfortable couch like back at home here it was the simple life. I thought my Greek was passable but I guess I was wrong. There were many times I struggled to find my way, but my grandparents able to navigate their way with ease. I thought I knew my culture, turns out I was wrong. Until I travelled I saw my grandparents as migrants from another country, living in a country that wasn’t their own, I witnessed the lives they would have had if they remained. I expected ‘Greece Greeks’ to be exactly like my parents, but it was very different. I didn’t feel the same connection that I felt back when I was home. Here I was in a country I spoke the language, where my grand parents were born and where my culture’ came from, yet I saw myself as the
outsider. The traditions here were but much bigger than I ever thought, my name day was celebrated, I have family coming around all day, even some I had never met, celebrating something I had never though was important before. Independence Day was recognised throughout the whole country. Everyone would speak of this country with great passion, feeling that the culture in Greece is the definition of their belonging. I was taught of the Mati while I was there or better known as the evil eye. Its believed you can catch Matiasma, or the evil eye, from someone elses jealous compliment or envy. If you are caught with this, it is said an elder must say a special pray to release a person from the bad and effects of the evil eye. To avoid this completely I was told to wear a charm, a little blue bead with an eye painted on it. I also learnt that it’s not only the language that connects a person to a country or culture. I love the food, language, music, traditions, celebrations, history and myths. I feel much more connected now back in Australia after spending so long overseas. I consider myself no less an authentic Greek because I am one who descended from my family who lived in Greece. There is a connection to the land that I have no direct link to, yet feel a connection to because of who they are and where they come from. I learned that in fact I was still a “Greek,” that part hadn’t change, but these “Greeks in Greece” was the term I guess reserved for those on the homeland, those who are purely authentic to our culture. Even with Greece being thousands of miles away, its rich culture is very much alive in Australia.
He points out that “While most immigrants have double identities to deal with, I have three. Am I Chinese, Thai, or American?” (Foner 339). His grandparents only had to deal with two—Chinese and Thai—but Chaukamnoetkanok is torn between three, making his experiences all the more difficult. He argues that no matter what identity he chooses, he will always be labeled as an “outsider”. His grandparents, on the other hand, were not concerned with being labeled as “different” and simply ignored those who had a prejudice against them. Chaukamnoetkanok understands that he must also possess this mindset in order better his experiences, but cannot change his way of thinking that easily, despite knowing he should. Overall, Chaukamnoetkanok determines that the main differences
I am not a child of immigrants, but maintaining one’s culture is a universal struggle in a land far from one’s ethnic origins. Lahiri suggests that without cultural connections such as family and friends, one’s culture can simply vanish if they are not in the land of ethnic origin. I have found this to be true within my own
Something that has always fascinated me is the confrontation with a completely different culture. We do not have to travel far to realize that people really lead different lives in other countries and that the saying "Home sweet home" often applies to most of us. What if we suddenly had to leave our homes and settle somewhere else, somewhere where other values and beliefs where common and where people spoke a different language? Would we still try to hang on to the 'old home' by speaking our mother tongue, practising our own religion and culture or would we give in to the new and exciting country and forget our past? And what would it be like for our children, and their children? In Identity Lessons - Contemporary Writing About Learning to Be American I found many different stories telling us what it is like to be "trapped" between two cultures. In this short essay I aim to show that belonging to two cultures can be very confusing.
Transnational Migrants experience multiple cultures because they have to ties to both where they are and where they’re
In this paper I am going to write about Greek Americans. My paper will include detail about Greek Americans such as residence and housing, date and place of origin, economic activities, education, kinship, traditions and religion as well as their future in the United States.
At the age of two my parents made the long and devastating journey to bring me and my siblings to the United States from Mexico. Wanting a brighter future for us, my parents fought tooth and nail to give us the world they didn’t grow up having. Ever since stepping foot on the U.S soil, going back seemed impossible. The effects of this life-changing move, couldn’t mask the unforeseen disadvantages. Lacking exposure to Mexico’s colorful culture, little to no bonding time with my family from abroad, and the struggle of trying to blend into an environment that was so different, soon began to interfere with my overall identity. Realizing this, my wonderful parents prepared a transformative trip back to my homeland, and back to the past, facing
The Greek Americans have a history of existence dating back to the 6000 BC. The period between 1880 to 1910 had a lot of significant effect on the art elements in the American history; the elements and artifacts used during this period have extensive descriptions of the culture and general way of lives of these countrymen on the American continent. The various stereotypes and social order of communities differ from one geographical region to another including the native languages, perception of different elements in social activities. Styles of dressing, cooking, initiation programs and stages are all items that the Greek Americans just like any other community from the early days had core values
It is always important to look to the past in order to move towards the future. This was done in the formation of Western Society, and more specifically the formation of American society. The Greek culture served as a frame of reference for many aspects of Western life including government, architecture, math and the arts. Ancient Greek culture served as a very broad base for our society to be built upon.
The stories Remembering My Childhood on the Continent of Africa and Self-Discovery and the Danish Way of Life are easily comparable. The narrators of both stories write about a time in which they are experiencing a different culture. They also write about their yearnings for self-discovery through exotic experiences. The viewpoints, however, of each writer are at opposite ends of the spectrum. In Self-Discovery and the Danish Way of Life, the narrator writes about his international experiences while studying abroad in Denmark. On the other hand, in Remembering My Childhood on the Continent of Africa, the narrator never actually visits Africa. Instead, he figuratively visits the continent through the experiences of another person. These stories may appear to be similar because of the comparable aspirations of the narrators. However, they are also different with respect the narrators’ unique viewpoints on life.
Officially titled the Hellenic Republic, Greece is a country whose historical and cultural heritage continues to influence the modern world through art, philosophy and politics. Greece is located in southern europe. Critically placed at the byroads of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. Greece shares land borders with four countries: Albania, Bulgaria, Turkey, and the Republic of Macedonia. The country is greatly consumed by water to the south with over 1,400 islands, the largest of them being Crete. Over eighty percent of Greece is of mountains, the largest and most culturally significant being mount Olympus, which in Greek mythology is the resting place of the twelve olympians. Greece is a country which is filled with aesthetically pleasing landmarks which have existed for thousands of years and are deemed historically significant. These include, but are not limited to the Parthenon, Acropolis of Athens, Panathenaic stadium, Mount Athos, Sounion (where the temple of Poseidon lays), Temple of Hephaestus and Theatre of Dionysus. These are just a few of the influential landmarks this authentic country possesses.
Courses in modern Greek literature, language, and history are offered for credit in many colleges and universities. Some were initially promoted by members of the Modern Greek Studies Association, founded at Princeton in 1969. Most relate to Greece, of course, but the scholarly study of Greek America has also expanded in recent years. Such systematic study goes back at least to 1911, when Henry Pratt Fairchild published Greek Immigration to the United States. Thomas Burgess followed with Greeks in America (1913). Since then many books and monographs, including master’s theses and doctoral dissertations, have helped to make the Greek minority one of the more thoroughly researched in the nation. The most authoritative account to date remains The Greeks in the United States (1964) by Theodore Saloutos. Of late an interesting adjunct to these endeavors by social scientists has been an inquiry into the modern Greek presence in our literature, with respect to both fictional characters and creative writers.
I have found my connection to my ancestors. It is neither language, nor country, nor family title. For more than three centuries, my predecessors have been striving, yearning, and devoting their lives in the hope of achieving something better for themselves and for future generations. To this day, it has not been realized. I plan to rectify that.
The first way describes cultural identity as a shared culture by many people; a culture is like a collective self. As he further argues that cultural identities always highlight the same practices of past which give people stability, unshifting and constant frames of reference and meaning beneath the shifting divisions and shifting in their actual history (6). Hall shares his personal experience of immigration in Minimal Selves (1987) that when he thinks about identity, he got to know that he has always felt that he is a migrant amongst the foreigners. Similarly Lahiri’s fiction is autobiographical she explains her sorrows as a migrant and suffering in a foreign
It is through the events in the journey of life that shapes and molds who we are as people. As for me, immigrating to America was one of those milestones that have shaped who I am. Those who have had the opportunity of moving from a different country to America know what a privilege it is. I felt the same honor to know that I would be journeying to the land of opportunity. Without hesitance, I spent the last two months packing and making the final preparations before moving to a new continent. Although it was a bittersweet time, leaving my beloved family behind, I knew that I couldn’t resist the treasure that waited for me in the new land. Coming from a developing nation the high level of sophistication that greeted me on arrival to America made feel like I was in paradise.
Who am I? Wrestling with identity— our history, our culture, our language— is central to being human, and there’s no better way to come to grips with questions of identity than through the crossing of borders. The transcendence of borders reveals the fluid nature of identity, it challenges absurd notions of rigid nationalities, and highlights our common humanity. It is no coincidence, then, that my experience as an immigrant has shaped my academic journey and pushed me to pursue graduate studies.