Immigrant Subculture in America

1261 Words3 Pages

A subculture can consist of any small group outside the central or key majority group. The groups can range from an organized crime group, to an Asian American group, to a religious group, to even a hippie commune. The main focus of this unit is the immigrant subcultures. The immigrant subculture that is becoming more commonplace every day in the United States is the Mexican Americans. Mexican Americans have many religious traditions, ceremonies, customs, as well as art and music forms. There are also various cultural traditions. Mexican Americans have their own identity on the contrary they still have distinct American characteristics. Firstly, one aspect that is both Mexican and American is the cuisine. The original food for Mexico is very spicy and most of the time very colorful as well. Mexicans use spices, peppers, tomatoes, and cheese in many of the native dishes. They use an assortment of meat: pork, beef, lamb, and chicken. When Mexican restaurants spring up in the United States the food is toned down to appeal to Americans. The Mexican Americans use less spices to make the dishes milder rather than the hot, spicy native food. The food, still Mexican, takes on the likeness of American food. This is shown in the United States by all of the Mexican American restaurants such as Taco Bell. Therefore Mexicans have Americanized their food. “For Hispanics live on this side of the border, where Kraft manufactures Mexican-style Velveeta, and where Jack in the Box serves Fajita Pita.” (Rodriguez 131). Americans complement the Mexican style and the inverse. Secondly, another area that is highly influenced by American society is the religion of the Mexican Americans. Ninety percent of Spanish speaking people are Roman Catholic (C... ... middle of paper ... ... stands out yet blends perfectly in the melting pot of cultures in the United States. Works Cited Clutter, Ann W., and Ruben D. Nieto. "Understanding the Hispanic Culture." Osu.edu. Ohio State University. Web. 20 Nov. 2011. . Crouch, Ned. Mexicans & Americans : Cracking The Cultural Code. NB Publishing, Inc., 2004. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 21 Nov. 2011. Jadhav,Aparna. “Mexican Music”.Web.23.Nov.2011. . Nakate,Shashank. “Mexican Customs and Traditions”.Web.23.Nov.2011.< http://www.buzzle.com/articles/mexican-customs-and-traditions.html>. Rodriguez,Richard. “The Fear of Losing a Culture.” in Writing on the River.2nd ed. By English Faculty and Staff of Chattanooga State Community College. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2009. 129-131.Print.

Show More
Related

  • The Chinatown Trunk Mystery Analysis

    1282 Words  | 3 Pages

    The focus of analysis will consist of Southern Chicago Mexicans and the way by which they established themselves as important features of US civilization. Within the late 1910s and early 1920s the first major waves of Mexican immigrants ventured into the Southside of Chicago. Members of the community overcame the discrimination against them while organizing themselves in way that introduced Mexican pride and community building across their

    Read More

  • Arturo Islas' Migrant Souls: The Lonely Effects of Assimilation

    1197 Words  | 3 Pages

    Islas, Arturo. From Migrant Souls. American Mosaic: Multicultural Readings in Context. Eds. Gabriele Rico, Barbara Roche and Sandra Mano. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. 1995. 483-491.

    Read More

  • The Ethnicity of Mexians in the United States

    1752 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the years following the Spanish conquests, the southwest region of the United States developed into Spanish colonial territory. Indians, Spaniards, and blacks occupied this territory in which the shortage of Spanish women led to the miscegenation of these cultures. The result of mixing these races was a homogenization of the people of various cultures that came to be called mestizos and mulattos who, like present day Mexican Americans, inherited two distinct cultures that would make their culture rich, yet somewhat confusi...

    Read More

  • The Mother Tongue by Demetria Martinez

    2546 Words  | 6 Pages

    Torres, Hector Avalos. 2007. Conversations with Contemporary Chicana and Chicano Writers. U.S.: University of New Mexico press, 315-324.

    Read More

  • Reginald Horsman’s Race and Manifest Destiny

    1961 Words  | 4 Pages

    Weber, David J. Foreigners in Their Native Land: The Historical Roots of Mexican Americans. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1973.

    Read More

  • CIA's Intervention In Guatemala

    2741 Words  | 6 Pages

    Gonzalez, Juan. Harvest of Empire a History of Latinos in America. New York: Penguin Putnam Inc, 2000.

    Read More

  • Interracial Marriage In 'Fools Rush In'

    845 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mexico and the United States share a common border on the northern side of Mexico. Despite the close proximity, a lot of differences are witnessed in their cultures, beliefs, traditions, and social conduct. The difference between American families and Mexican families is communication. There is greater religious diversity in America leading to secularism being dominant in America. Roman Catholicism is influential in Mexico, resulting in the Catholic Church possessing considerable influence in Mexico. English and Spanish have very different languages with conflicting grammatical, phonological (study of the sound system of a given language), and writing systems. The language shapes the way we think and culture determines the way in which thoughts are expressed, as such, Spanish and English differ remarkably in the way many basic concepts are expressed.

    Read More

  • History of Latino/a Immigration to the U.S.

    1472 Words  | 3 Pages

    Print. The. Fernandez, Lilia. "Introduction to U.S. Latino/Latina History. " History - 324 pages.

    Read More

  • Mexican Immigration Discrimination Essay

    2918 Words  | 6 Pages

    Kanellos, Nicolás, Felix M- Padilla, and Claudio Esteva Fabregat, eds. Handbook of Hispanic Cultures in the United States: Sociology. Houston: Arte Publico Press, 1994. Print.

    Read More

  • Mexican American Culture: The Film Selena

    1000 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...an-American culture has differences from American. Mexican-Americans are very family-orientated so much that they identify themselves as familial instead of individualized or spiritual as other cultures do. The culture has changed over time and is receiving less opposition from Americans as they have in the past. Immigration demographics can be used to see how America is becoming more homogenous accepting Mexican-Americans and eliminating discrimination because of ethnicity. Selena gave great insight into her culture and created some understanding on the differences between Mexican-American and my culture. Knowing these differences will create a more successful interaction any potential person from a Mexican-American culture and myself.

    Read More

  • Tex-Mex Food: Similarities And Differences

    346 Words  | 1 Pages

    The difference between Mexican and Tex-Mex can be summed up with these keydifferences, Tex-Mex restaurants use ingredients like beef, yellow cheese, black beans, and more, which Mexican restaurants do not.Tex-Mex does have some similarities to Mexican food. They both use beans, just that people that make Mexican Cuisine probably don't use black beans much, though types of cheese are different they both still use it, tortilla types are different but both still use it. And those are part of the very few I find online.There are seven regions that serve Mexican cuisine, Northern Mexico, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Central/Western Mexico, Yucatán, Veracruz and Mexico City/Puebla. The dishes of Northern Mexico are Queso fresco, Machaca, Arrachera, Cabrito, Pan de Semita, Capirotada. Dishes of Oaxaca are Mole negro, Mole Amarillo, Mole Coloradito, Mole Manchamanteles and more. The dishes of Chiapas are Simojovel, Chipilín, and Pozol. The dishes of Central/Western Mexico are

    Read More

  • Like Water For Chocolate Essay

    1264 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mexican cuisine is a mixture of indigenous Mesoamerican cooking with European, particularly Spanish, basics added after the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire in the 16th century (Wikipedia). The fundamental elements are native foods, such as corn, beans and chili peppers. When the Europeans arrived they pioneered a large number of other foods, the most central were meats from domesticated animals (beef, pork, chicken, goat, and sheep), dairy products (especially cheese), and various herbs and spices (Wikipedia). When the Spanish first arrived they made efforts to inflict their own diet in the country, this ended up failing and sooner or later the foods and cooking techniques began to be mixed (Wikipedia). Mexican food carries a status for being spicy though its seasoning can be explained as strong (Wikipedia). Many dishes also have subtle flavors (Wikipedia). “Chiles are used for their flavors and not just their heat, with Mexico using the widest variety (Wikipedia).”“If a savory dish or snack does not contain Chile pepper, hot sauce is usually added, and Chile pepper is often added to fresh fruit and sweets (Wikipedia).” Many Mexican dishes are distinct by their sauces and the Chiles. “These dishes include entomatada (in tomato sauce), adobo or adobados, pipians and moles. Tamales are differentiated by the filling which is again defined by the sauce (red or green Chile pepper strips or mole) (Wikipedia).” The essential source of starch remains corn in almost all regions of Mexico (Wikipedia). “While it is eaten fresh, most corn is dried, treated with lime and ground into dough. This dough is used both fresh and fermented to make a wide variety of dishes from drinks (atole, pozol, etc.) to tamales, sopes, and much more. However, the most common way to eat corn in Mexico is in the form of a tortilla, which accompanies almost every

    Read More

  • Cultural Differences Between Tex-Mex And Mexican Food

    583 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mexican food has crema which is sort of like sour cream except its less sour and more thin while on the other hand Tex-Mex use sour cream quite often. Also traditional Mexican food is very fresh and raw while it’s not so much in Tex-Mex.Although Tex-Mex and Mexican food are different they do have some similarities too. For an example they serve the same type of foods like fajitas and nachos. They also use some of the same vegetables too. They also both use beef in their tacos. They both serve delicious food.It is believed that mexican food is from the mayan indians who were hunter-gatherers, they would eat a lot of corn tortillas and bean paste but the also ate fish and tropical fruits too. In the mid 1300’s the aztec empire was growing and although the mayan foods were still in use turkeys and ducks were now domesticated. In 1521 spain invaded mexico and that's how mexican food spread around the worldwide. Later there was many different mexican cuisines all over the earth like the Carribean, south American, french and even west african. As the mexican food spread out around the world each region changed it up a bit and that's why ‘mexican’ food all over the food is probably not authentic mexican food.Most people think of Tex Mex as a copy of mexican food but that

    Read More

  • Los Angeles; A Diverse Metropolis

    2041 Words  | 5 Pages

    Bibliography:.. Becoming Mexican-American by George Sanchez, Oxford University Press, Inc. 1993.

    Read More

  • Impact of Globalization on Mexican Culture and Identity

    2066 Words  | 5 Pages

    The ethnic- Mexican experience has changed over the years as American has progressed through certain period of times, e.g., the modernity and transformation of the southwest in the late 19th and early 20th century, the labor demands and shifting of U.S. immigration policy in the 20th century, and the Chicano Civil Rights Movement. Through these events Mexican Americans have established and shaped their culture, in order, to negotiate these precarious social and historical circumstances. Throughout the ethnic Mexicans cultural history in the United States, conflict and contradiction has played a key role in shaping their modalities of life. Beginning in the late 20th century and early 21st century ethnic Mexicans have come under distress from the force of globalization. Globalization has followed the trends of conflict and contradiction forcing ethnic Mexicans to adjust their culture and combat this force. While Mexican Americans are in the struggle against globalization and the impact it has had on their lives, e.g., unemployment more common, wages below the poverty line, globalization has had a larger impact on their motherland having devastating affects unlike anything in history.

    Read More

More about Immigrant Subculture in America

Open Document