Migration Essay

1646 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Why is culture adaptive

Migration is an arduous process and can be a stress-inducing experience (Aroian & Norris, 2003) that can lead to numerous social and mental health issues varying from social isolation, depression and anxiety (Blair, 2000). Alongside migration comes the complex and lifelong endeavor of acculturation, defined as the process by which individuals or groups transition from one or more cultures into another (Cainkar, 2000). Although Arab immigrants have been migrating to the United States since 1854 (Miller, 1976) and may currently number more than two million today (Nydell, 2012), discussion of the Arab American populations was, until recently, conspicuously absent from the literature. This article will first explore the reasons for immigration as it impacts the way this population assimilates to their host country. It will then provide a description of the challenges and difficulties this population faces, with a focus on the source of the post immigration stressors they undergo and the impact it has on their acculturation process. Finally, it will explore the use of an existential approach in treatment with an Arab-American client resisting assimilation to the new host country due to an inability to cope with post-immigration stressors. Reasons For Immigration Reason for immigration represents a critical aspect of individuals’ acculturation experience. Whether the immigration was voluntary or involuntary may influence future adaptation (Kraut, 1997). Historically, Arab Americans arrived in the U.S. in four different major waves, each under special circumstances that affected the acculturative process (Barazangi, 1989). This section reviews all four waves while identifying the motivators for each group’s immigration process. In doing... ... middle of paper ... ... from the Arab world struggle with assimilating into the new host culture for various reasons. Essentially, their collectivistic background and their need for a strong family system contributes to the maintaining of a wide separation between them and their host culture. That, coupled with the feelings of isolation and rejection that result from the discrimination and stereotyping they face, diminish the degree of acculturation and increases the likelihood of the developing of stressors. As evidenced in this section, post-migration stressors uniquely impact the process of acculturation for Arab Americans as those stressors target the core foundations of the Arab individual. As a result of those stressors, the mental health needs of this population and the implications for counselors working with them requires a customization that inherently targets their struggles.

Show More
Related

  • Ronald Kaki's A Different Mirror By Ronald Takaki

    1069 Words  | 3 Pages

    America is a land filled with immigrants coming from different corners of the worlds, all in hopes of finding a better life in the country. However, No one had an easy transition from his or her home country to this foreign land. Not every race thrived the same way—some were luckier than others, while some have faced enormous obstacles in settling down and being part of the American society. Many people have suffered

    Read More

  • The Mental Health Effects of Maquiladora Work on Mexican Women

    2805 Words  | 6 Pages

    Migration has been found to have negative effects on mental health because of circumstances surrounding the move, circumstances of the actual passage, trouble adapting to the new culture, breaks in the migrant’s support system of friends and family, and disappointed expectations of social and economic acquisition.

    Read More

  • The Transformation of Immigrant Parents and Children

    1789 Words  | 4 Pages

    Akhtar, S. (2011). Immigration and acculturation: mourning, adaptation, and the next generation. Lanham, Md.: Jason Aronson.

    Read More

  • Difficulty of Immigration in the 1900's versus Previously

    1134 Words  | 3 Pages

    When most people think about immigration to the United States, they think of the U.S. as being the “land of opportunity,” where they will be able to make all of their dreams come true. For some people, immigration made their lives richer and more fulfilled. This however, was not always the case. A place that is supposed to be a “Golden Land” (Marcus 116) did not always welcome people with open arms. Even after people became legal citizens of the United States, often times the natural born Americans did not treat the immigrants as equals but rather as outsiders who were beneath them in some way. In some situations, people’s lives were made worse by coming to the “land of opportunity.” Often times people were living no better than they were in their own countries not able to make ends meet, just to live in the United States. Virtually all immigrants during the 1900’s had the same dream, to become successful and provide for their families as citizens of the United States, but they soon found out that the life in their new country was not going to be easy.

    Read More

  • Essay On Great Migration

    717 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Great Migration was a huge rural movement that occur in the southern United States, it was the movement of 6 million blacks. It began in the earlier 1900 all the way the 1970. The 14 states the blacks were moving from were from the south. The main states were Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana. The first big movement was between the 1910 and 1930s. There was around a little bit over 1.5 million people moving from rural areas to the industrial cities in the north.

    Read More

  • The Great Migration Essay

    1021 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Great Migration, a significant event in the history of the Black people of the country began in the first quarter of the 20th century, and lasted for nearly two quarters, ending in 1970s. This event is generally referred to the mass exodus of the Black people from the rural regions of the South to the urban regions of the North, West and Midwest. This event not only had a significant impact on the urban life of the country, but also forever altered the dynamics between the racially different populations in the American cities. This exodus was partly influenced by the discriminatory practices of the rural South, and the large scale requirement of industrial workers during the First World War. This led to a series of events, especially concerning

    Read More

  • American Immigration Essay

    1012 Words  | 3 Pages

    Immigrants were first welcomed in the late 1700s. European explorers like Walter Raleigh, Lord Baltimore, Roger William, William Penn, Francis Drake, John Smith, and others explored to the New World for religious purposes and industrial growth. The first European settlers that settled in the late 1700s were the Pilgrims. After the Pilgrims first settled in Virginia, the expansion of immigrants started. Then in 1860 to 1915, America was growing with its industries, technology, and education. America’s growing empire attracted many people from Europe. The factors that attracted many people to the American cities where job opportunities with higher income, better education, and factory production growth. As the population grew in the American

    Read More

  • Essay About Immigration

    729 Words  | 2 Pages

    For centuries, migrating has been a life changing decision for people that choose to enter the United States in search of a better future. Therefore, immigration is the permanent residency of people that choose to move to a new country. There are debates concerning the immigrants who enter the United Stated illegally and as the daughter of immigrant parents, I am fortunate to be born in this country.

    Read More

  • Impact On Immigration

    949 Words  | 2 Pages

    Immigration practices, both historical and current, has had various types of impacts on immigration policies and processes, as well as on people who have immigrated. According to Nilsson, Schale and Khamphakdy-Brown (2011) the various issues that face immigrant populations is pre and post immigration trauma, the acculturation process, poverty and low education and training levels. Immigration also impacts family relationships and possible language barriers. Immigration policies have always been exclusionary and biased against various cultural groups (Sue & Sue, 2013). For example, historically, European immigrants were granted citizenship more

    Read More

  • Slave Migration Essay

    1303 Words  | 3 Pages

    The typical African-American experience with migration is seen through my family’s migration experience. Their experience was typical, reflected in most freed slave’s stories. This story starts off with a freed slave; this was due to the Emancipation Proclamation. “During the Civil War in 1863, a huge step was made in the favor of enslaved African-Americans. The President at the time, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves in the southern states at war with the North. The Emancipation Proclamation was so important because it gave enslaved black people the chance to leave their owners, move north, and finds jobs or start new lives with their families.” (Boundless)

    Read More

  • African American Migration and Foreign Immigration

    1615 Words  | 4 Pages

    The African-Americans and other migrant and immigrant groups experienced similar conditions and challenges of change u...

    Read More

  • Immigrants Into America

    3181 Words  | 7 Pages

    Since the creation of the United States of America, immigrants from all backgrounds have sought refuge, a home and a life in this country of prosperity and opportunity. The opportunity of freedom to exercise natural rights is a large pull factor that causes many people to come to America. Others come because it is a country where one can prosper. Prosperity of people in a country, however, is a more challenging phenomenon to explain than opportunity. Immigrants seek economic, social and educational as well as cultural prosperity. The question of how to gain such prosperity is a difficult one to answer. Some immigrants come to America, cast off their past identity and attempt to find a new, less foreign one. By assimilating to American culture with this new identity, they start a long and treacherous journey to seek prosperity in a land vastly different from the one they once called home. Many will gain educational, economic and social prosperity, but never gain cultural prosperity. Assimilating to American culture so hastily, some immigrants are never able to explore and keep up with their cultural backgrounds. Their families grow up and became Americans, never cognizant of their given up ethnic identities. Those immigrants, however, who are able to gain cultural prosperity through the help of other immigrants of their respective background, become integrated into American society while keeping their ethnic identity. This is the sort of opportunity that the United States of America has provided new arrivals since its founding. Although many immigrants become overwhelmed with American culture and assimilate into it, those who contribute to a working ethnic society are able to dela...

    Read More

  • Great Migration Essay

    1143 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Great Migration started in 1910 and continued through 1930. It was a period in time which saw 1.6 million African Americans relocate from the southern states to the northern states(AAME). There are four main which contributed to this occurring. The first was better and more skilled job opportunities available in the north. Many blacks were not allowed to work or hold high paying jobs in the South. The second was the oppression of African Americans in the South. They were treated very poorly and were often victims of racism and crime at a much higher rate than in the Northern states. The third was they wanted to have the right to vote. The Jim Crow laws restricted African Americans from basic rights including voting, in the South, while

    Read More

  • The Melting Pot Theory

    1450 Words  | 3 Pages

    Often America is referred to as “The large melting pot.” The idea that the United States is a land of opportunity, where anyone can come and blend into a new breed that is uniquely American. However, the cultural diversity in America is clearly evident, from physical characteristics to different religious beliefs and customs. As minorities immigrate to America and attempt to assimilate in society, they are forced to live a pluralistic lifestyle of blending with the current society, while struggling to maintain their heritage and identity “Minority individuals must learn to function in two environments: their own culture and that of the mainstream society” (de Anda, 1984: p101). There are some who successfully leave their

    Read More

  • Essay About Migration

    700 Words  | 2 Pages

    Every year, most Countries losses half of its active population to migration. This Countries are left behind in the areas such as developmental and economical. The government and the people living in that Country suffers the consequences such as low productivity and poor academic performance due to lack of qualified teachers. People emigrate from their native countries for Economic, Familial, and Educational reasons.

    Read More

More about Migration Essay

Open Document