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The immigrant experience essays
Lives of immigrants
Lives of immigrants
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Since I moved from Honduras to Florida, it has been some difficult first months, by having problems that every person that arrives to a new country can easily understand. Back in Honduras, I was a “privileged” teen, a teen that there daily routine is going to school, go back home, study, do indoors recreation, and go to sleep. Our parents put us on such a bubble, that the reality of our society, topics aborted on the conflict theory (on the textbook and A Brief History of Sociology media link), such as, ghettos, violence, child abuse, and delinquency were ignored, focusing only in my personal problems. With the knowledge that I learned this week, made me realize that those “privileged” teens had fallen into a False Social Conscious. That is
“Windowless and nasty classrooms, retarded courses, no air conditioning and can we talk bathrooms?” As citizens, the conflicts and the issues that our society deals with every day should bring awareness and a call to take action. For instance, Jonathan Kozol came up with a plan to bring consciousness to his readers by writing an article about the struggles of the Fremont High School students, in which problems such as over crowded classrooms, teachers shortage, lack of bathroom supplies, unsanitary kitchen, basic academic courses and inequality. In order to write and put together his article, he took a tour in person and found his way to successfully achieve his goal by documenting students, teachers, and other staff members’ testimonies in which one of his main focuses was Mireya. Furthermore, Kozol’s real facts on the matter successfully make a statement on social and racial inequalities, in which the main purpose of his article was to capture the attention of his audience to find resolutions on the matters that affects a child’s future.
In the 21st century, there have been many visionaries in society who aim to bring about social change. Understanding different societies and the way they evolve are a part of social change. In the films, Pleasantville, Crash, American History X, the Pianist and Cry Freedom a move towards social change is seen. The structure of family, discrimination and the breaking of social barriers are prominent factors in all these films. These arguments be seen through an anthropological, sociological and psychological perspective.
Most people want to feel like they fit in, but for refugees and immigrants, that feeling was even more important. “Young refugees and immigrants... were caught between the world of their parents and the new world of their friends and schoolmates” (105) and had to choose whether they would vie for the approval of their peers or their family. One young boy on the Fugees soccer team refused to cut his hair because his peers thought it was cool, and ended up being kicked off the team (111). Other young refugees in Clarkston gave in to the allure of gangs, and ended up in a cycle of violence and crime, just for a sense of belonging and safety. “Gangs… promised both belonging and status”(105) and provided a way to become American, despite all the trouble and anguish they put their members in. As adolescents between worlds, young immigrants experience a heightened sense of liminality, when a person “becomes neither here nor there” (221), and struggle with finding out who they are and where they
On that viscerally vibrant Friday morning, in that urbanized oasis, a group of primarily Black and Hispanic students united at El Cerrito High School to discuss their parents and peers very real struggle to achieve the American dream. The stories of racism, oppression, gentrification, and deportation filled the classroom with the voices of varied languages and vernaculars, a majority of which felt caught between cultures and pulled away at the seams by opposing orientations. These fourteen and fifteen year olds spoke of parents requiring them to speak the language of a place they’ve never been, of teachers demanding a “Standard English” they’ve never been taught, of friends questioning their “Americaness” because they didn’t know the difference between Disneyland and Disney World. This youthful minority-majority population is faced with cultural double identity; a term that reflects the cognitive dissonance an individual feels when their identity is fragmented along cultural, racial, linguistic or ethnic lines. This conflict of self is not isolated in this classroom in San Francisco’s East Bay area. It brims over into every classroom within California, where “no race or ethnic group constitutes a majority of the state’s population” (Johnson). It must be said then, that the culturally and linguistically diverse California classrooms must integrate texts that examine the psychological state of double identity. Turning to Luis Valdez’ play “Zoot Suit”, Chester Himes’s protest novel If He Hollers Let Him Go, and Al Young’s prose poem “Coastal Nights and Inland Afternoons”, we encounter literature and characters with double identities that assist in navigating marginalized adolescents with their own struggles in understanding their mu...
Mari and her family are in an unstable housing cycle, the family’s inability to afford their rent becomes clear and homelessness becomes one of the main points of Mari’s character. In addition to being a queer Latina, Mari belongs to a single-parent immigrant household and is dealing with an unsuccessful educational experience. Mari’s mother work long hours at a minimum wage job, and Mari feels a strong sense of responsibility to help financially. In Latino households, we are taught to place family above one’s self. The tradition of Latino teenagers hustling to help family stay above water is important. It
Instead of loving and caring for her baby, and forgetting about Danny, she became worse than him. Rodriguez presents many aspects of the minority class that live in the United States, specifically the South Bronx. Even though the cases presented in Rodriguez’s short stories are difficult to mellow with, they are a reality that is constant in many lives. Everyday someone goes through life suffering, due to lack of responsibility, lack of knowledge, submission to another entity or just lack of wanting to have a better life. People that go through these situations are people who have not finished studying, so they have fewer opportunities in life.
Before taking this course, I was under the impression that I kept up to date on important matters, but in reality, although I tried to be informed, I was not fully. While I kept close watch on multiple media outlets, I never attempted to imagine myself in another person’s predicament. Auyero’s and Swistun’s article aided my sociological imagination growth. Prior to reading the article I was not bothered by other people’s environmental issues. I did not give time to consider their situation until I pictured myself in it. Reading the teenager’s testimonies while looking at their photos forced me to think about how I would live in their same conditions. Quotes from the teenagers such as, “There’s a lot of disease here” and “how can we take photos of the things we like if there’s nothing nice here” forces me to reflect on all the possibly forces causing this town to decrepitate (Auyero, Swistun, pg. 153 &
The book “Unequal Childhoods Class, Race, and Family life” by Annette Lareau it talks about children’s reality and how upper class, middle class, working class, and poor families live. The working class families that she observed live in a neighborhood that can be dangerous for the children and not a desire place for the kids to be in, in the contrary the middle class families live in houses that are adequate for the children, families have access to grocery stores, and children are able to participate in activities that are not part of the school. This book is interesting because she talks about the different situations that families and children encounter. Not everyone comes from families that are able to support them or give them the attention that they need. This book shows the reality on how different social class families live under what conditions, how their school looks like, and the overall environment of the children.
Lacking the necessary support, many start to devalue the importance of doing well in school deciding that perhaps school isn’t part of their identity. In Susan’s case she’s eliciting multiple forms of subordination, and within each dimension she’s being subjective to different types of oppression; racial oppression, gender oppression, and class oppression, she’s experiencing cultural alienation and isolation and is not only based on her ethnicity as a Latina but is also influenced by how she is treated as a female, as a member of a certain socioeconomic class, and in relation to her English language proficiency, and even her perceived immigration status. In this sense, students like Susan experience different forms of discrimination or marginalization that stems from
James, D. C. (1997). Coping With A New Society: The Unique Psychosocial Problems Of Immigrant Youth. Journal of School Health, 67(3), 98-102.
In today’s society, it is easy to spot someone blaming themselves for the occurrence of their personal life problems. For example, a single-mother may blame herself for not being able to support her children well due to a shortage of money and unavailability to find a decent job. Another could be a newly wed couple having daily arguments that may lead to their divorce, or women who are facing difficulties perceiving their housekeeping responsibilities and wanting to become something more than just a homemaker. These various private tensions may seem very personal. These dilemmas are all related to a bigger world called society and this is known as the sociological imagination. Sociological imagination suggests that people look at their own personal troubles as social issues and, in general try to connect their own individual encounters with the workings of society. The personal problems are closely related to societal issues such as unemployment, marriage, war and even the city life where the private troubles and the public issues become clearly apparent. With the understanding of the sociological imagination, I began to notice the daily choices I make, the classes I attend, the way I was raised by my parents, the group of people I choose to hang out with, the things I like to converse about with others are all somehow affected by public issues and what society tends to make us believe is right. There are many areas in my life where I feel that I am greatly affected by various sociological theories such as events dealing with gender and sexuality, family and culture, ethnicity and race, and social class and work.
In the beginning of the year I entered this class with a very sheltered and ignorant view of current and past events. Through time and sociological evolution I have begun to see things in a different light. The development of my ability, to look at something or some kind of situation, lets me use the sociological terms in such a manner to relate them to micro and macro problems in society. This started with the assigned readings of the class; the aim was to decipher the messages the authors were presenting. The goal was then to dig deeper and use my experiences to help myself understand the concepts throughout the course. "The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be ignited." Plutarch (46-120 CE--common era) I was no longer supposed to retain knowledge on a factual basis but to observe the problems and challenge my own thoughts, values, and beliefs. Challenging these aspects lights the fire that creates the ability to use working sociological terms in my analyses. Through my analyses of the authors in the course I developed questions about the particular readings that we were assigned. The questions I present from these authors are on the basis of learning and seeing the macro picture from micro events. The authors that we read from were: Allan G. Johnson, James W. Loewen, Jonathan Kozol, David Nibert, Arnold Arluke, Clinton R. Sanders, and Elie Wiesel. From each one of these authors we are able to relate a theme of sociology to what is happening in their books, which results in the discussion questions.
There can't possibly be anything more valuable other than freedom. For example, if you have ever traveled, perhaps to Roatan, Honduras, you will know what I am referring to. In Roatan, Honduras, most of the Hondurians are asking everyone they see for money, although, you are aware of the fact that they do want the money for a good cause, mainly food. You would probably think that the people from Roatan,Honduras would not show any respect, However, they usually responded with a “thank-you,” or “may god bless you.” The fact that the Hondurians are very polite, makes you feel safe, while visiting their wonderful island. I believe that it is some sort of freedom to avoid health risks, although people should see that as a bad type of freedom. Everyone,
Social stratification and diversity is found in most societies around the world. These ideas are explored in Andy Furlong’s book Youth Studies: An Introduction chapter “Divisions in Youth” and C. Welti’s “Adolescence in Latin America: Facing the Future with Skepticism”. Furlong begins his chapter by stating the various forms of social inequality that are found across societies, including class, gender, race, ability, sexuality, and youth. Although Furlong includes youth as a factor of social inequality, he discloses that youth is a temporary form of discrimination unlike the other constructions previously mentioned, nevertheless still involves “state-sanctioned denial of various rights” (25). Furlong emphasizes that one’s unique location within
Living in a third-world country is not something I am particularly familiar with. My father, however, knows all too well what it is like to live in a place where people struggle to get food every day. Honduras is a country located in Central America, a region that is filled with poverty, crime, and gang activity. There is one thing that stands out about Honduras: it is beautiful. I went to visit my family in Honduras when I was young, and we visited a part of the country where the ancient civilizations of the Maya were located.