In Campano’s chapter one, we are introduced to the community literacies project, an ethnographic and participatory action research initiative at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish. This local parish supports a community rich with multicultural perspectives, and multilingual traditions. As the name implies, one of the major goals of this project was to investigate the various forms of literacies available throughout this diverse community and explore the opportunities they provide to respond to their absence of power in their various positions of precarity as a result of immigrant or socioeconomic status (Banki, 2013). The chapter opens by emphasizing a strength based perspective as opposed to the dangerous deficit mindset, that is often heard in discussion of minority populations. This asset-based mindset is vital to both this type of research undertaking as well as engaging community …show more content…
The 6 discourse communities that were discussed in this book included: religious, educational, activist, legal, service and cultural discourse. As described in the chapter each individual each communities has various forms of social capital and valuable knowledge as well as it’s limitations, no one discourse community can provide members of the parish with all the resources it needs, and if one should dissipate their would be a gap in resources in services that it would be difficult if not impossible for the others to replace. The success of these communities lies in their ability to both function as individual entities as well as synergistically in what Campano refers to as a cosmopolitan counterpublic, that capitalizes on each individuals varied tapestry of experiences and values the cultural exchange of various
Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling by McMinn was published in 1996. This book was written to help Christian counselors gain knowledge on the latest information and new techniques of Christian counseling. McMinn captures the spiritual and mental side of psychotherapy, he teaches his readers that spiritual discipline is needed to ensure successful counseling sessions. Biblical quotations and scriptures are used throughout the book to show how McMinn integrates spiritual into counseling. Throughout the book he also incorporates many concepts and theories relating to Christian counseling.
While immigrant youth may gain useful knowledge and skills, they miss out significantly on culture resources because they become Americanized. Subtracting schooling occurs in a variety of ways. Classifying ESL (English as a second language) are labeled “limited English proficient rather than as Spanish dominant” (p. 173), faculty and staff linguistically butcher names through mispronunciations, materials such as the school handbook that does not even mention the ELS program are not provided in English, and information is withheld from capable youth which can result in failure. This chapter also addresses the divisions among youth such as Latina female friends, religious immigrant males, immigrant females in trouble, ESL students, mixed generation groups, and U.S. born
I truly admire Martin Luther King Jr. not only as a person who fought for human rights but as a creator of the best and the most powerful letters I have ever read in my life. The fact Dr. King wrote it sitting in roach-infested, Birmingham jail gives him a huge appreciation. He annihilated racial segregation and created a powerful message which we excite and quote nowadays.
Although our society is slowly developing a more accepting attitude toward differences, several minority groups continue to suffer from cultural oppression. In her essay “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” Gloria Anzaldúa explores the challenges encountered by these groups. She especially focuses on her people, the Chicanos, and describes the difficulties she faced practicing her mother tongue. She argues that for many years, the dominant American culture has silenced their language. She claims that by forcing them to speak English and attempting to eliminate their accents, the Americans have robbed the Chicanos of their identity. She also addresses the issue of low self-esteem that results from this process of acculturation. Growing up in the United States, Anzaldúa says she had to accommodate to the American culture. The fact that she was discouraged from practicing her native language induced her to become ashamed of her roots. In addition, she explains that she constantly felt suppressed on account of her gender. By incorporating Spanish words, powerful personal anecdotes and historical facts about her people, Anzaldúa produces a unique composition in which she depicts an unfair and repressive world and reprimands the prejudices that hinder certain cultures from flourishing and establishing themselves.
In "Learning to Read and Write" by Fredrick Douglass, "The Good Immigrant Student" by Bich Minh Nguyen and "The Joy of Reading and Writing" by Sherman Alexie, each author narrates their experiences in acquiring literary skills. A common factor for all of them is that they all experienced significant difficulties in becoming proficient in academics . Through a variety of rhetoric strategies, the authors articulate their utmost concerns where they present strong evidence on the difficulties experienced by minority communities in their quest for education. Therefore, this paper asserts that the role of reading, writing, and language relates to racial discrimination, cultural difference, and freedom which is of much relevance to today’s
In 2011 Mark McMinn updates his book on Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling, which discloses three important perspectives of Christian counseling. This recently evolving frontier for Christian counselors is what McMinn calls interdisciplinary integration. The relationship between psychology and theology is not the vital key component, but it’s how Christian faith is practiced in counseling. Bringing religion into the counseling office will bring challenges but with personal spiritual training and professional development it can be accomplished. McMinn shares a theoretical map on the prospective values and dangers of using religious interventions in counseling. In the first two chapters McMinn establishes a framework on the variety of religious interventions like prayer, the use of Scripture, forgiveness, and so on. Theses chapters would be part 1 of a 2 broad part that lays down a foundation for the rest of the book. The chapters that follow would be part 2 that explains the indispensable components in McMinn’s methodology to the integration of psychology, theology, and spiritualty in counseling. Psychology, theology, and spirituality is highlighted in the sessions of Christian counseling by guiding the person who reads an insightful understanding of integrating stages of: prayer, scripture, sin, confession,
United by the obligations of the law, yet entirely divided by society, welcome to America. Patriots chant “equality” one moment, and “deport them” the next. Cruel, unaccepting, and uncompassionate, American society of the majority often appears to view itself as sovereign, turning a blind eye to, and often contributing to, the struggles of minorities. In “Mother Tongue”, Amy Tan (1990) does an excellent job of sharing her experience with similar issues as she tells her readers about the struggles her mother encountered due to being an immigrant who only spoke “broken” English. Society often put no weight into what Tan’s mother had to say, believing her ability to express her thoughts reflected the quality of said thoughts, which are of absolutely no correlation (Tan, 1990). This often led to Tan having to intervene for her mother, especially during serious situations that required resolution (Tan, 1990). Immigrants, no matter how intelligent or talented, may be plagued by continuous struggles because of a lack of understanding of English or American culture, stereotypes encouraged by the media, and discrimination, especially in the workplace.
According to John Swales (1990), there are six characteristics that are adequate and important for recognizing a discourse community. Firstly, a discourse community has standard public objectives that they strive to achieve. Members of a discourse community all share the same common goals they are anticipating to attain, and they do not have individuals with separate goals. For instance, the Salvation Army public goals are “to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination.” They offer spiritual, physical, and emotional service to the public, as well as the opportunity to donate. Secondly, a discourse community has various techniques of communication for members to correspond with each other. For
This excerpt extensively covers and provides authentic history and experience pertaining to a very prevalent issue in not only Hispanic communities but black communities as well. While the situation contains differences which are expected due to the fact that Hispanic communities suffer this tragedy due to being a multilingual culture and having this culture essentially erased by the euro-centric habit of insisting upon assimilation by erasure and denial rather than assimilation by integration and acceptance. As a matter of fact another example, which is seemingly an even worse case than presented in the provided material, is the restriction and destruction of the Native American culture in nearly every aspect, while simultaneously spawning
A discourse community is a group of people involved in and communicating about a particular topic, issue, or in a particular field. According to the criteria conveyed in “The Concept of Discourse Community” by John Swales, Christianity can be considered as a discourse community because of its common goals, medium of communication, participatory mechanisms, specific genres, and its threshold level of members.
Therefore this dilemma arises questions that need to be answered: How does the surrounding area affect the way THD assimilates people into the church through genres? Does the surrounding population complicate THD’s impact on larger social issues? From what I researched, I have found that the assimilation into Christianity can be related to the social aspects that surround them, as well as in them. This paper is established for people who are interested in affects/effects of joining/assimilating into a discourse community, as well as how it is influenced by larger social
This discourse community consists of people who believe in God and follow the principles of the bible. Despite what people outside of this community may think, it is not full of people who think they are better than anyone else. The people who make up this community are far from perfect, but are striving to improve themselves through learning the bible, with one belief holding them all together. I am a part of this discourse community. It is tied to my primary discourse, because I have been in the Church since I was little, and have grown up in its values. To be apart of this community, you simply have to believe in God, believe in what Jesus did for all of us, and have a desire to learn to live your life right through learning the bible.There
There are currently 150 million Afro-descendants in Latin America who make up nearly 30 percent of the region’s population (Congressional Research Service, 2005). Out of the fifteen Latin American nations that have recently adapted some sort of multicultural reform, only three give recognize Afro-Latino communities and give them the same rights as indigenous groups (Hooker, 2005). Indigenous groups are more successful than afro-descendent groups in gaining collective rights and development aid from international NGO’s. Collective rights important because are closely related to land rights and can become a tool to fight descrimination .I will attempt to uncover the causes for the discrepancy. This study relies heavily on ethnographic
As an economically disadvantaged, minority student who ventured out of a small, closed-minded town, I have developed a passion to serve the underserved. Throughout my life, I have been associated with and witnessed the consequences of being a minority. For example, with 1% of my high school identifying
Language is much more than a method of communication. Permeated within it are traditions, customs, and legacies of one’s culture. The identity of an entire population is in the distinct vocalizations of their native language. Unfortunately, as a wave of immigrants enters the United States at young ages, many face language barriers that pose significant challenges. Language barriers affect a multitude of immigrant populations to different degrees. This, in turn, causes many of them to abandon not only their native tongue but a piece of their ethnic identity, as well. In Maxine Hong Kingston’s personal narrative,“The Language of Silence,” she describes the difficulties she experienced throughout her childhood with a language barrier as a