Difference Between American And Indonesian Migrant Workers

Imagine the pressure of being expected to follow your culture’s traditions even if you want to rebel and create your own identity. Carrying on traditions can be difficult for many young people who are searching for their identities as they grow up. Two texts, “Life in the age of the mimis” by Domingo Martinez and “El Olvido” by Judith Ortiz, tell about the struggles of losing one’s culture. One shows the reader that forgetting your own roots simply because of being ashamed or embarrassed can really harm you, while the other demonstrates that forgetting your culture for the sake of fame and fortune can also do the same damage.

The movie “El Norte “is the one of the most successful and influential movies to represent the immigrants state. Director Gregory Nava’s gives the story of Guatemalan siblings Rosa and Enrique’s journey in a melodramatic way. The movie is divided to three main parts, Guatemala, Mexico and United States. The story of Rosa and Enrique’s shows us community, the power of language and culture in different countries.

Our society is a melange of different cultures. Each culture contributes to cultural diversity without losing its separate identity. Living in this society, we identify ourselves as a member of one group with the same culture or more than one group, and we have the desire to be accepted by other members and enjoy whatever benefits membership brings with it. Manuel Munoz, the author of “Leave Your Name at the Border”, recounted an experience about hearing his last name mispronounced and explored the Anglicization of Latina names in American culture. In “My Summer at an Indian Call Center”, Andrew Marantz narrated his experiences about working at a call center in Delhi and the insight he received from others about his own culture. Does Mexican Americans’ identity have to be lost in the process of assimilation? Do the customer service representatives in Delhi have to erase any trace of their Indian identity? When we join, or are assimilated into a group, we are changed regardless of retaining an original cultural identity or being part of the dominant culture. The level of change we are able to achieve is based on our willingness to compromise between blending in and standing out.

The foremost difference between the two cultures is the “impudence of summer thighs, long arms and painted toenails” against the woman who is dressed moderately. The attitude of the migrant establishes the experience of complete alienation and distance that the migrant woman may be

Every individual, no matter who they are, will all face challenges that result from their backgrounds and cultures. Born in Calcutta, India and later moving to the United States, Amin Ahmad was an individual who discovered this harsh truth first-hand. In his essay, “I Belong Here,” Ahmad reflects on his experience of being treated differently from those around him based off his cultural background. He analyzes the emotional barrier that forms between the journey of immigration and the continuous feeling of inferiority based solely on the desire to belong. The article is written to provide a different point of view; one focused on introducing to the world the challenges and emotions immigrants face after starting the journey towards a new life.

Belonging to place/culture is a major concept in ‘Migrant Hostel’ to show how the migrants use their background as a sense of affiliation and belonging. This can be seen through the use of a in “Nationalities sought each other out instinctively like a homing pigeon circling to get its bearings” This example shows how the migrants felt isolated and alone when they first arrived at the migrant hostel. As they came together the “sought each other out” through the use of nationally and culture which made them fit in and feel excepted into the place.

There is a Mexican man that enters with the rest of his family. They eat beans, rice, flour tortillas and etc. The family does there every day routine, the dad wakes up at six- thirty to go to work in his truck. The children go to school and the mother stays at home. The things a person does in their all has a reason which goes all back to culture. Culture is what makes up everyone different from one another. Texts such as “What is Cultural Identity?”, “Where Worlds Collide” and “Two ways to Belong” supports that depending on one’s culture it effects one perspective on the world and others.

Social science teaches that a person’s self identity is a reflection of that which other people put on the individual, in other words a person’s behavior steams more from what they see of themselves from someone else’s perspective and less from how they see themselves. In the case of the Mexicans, this concept holds true. From that, which has been studied thus far this semester, Mexicans/ Mexican Americans are good examples of this concept. Their sorted past has resulted in a new kind of Mexican American and perhaps a new kind of Mexican. Certainly the Mexicans American’s experience in this country has brought about some changes from the first generation of Mexicans who were born in this country to those who

modules gives many examples how strong cultural pasts lead to identity problems in a new society. Also, the module shows us that many Mexicans were not happy with the stereotype formed about their identity. In Between the Lines, we see how Mexicans in America suffer through harsh discrimination, while trying to stay close to their relatives and culture. The letters talk about how Whites did not have concerns with family values or cultural beliefs. Whites based many of their values off succeeding in the economy. Whites in general had no regard for Mexicans as people.

Immigrants’ experience can be described as being transcultural, meaning their experiences from their country (including cultural signifiers) are translated or transported to the new country they live in. During the transcultural experience, people can be changed by the new culture, and they also bring some their own traditional culture to the new environment. In 1990s, a lot of Latinos leave their countries to come to the United States because of the civil war. Hector Tobar’s book The Tattooed soldier tells a story of a Guatemalan refugee Antonio who comes to live in Los Angeles. His wife and son were killed by the government army. Antonio has to escape from his country because he could be killed too. After the murder, the sergeant of the death squad comes to the United States too. Antonio finds the soldier in a park in Los Angeles, and he starts to plan to kill the murderer. At the end of the story, he revenges for his wife and son. In Tobar’s other book Translation Nation, Tobar interviews many Central Americans who crossed the border, and this book also records many Latino immigrants’ life experiences. Both of the books show these immigrants’ transcultural experience in the United States. In The Tattooed Soldier and Translation Nation, the Latino immigrants are changed by the new country they live in and they also bring their own culture to the new country. Their cultures change and influence each other, that’s the reason why immigrants’ experiences are

What defines you? Is it the many tiny, wriggling spiders that could potentially be inside your body, the experiences you might have had in Istanbul, your list of hobbies which may or may not include crochet, or is it something a bit more trivial, such as where you come from? Who are you? Take a moment to reflect on yourself. In an essay concerning the argument of identity, Richard Rodriguez forces his readers to analyze themselves, particularly during the high climb of immigration in America today, because with the rising amount of cultures and ethnicities finding a home in this country, there really is no “black and white” answer. The question of identity is the key idea in Rodriguez’s Blaxicans, further expanded upon by careful word choice,

The trend of immigration brings out the issue of cultural identity. The controversy concerning tradition and cultural expectation is becoming increasingly fierce. Is it necessary to change one’s own cultural identity in order to fit the working environment and blend into the new society? How do people’s intrinsic cultural identities affect their new lives? Should the way of preserving cultural tradition be altered? How individuals’ cultural expectation influence their attitudes of redefining traditions? Will redefining tradition result in the loss of the value of the original culture? Andrew Marantz in his article, “My Summer at an Indian Call Center,” recounts his experience taking culture training that he was required to attend in order to work at one of the many call centers in India, discussing the reasons and the consequences of altering one’s own cultural identity. Meanwhile, Julia Alvarez uses the example of Quinceanera, a female coming-of-age tradition known among Hispanic communities, talks about the issue of redefining original tradition and cultural identity. In her article, “Selections from Once Upon a Quinceanera”, she touches on various aspects of Quinceanera, pointing out its pros and cons, extending the meaning of preserving cultures and redefining traditions. Changing cultural habits for certain purposes and redefining cultural traditions bring about the dilemma of cultural identifying. Although cultural assimilation is emerging in the trend of immigrants,

For thousands of years, waves of immigrants continue joining the developed countries in the world, bringing with them the unique cultures, languages, and ideas. Over time, those unique values might be faded away with each generation because of the new culture exposition. The second-generation immigrants experience a cultural conflict between that of their parents and that of host society. Most of them are unable to preserve and empower their origin cultures. Many differences between the first-generation and the second-generation immigrants arise. Through the analysis of the mother in “Death of a Young Son by Drowning” and the Das family in “Interpreter of Maladies”, I would like to demonstrate the differences between the first-generation immigrants, who travel from other countries, and the second-generation immigrants, who were born and raised on the immigrated land. These differences include the purpose of being in the foreign land, the connections to their homelands, society’s view, and the culture differences.

The question of identity is always a difficult one for those living in a culture or group, yet belonging to another. This difficulty frequently remains in the mind of most immigrants, especially the second generations who were born in a country other than their parents. Younger generations feel as if they are forced to change to fit the social standards despite previous culture or group. Furthermore those who wish to adopt a new identity of a group or culture haven't yet been fully accepted by original members due to their former identity.

The arrival of immigrants into developed nations has been a common trend for centuries, but so has the wave of resentment from natives of the land towards those who are migrants. Adichie illustries this migrant struggle through Americanah, which explores the hardships migrants must face with trying to be accepted into the new society. With her portrayal of the immigrant tendency to assimilate, Adichie skillfully highlights the pain associated with losing essential parts of one’s true identity.