I Am An Italian American Essay

It is important for me to maintain my cultural roots because I come from long line of hard-working Italian immigrants who faced discrimination and who sacrificed to make things better for future generations. I maintain my Italian heritage my maintaining close ties with my family and my parish. I am extremely close with my family and making time for each other is a priority. We attend mass together as a family and have Sunday dinner at my grandmother’s house. Nearly every Sunday for the last twenty-two years of my life, we have had homemade sauce, meatballs, and lasagna. Food is a huge part of my Italian-American heritage. At Christmas, we have the traditional Christmas Eve Feast of the seven fishes and attend midnight mass as a family. During Easter, we make Easter bread and tarallies. My grandmother and mother have passed many recipes down to me over the years. Another aspect of our Italian-American culture which has been passed down to me was to respect and care for my elders. We have cared for my great-grandmother and grandfather at home until they passed. God-willing I plan on carrying on this tradition of caring for loved ones with my grandmother

Am I black? Am I not? Am I Eritrean? Or am I an American? What am I? Who am I? Who is Abebba Araya? I constantly asked myself these questions. Why is it to certain people that I am black, yet to some I am not? My entire existence in this world has been very ironic. However, I now know who I am as a person; I am a second-generation American of Eritrean descent. I am both an American and Eritrean, yet I am not black. An emphasis on the and, which I realized exists between these two cultures and incorporating both of them into my lifestyle.

I was one of the 16.8 million students in the United States that were educated in a suburban school (U.S Department of Education as cited in Anyon, 1997). Fitting nicely into the figure of 90% of student that did not receive free and reduced lunch in the suburban setting (Anyon, 1997). My background, socioeconomic status, race, geography, and culture all have a meaningful impact on who I was as a student and who I now am as a teacher.

With Nicholas working in a factory and Florence as a schoolteacher they were able to scrape by and provide a modest life for their children. Growing up my grandfather described a general disdain felt towards his family by other members of the town. This attitude stemmed from the general dislike of Italian-Americans in the country during this time. Even after Nicholas returned from his time in World War 2, people still would treat him as second class. Luckily Italian-American families in the area developed a tight-knit community, mostly centered around going to church. These were the people my grandfather credited with helping pull his family up and comfort them during the hard times. For instance when my grandfather’s brother died in a car accident the community joined in the mourning and helped with the funeral. Or when my grandfather’s

Defining what really is to be an American does not sound as easy as it seem. It will always be complex process. As immigration continues to fuel the growth of the population of our nation, racial and ethnic gap increase and evolve along with it. Racial and ethnic identities become more and more convoluted and difficult to understand. Race and ethnicity continue to intermingle and push a cultural shift in the US– a shift that plays a significant role in redefining America in a day-to-day basis.

Italian American and Greek American parents are devoted to raising their children, and caring to them well into their adult years. While the Irish American culture allows their children to move out, prepared or not, the Italian American and Greek American cultures would not do this willingly. The Italian American and Greek American cultures believe that they will not have as much an impact or closeness, and their children could venture into trouble if not advised everyday of their lives. With that being said, Italian American and Greek American children often live in their parent’s homes well into their adult years. What might be surprising to other cultures, especially the Irish American culture, is that even newly married couples are welcomed to live in their in-laws home until they find, or until they can afford, their own home. The Italian American and Greek American cultures are even big on assisting their relatives in finding employment, and this ties into the importance of family businesses, where they will hire and keep their success

The Italians’ holiday culture helped to make America a more diverse nation. Their family-centered culture and regional affiliations resulted in highly concentrated settlements called, Little Italies. Entire villages in Italy would travel over to America to form these settlements. Many were heavily clustered in cities in the mid-atlantic and midwest states. The immigrants typically viewed themselves as residents of a particular region or village, not as “Italians.” Their daily habits and life reflected this, as they usually only associated with fellow kin or villagers called paesani. The Italians were working on becoming a member of American society while still trying to maintain their old customs. During holidays, Italian immigrants still utilized traditional customs such as folk songs, folklore, and dances for special events. However, like so many of the Italian aspects of life, they were so regionally specific that they defied easy characterization.

Language has clearly become a powerful force in many countries where different communities actually want to split apart on the sole basis on the language they speak. An article about Spain’s language diversity explains how people feel so passionate about their native languages that the country had to create autonomous regions for each of the major languages, and people are still fighting to have their language become the dominant dialect (Berdichevsky 276). This is also seen repeatedly in America’s history where immigrants to the country struggle to keep their languages alive. These immigrants realize the important role that language plays in keeping a community together, and many immigrants from the same country will choose to live by each other in America and are resentful when they are forced to learn English. My own great-grandparents chose to live in an Italian neighborhood in Ohio when they first came from Italy so that their culture would not be lost. This allowed my grandma to learn Italian as well as English, and even though she was going to an English school she was still taught the morals of her culture because she was able to talk with the older Italian people who did not speak English. My grandma says that this has helped her throughout life because even though she lives in America she says, “I respect my Italian heritage,” and that it has helped “build my confidence” (12 April 2003).

In a recount by Addams, she explained how a young Italian girl was too embarrassed to enter her class with the presence of her traditional Italian mother wearing “a kerchief over her head, uncouth boots, and short petticoats” (Addams, 11). The younger generation appeared to be embarrassed by their parents and therefore, was embarrassed by their background and cultural heritage that they knew little about. The older generation did not grow up with the same luxuries as the younger generation. The parents, back in their home countries were oppressed and held under strict laws and religious grounds, limiting their behavior and abilities (Addams, 11). This way of living though for the older generation was a part of them. They grew up in this lifestyle and were not free until their arrival in the United

Race, ethnicity, religion, class, sexual orientation, ability, and gender have all impacted my life in ways beyond my total comprehension. However, I can begin to identify some of the notable interactions and effects and discuss the ways in which they might present themselves in my teaching practices. I am a White, European American, Christian, and heterosexual female without a medically ascribed disability. I can say that ultimately (and unfortunately) my cultural and physical identity is considered normative within the United States and has placed me on a path of privilege and power. Throughout my life, though, I have been fortunate to encounter other cultural groups in very meaningful ways. My international, religious, and family experiences have shaped my worldview most notably.

Have you ever wondered how the Italian educational system compares to that of America? Well a lot of Italians would tell you in fact, they despise it. The schooling is not the most reliable, especially when it comes to how people are hired and the rampant instability of education jobs in the country. Another fact is that Italy still offers some of the most complete didactic curricula in Europe.

It wasn’t until my journey in Italy that I realized I cast my emotions too show strength and stay away from being hurt. I am a people pleaser and I fear disappointing the people I love. I try to tiptoe around emotions and ignore how I really feel about things. I feel that I was just coasting life as it came to me with a laid back mindsets before Italy. I hate to think about negative things in the world and always try to stay positive. To me, before Italy, I lived life staying out of trouble. I would over think what people thought of me as well as over think actions that I had already made. I was always worried about everyone else but never really focused on myself. I never realized that I was repressing things from my past into my subconscious.

As anyone in America can relate, heritage and where we come from can construct our personality, build our demeanor, and in some cases, determines who we are as people. It often amazes me when I step foot into a class room, or go into a local bar, even walk down the street and see how many different faces there are. In some aspect, when I look close enough, I can see dead people. Not dead as in walking zombies, but a glimpse of the past ancestors that helped mold these individuals into the people standing before me. With that in mind, when I look the mirror I can see who came before me and through past stories I can feel the struggles that Italians felt as they crossed the ocean to become Americans.

Few things identify Italians as well as food, “the cross-cultural consumption of Italian cuisine is a significant marker of the way in which others see and imagine Italy and the Italians.” Food is cultural artifact. The Italian culture lives to eat. Where as, the American culture eats to live. Food is a way of life in Italy, not just a way to survive.

The waiter that served Light's coffee was in heavy disguise, but Light would recognize that rich voice anywhere. Light didn't look up from his newspaper, but he gesture for Beyond Birthday to put his coffee down. Light graced him with a smile, "Thank you."