...at the top of everyone’s agenda. These were the three essentials to survive day in and day out. I remember on my walks to school I would see kids just like me collecting plastic bottles and metal cans to sell for scraps at the recycling plant. Sometimes I would join them because I thought that was what kids my age did for fun. From my house every night, I would hear the screams of innocent people being raped or murdered. I would hear the boots of army troops stomping on the dusty roads and rapid shots of automatic weapons. It wasn’t until I immigrated to the United States when I realized that these events had become less commonplace....
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...It is common to classify “Hispanics/Latinos” into a single category; however, these people come from a variety of countries, have their own cultures, and can even speak a variety of languages. It is important to remember that these people are human beings like any other group of people and they have their own unique lives and stories. These stories are rather important as they tell us the harsh reality of immigration through personal narratives, and many Hispanic immigrants like sharing their stories to inform others and give themselves a voice. Personal narratives tell us that Hispanic immigration to the United States needs to be reformed promptly. These narratives tell us that immigration will never end despite the current US government’s...
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...Throughout this course I was continuously brought to the conclusion that the United States immigration policy is a broken system, casting many aside and leaving them to their own devices. Coming from an immigrant background, those who had not obtained citizenship yet were always looked down upon by those in my family with citizenship. Prior to this course I felt compelled to go right along with that notion. I have learned the most about immigrants and their experiences from the two video assignments, VIDEO 1, and VIDEO 2. The videos brought real human examples of our broken system and gives us the element of humanity to it. It is incredibly easy to learn concepts and memorize definitions, but in a course about humans, I believe a connection is truly formed when we can associate faces with the concepts. While each immigrant group sparked some kind of emotional response from me, the group that affected me the most was children born to immigrant parents. As the module...
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...University of Tennessee, Knoxville Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Masters Theses Graduate School 5-2010 Bharati Mukherjee and the American Immigrant: Reimaging the Nation in a Global Context Leah Rang University of Tennessee - Knoxville, lrang@utk.edu Recommended Citation Rang, Leah, "Bharati Mukherjee and the American Immigrant: Reimaging the Nation in a Global Context. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2010. http://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/655 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact trace@utk.edu. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Leah Rang entitled "Bharati Mukherjee and the American Immigrant: Reimaging the Nation in a Global Context." I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, with a major in English. Urmila Seshagiri, Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Lisi Schoenbach, Bill Hardwig Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official student records.) To the Graduate Council:...
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...In recent years there has been a growth of research on undocumented immigrants in the United States; however these studies do not captures beyond public policy and economic perspectives. Few studies have focused on the representation of undocumented immigrants on contemporary literature and their personal narratives. Through a qualitative comparative analysis, this research will study Reyna Grande’s The Distance Between Us: A Memoir and her first novel Across a Hundred Mountains. Reyna Grande at the age of nine illegally crossed the border and became an undocumented child immigrant. Leaving her native country during her mid-childhood influenced her identity construction in the U.S. More significantly, as a writer her immigration experience...
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...CURRENT AFFAIRS AND HISTORICAL CONNECTIONS My view of studying history is that it is important for future generations to know where their ancestors have been and what they have accomplished in order to make future changes and developments in a society. I feel that without studying American history most industries would not be able to grow to meet the demands of modern day needs. Take for instance the computer industry and it’s progression in the last 40 years. My laptop that I’m writing this paper with has as much power, if not more than the computers used to put a man on the moon. That would not be possible if manufacturers did not look at ways to improve what they already have developed, which means they have to look back at what they have created in the past. Among other important reasons for studying American History would be subjects such as labor laws and social security. We as a society want to live better lives and improve the quality of our lives and so by looking at the past we can make changes in the future to benefit our future generations. In my view without studying history there would be no progressive future. I think many people have a negative view on studying history because they can’t seem to find a connection to how history relates or affects their lives. I believe that anyone can find something interesting to study in history. It’s just a matter of finding a way for them to connect with a subject on a personal or professional level. Maybe someone does not...
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...Hongxin Liu Professor Name：MR. CRAIG J. PERRIER HIST 3131: World History Since 1945 March 31, 2016 Part A: Sharing Knowledge with Metropolitan Museum of Arts My name is Hongxin Liu, and I am enrolled at Northeastern University’s College of Professional Studies in Bachelors in Business Studies. I have been enrolled in some courses this semester among which World History Since 1945 is a course which relates to the historical development and transformations all over the world. The course provides an opportunity to trace the significant events in all parts of the world and identifies their individual and synergic influence on the globalization, Economy and International Relations. In the context of the course requirements, the class is expected to engage with an organization to take an informed action in the form of suggestion or editorial. I have chosen Metropolitan Museum of Arts as my organization. The Metropolitan Museum of Arts is a tremendous resource of collection and exhibits collected from all over the world and makes connections to the world history and culture. The Met Museum explores the world art and history from various perspectives as captured by transnational artists, painters and photographers. The 1945’s atomic bomb dropping on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were a changing point of history. The bombs caused a widespread destruction in both cities almost flattening them to the ground. This was the point when World War II came to the conclusion with Japan’s surrender...
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...It has been almost nine years since I arrived from Mexico to the United States. Integrating these two unique cultures has been a wonderful experience. For immigrants in the United States culture differences can be difficult and complicate. Assimilating two separate cultures is an ongoing challenge. In this essay, I will describe the issues many immigrants face in regards to diversity, stereotyping, preserving self identity and personal values. America is nation that is populated with a culturally diverse group of people. The United States has welcomed more immigrants than any other country. The steady stream of people coming to America has had a profound effect on the evolution of American society. America is known as the land of the free and people from all over the world are attracted by promise of opportunity and success. It is not easy for those who move to the United States from other countries. It takes a lot of courage and sacrifice to leave your homeland and come to a new country, but the prospect of a better life makes the risk worth taking. Immigrants who come to America enrich the country by bringing aspects of their native cultures with them. For example, Hispanic Americans celebrate their culture with street fairs and other festivities on Cinco de Mayo. Other cultures, such as African Americans celebrate both Kwanzaa, a festival drawn from African rituals. As the population of the United States becomes more diverse its people are being exposed to holidays and...
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...English already falsifies what I wanted to tell you.” (Drown). This epigraph in beginning by Gustavo Perez Firmat gives a clue of focusing Hispanic community. After reading the whole book my question is this book merely story telling or autobiographical? This question came to my mind by relating Diaz’s interview in Colbert’s show. Stephen Colbert, the host of show when asked him how he came to America, Diaz answered that his father first came to New York, settled here and called them over. Diaz also mentioned that he saw his dad the first time as he was away from family and once they landed to America his father took them to New Jersey which was weird according to Diaz. Same scenario was somewhat presented in beginning of Drown but through Yunior- the narrator. Diaz used the specific words and some symbols which the reader can almost feel the story as if it is real. Diaz, who was born in Santo Domingo in Dominican Republic and migrated to New Jersey when he was six; portrayed the barrios of Dominican Republican and struggling urban communities of New Jersey. Overall, he presented many themes in Drown jumping from one important chapter of life to another. For instance, poverty, cultural difference, hope of living American dream, family issues in respect of absent father and branched to immigration. However legitimacy and...
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...relating Biblical faith to Social issues * Housing and immigration are public policy issues * Daniel devotes a chapter to this question, using “Caesar vs. God” image from New Testament * Micah Shows up in both books (see below) * Differences? * Is immigration more of a “hot button” issue than housing? * If so, do we find different kinds of rhetoric? * Phil comment in class: Does Reckford focus more on system or structures or root causes (next slide) and Daniel more on individuals? * If so, do we have different kinds of solidarity in these two approaches? * Root Causes (“cycle”) of Poverty (structural analysis) (52-53) * Rhetorical device? * Cites 5 of them * “social capital” (56-58) is a rich illustration * Solidarity involves “learning” and “sensitivity” and “collaboration” (60) * Corresponding interventions/Solutions * E.g. “not charity but capital” (Clarence Jordan, cited 54) * 62-63: justice = level playing field (Sen. M. Fenwick, grandmother) * Housing is one of several interventions, but foundational (59) * Note structural components (infrastructure) of this intervention * E.g. ONE Campaign (http://www.one.org/us/) : 1% of US budget against extreme poverty * Immigration as “spiritual pilgrimage” * Religion/Public Square (ch.4) * “Do I believe in the moral teaching of my faith more than...
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...David Schleicher Narrative Essay 5/27/2014 Moving to America Transformed My Life In the past I came across many changes but leaving my country was the toughest change in my life. I had to learn how to live away from people I love and how to start a new life in a new country. Immigration is a life changing experience; learning a new language, adapting to the culture and lifestyle changes are all strenuous things that were thrown at me once I became a part of this country. Even though moving away from my family and friends was a difficult decision, it changed my live for a better. It taught me how to deal with change, how to become an independent and responsible person, and how to feel this country my home. I never imagined living in another country. I remember as it was yesterday when my mom said, “Daniela, I know you do not want to leave Colombia but I have to take you with me, you are my youngest child and I will not let you here” I started arguing with her, saying that how she could do that to me when I already had plans to start college and that I was happy in my country but at the end I gave up and decided to come to America. It was February 10th, 2010, when I left Colombia and was forced to leave my friends, my grandmother, my school, my language and culture to move to this big new country to start a new life. As I took my last look at my home, I remembered all the fun times I had with my mom and sister and friends throughout my life. Tears were...
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...Lower East Side Memories : A Jewish Place in America By HASIA R. DINER The Lower East Side and American Jewish Memory I'm Jewish because love my family matzoh ball soup. I'm Jewish because my fathers mothers uncles grandmothers said "Jewish," all the way back to Vitebsk & Kaminetz-Podolska via Lvov. Jewish because reading Dostoyevsky at 13 I write poems at restaurant tables Lower East Side, perfect delicatessen intellectual. —Allen Ginsberg, "Yiddishe Kopf" The poet Allen Ginsberg, born and raised in Newark, New Jersey, returned in his later years to a narrative style of expression, shifting gears from the anger and fire of his early career. In this poem from 1991 he also touched down again, after a long hiatus spent exploring Buddhism and Eastern philosophy, upon some Jewish themes, as a way of remembering the world of his youth. He described that world in one poem, "Yiddishe Kopf," literally, a Jewish head, but more broadly, a highly distinctive Jewish way of thinking, based on insight, cleverness, and finesse. That world for him stood upon two zones of remembrance. The world of eastern Europe, of Vitebsk, Lvov, and Kamenets-Podolski gave him one anchor for his Jewishness. Thai space of memory gave him a focus for continuity and inherited identity, tied down by the weight of the past, by family in particular. The other, the Lower East Side, nurtured and...
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...academic and professional careers. In the coming weeks you will complete various writing assignments, taking each of them through the stages of drafting, revising, and editing before handing them in for a grade. I will give you all assignments in writing posted to Blackboard; also I will post all reading material on Blackboard or we’ll retrieve materials through online sources; thus there are no texts to buy for this course. Requirements You will complete approximately four graded assignments over the course of this semester – comprised of the following: 1. Politics, government policy, and/or social and cultural issues. Some of you may be interested and engaged in these matters already – such matters as economic theory and policy, immigration, gun rights vs. sensible gun regulation, health care policy, veteran affairs and funding, equal pay for women, women’s access to abortion and contraception, the right wing’s current attempt to defund Planned Parenthood; the Tea Party vs. . . . ALL government at large; race issues (the Black Lives Matter movement and all that it entails, especially policing in minority communities and minority profiling); voter rights vs. draconian voter ID laws and eliminating early voting; drug policies; foreign policy (involvement/intervention vs. isolationism; military involvement vs. diplomatic/economic solutions to conflict, e.g., the current debate...
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...actually belongs to?” would not bother you in the halfway you are walking, driving, or anything you are doing just by yourself. But when you are interacting with someone else (especially when the person is belongs to other ethnic groups), you come to think of the ethnic identity, your own ethnic identity and others ethnic identity. This is why I tend to see ethnic identity as an interactional identity. On the other hand, ethnic identity is a situational identity, too. In this essay I would discuss about these interactional and situational characteristics of one’s ethnic identity. I will try to explain why am I sees ethnic identity as an interactional and situational identity. I am going to discuss this, because I would like to share my points of view about these characteristics of ethnic identity, after reading some materials regarding these topics. First of all, I would like to introduce you a person who does really mean a lots to me. However, I must stress out that I get to know him, only on paper (I read his book!) but not in the reality. Andreas Walther, 27 years old, currently lives in Hong Kong, and about to move to Taiwan. Andreas is very tall, he has brown hair, pale brown eyes, but right at the moment you look at him you would know that he isn’t just a European. But of course you could not figure out which ethnic group (in fact, it should be “ethnic groups”, as he does really belongs to more than one ethnic group) does he belongs to by just looking at his...
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...asking too much of fate! Still I will proudly declare that there is something queer about it. Else, why should it be let so cheaply? And why have stood so long untenanted? John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage. John is practical in the extreme. He has no patience with faith, an intense horror of superstition, and he scoffs openly at any talk of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures. John is a physician, and perhaps—(I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind)—perhaps that is one reason I do not get well faster. You see, he does not believe I am sick! And what can one do? If a physician of high standing, and one's own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency—what is one to do? My brother is also a physician, and also of high...
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