...The Irish Immigrant Experience Multiculturalism for Clinical Psychologists PSY 6010 R. Paul Johnson Saybrook University Abstract Popular media typically portrays the myth of the Irish-American experience as the story of starving paupers fleeing Ireland in old broken wooden ships and arriving in some unwanted land, such as Boston or New York. Always remaining in their dockside slums, working dockside as longshoremen until they were able to become police officers. This same myth continues to hold that their descendants continue to live in three storied houses within ethnic ghettos where they have big parades of St. Patrick’s Day. The reality of Irish immigration to America holds a much more complex story. This paper will provide some historical context of the experiences of Irish emigration as well as the immigrants themselves. The trauma associated with early emigration has had a lasting effect on this ethnic group which will also be evaluated herein. The Irish Immigrant Experience It was during the great famine of the 1840’s in Ireland that tens of thousands began to immigrate to America in hope of creating a better life for themselves and their families. Many fled to the Boston area and within one year Boston’s Irish population grew from 30,000 to nearly 100,000 ( Gordon, 1964). Upon arriving to the United States many of the new immigrants set out to find a job immediately, a majority of them finding positions as servants and in fact during this time...
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...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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...In the film Crash, there are many stereotypes about each race and ethnicity throughout the movie. I feel as though these stereotypes were challenged in this movie, as each character found their own truths in their lives. At the end of each story, the stereotypes each character held were broken and proven to be wrong. A stereotype that I’ve held in the past was broken in this movie. The stereotype of only small-town police officers being racist and using their power to do bad things, while officers in major cities are the opposite. Officer John Ryans was a police officer on the LAPD force for many years. He used his status as an officer to do wrongful things to those he pulls over, such as inappropriately touching women. However, not everyone on the force purposefully does wrongful things. Officer Tom...
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...Immigrants and Native Americans in the United States have always experienced stereotypes from people outside of their culture due to ignorance and lack of empathy. Sherman Alexie and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie use personal narrative to depict how one can easily stereotype and fit a person into a certain category. Ultimately, broadening one's view and understanding that humans innately have the same basic wants and need can eliminate stereotypes. To start, Sherman Alexie depicts the rough and depression lifestyle Native Americans have to endure living on a reservation. Using a first person perspective Alexie starts by writing how the system on a reservation is broken. He depicts this by writing “ When I spelled all the words right, she crumpled...
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...to Provide Health Care to Undocumented Immigrants? Introduction The topic of discussion is in regards to an ethical concern debating the duty to provide health care to undocumented immigrants. The easiest description of an undocumented immigrant is that he or she is a foreign-born person who doesn’t have a legal right to be or remain in the United States. Two different views of the ethical concerns regarding the duty for health care coverage for undocumented immigrants are offered. There are opposing positions on this issue, each have many interesting facts and rationale to defend their views. However, I will add that it is interesting that one view is from medical doctors and the other is from a justice with the federal court of appeals. The first article is through the eyes of doctors Rajeev Raghavan and Ricardo Nuila. They believe that standardized coverage should be allowed for undocumented immigrants. They share a patient’s story with Irreversible kidney failure whom is an undocumented immigrant. They suggest that coverage would alleviate the burden on taxpayers. The second position is shared by David W....
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...Analysis After researching, collecting, and analyzing information on African immigration to the United States, it is evident that our society needs more help in adjusting immigrants to American life and making them feel accepted. The research that I did and the piece of information that I have found has helped build my knowledge in becoming socially aware of society around me. It has opened my eyes to the lack of knowledge most of the world has on immigration and it shows me that something needs to change. The items that I have collected have helped me understand more about African immigration specifically compared to other ethnicities that are coming to America. The first week I looked at the difference between Africans and African-Americans. The article I found was very interesting because it talks about the stereotypes African people are forced onto because of their skin color, and how they are treated by Americans in a very unfair and unequal way. African immigrants feel as though they are looked down upon and automatically thought to be of a lower class because of their skin color. This article helped me understand the difference between the two types of immigrants, because often times they are looked at as being the same. The second week I looked at the reasons why African immigrants are coming to the United States, because I think the history behind the transition is important to this topic. I looked at sources from the Library of Congress, and African...
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...options I have devised a questionnaire to hand out and analyse the results in order to come to a conclusion. Some of the questions I asked are; ‘Do you think where you’re brought up has an effect on your attitudes to a multicultural society?’ ‘Do you think there are enough laws in place to reduce decimation?’ ‘Do you think there is enough being done in schools to decrease discrimination amongst a younger generation?’ ‘Who do you think is to blame for increase in prejudice’ ‘Would you be happy with your child being taught about prejudice and living in a multicultural society?’ To complete this investigation effectively I will be looking at studies from professors, results from questionnaires, personal opinions from primary teachers, documentaries, case studies and my personal opinions, to answer my hypothesis. Formative years; The most important years in a child’s life when they are taught right from wrong, how they want them to grow up, talk and think are the first 5 years of...
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...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 traditions they would never have been experienced. One of the hurdles that immigrants encounter is stereotyping. Many false...
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...2, 2011 in Belgium and directed by Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano) is the factual story of an unconventional relationship between a millionaire quadriplegic from the ritziest neighborhood in Paris and his Senegalese caregiver from the ghetto—a bond that begins as a working one but builds, through trust and care and shared experiences, into a lasting friendship that changes two unhappy lives forever. In Paris, the upper-class and academic Philippe (François Cluzet) is a quadriplegic millionaire that is interviewing candidates for the position of his caretaker. Out of the blue, Driss (Omar Sy) cuts the line of candidates and brings a document from the Social Security and asks Philippe to sign it to prove that he is seeking a job position to receive his unemployment insurance. Philippe challenges Driss and offers a period of adaptation of one week to him to gain experience helping him. Then Driss would decide whether he would like to stay with him or not. Driss accepts the bet and moves to the mansion, changing the boring life of Philippe and his employees. The two develop a remarkable friendship. Driss is a poor black man from the French ghettos in Paris, the Banlieux. Philippe is a very rich, quadriplegic man fond of classical music and art. This film has humor, sadness, and ultimately great inspiration. The film’s credibility is boosted by it being based on a true story. It is the story of friendship that goes beyond race or class. The man in the chair becomes a muse and...
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...religion even throughout history. We as people want to express our own identity in a manner that we choose. This class has opened my eyes to how many different cultures there are and how important it is to treat everyone equal. The information I’ve learned about diversity in the United States has helped me better understand or relate to others in ways that I may have not in the past because when I found out what other people from different identity groups have been through in their lives made me have a greater respect for them. At my place of employment, the majority race is Mexican and I’ve heard stories of how some of them got to America and it broke my heart. I couldn’t imagine my children and I sitting in a hot desert for two days and only having water and cookies to eat and drink. I think diversity all over the world is important because it can enhance personal and social interactions which could make different identity groups get along better. By learning about the differences of our diverse society, I have learned different ways of living, new ways to think about other cultures, and how important it is to stay happy and not let other people’s misery bother me. New things that I have learned about my own racial, ethnic, or cultural history is how much my own race (which is white), has supported...
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...Personal writing piece ‘you broke the ocean in half to be here. only to meet nothing that wants you. -immigrant’ ( Nayyirah Waheed ) Moving to a new town, a new high school or even a new house is often overwhelmingly intimidating. We overthink the possibilities of unfamiliar routes and chaotic neighbors. Imagine abandoning the motherland that speaks volumes of your heritage and the native tongue your baba has been preaching to you since the day you learned to speak, and moving into a country with strangers, unfamiliar traditions and a language your tongue is unaccustomed to. Millions of immigrants, similar to my family, immigrate to an unknown environment in anticipation of a better life. We leave everything behind and engage with people who don’t want us around because we aspire for a promising future. Understanding the struggles of immigration is necessary for both immigrants and non-immigrants alike to increase awareness of adversity faced by millions of individuals, to live a life many take for granted....
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...Ricky Fountain Professor Levecq LIT 309 22 February 2015 The Cultural Shift of Immigrants in Hungry Hearts Throughout “Wings”, “Hunger”, “The Lost Beautifulness”, and “The Fat of the Land”, four stories in Hungry Hearts, the protagonist in each story immigrates to America with much optimism for a better life, but soon realizes that it’s not all she imagined it to be. Hungry Hearts seems to suggest that America can bring success and joy to everyone, including immigrants, but it will come at a cost of integrating into a new world and nation different from their own. Instead of making the easy transition into this new society, the characters come to the realization that there will be some give and take with adjusting to this new world. She implies that cultural traditions and heritages may have to be forfeited or lessened in this new world to make room for what is socially acceptable in America. This is only if one wants to be successful and take full advantage of the American dream and all this country has to offer. For immigrants who seem to be able to merge the various aspects of each culture successfully, they learn that American society doesn’t really view them equally, but instead looks upon them as a lower class citizen compared to naturalized citizens. In “Wings”, Shenah Pessah, the protagonist is on adolescent immigrant who looks forward to making something of herself, brimming with joy and aspiration to improve her life. In the new world her life seemingly becomes...
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...about domestic immigration policy. Introduction - The great May Day marches of 2007 began a new social movement on the issue of immigration. Its outpour forced US citizens to consider the existence of immigrant workers in society. Moral legitimacy The nations perception of immigrant-rights marchers is a crucial factor that helps shape national attitudes towards immigrants and immigration policy. How TV depicted the assault by Alabama police and state troopers with truncheons and tear gas on 600 nonviolent civil right marchers in Selma in 1965. - May Day 2007- two separate marches took place in LA Morning- took place as normal without any incident Afternoon- ended violently. LA police suddenly attacked 7000 peaceful demonstrators. Paralleled an earlier episode of LA police misconduct- Marked a turning point in Chicano Moratorium - 40 years ago the nations perception of the marchers was not crucial Today, the medias portrayal of immigrant rights is key to the public perception and to the ultimate success of this new social movement. - Research on television news representation has underscored its power in the framing of social movements, Latinos and immigrants. The mass media present the news regularly document the use of crude and demeaning Latino stereotypes These depictions reflect the restricted access Latinos have to all kinds of media One decade later, research shows that Latinos...
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...Many individuals would define leisure as time free from paid work, domestic responsibilities, and just about anything that one would not do as part of their daily routine. Time for leisure and time for work are both two separate spheres. The activities which people choose to do on their spare time benefit their own personal interests as well as their satisfactions. While some people may enjoy one activity, others pay not. Leisure is all about personal interests and what people constitute having a good time is all about. Some may say that the process of working class leisure can be seen to contribute their own subordination as well as the reproduction of capitalist class relations. Self-produced patterns of working class leisure can lead to resistance to such reproduction. This leads to social class relations and inequalities, and the fact that it they can never be completely reproduced in the leisure sphere. This film Home Feeling: Struggle for a Community, gives some examples of the role of leisure within a capitalist society dealing with issues such as class inequalities, and how they are different among various societies. One might define the relations between police and community relations in the Jane and Finch area of Toronto to be very discriminating. The start of the film already gives some insight on the issue which the film is trying to portray. A coloured man’s is being harassed because the police do not think that he has ownership for the van to which he claimed...
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... he made a short film titled Victoria Para Chino, a film about a group of immigrants who died in a refrigerated trailer when immigrating to America; The inspiration behind Sin Nombre came from that short film. In his first major production, Fukunaga continued his interest in the topic of immigration, and came up with the creation of Sin Nombre. The film follows both a young gangster of the Mara Salvatrucha gang, Casper, and young girl from Honduras, Sayra, on their difficult journey to America. Fukunaga’s overall reason for the film was to express the hardships Central American people face on their journey to America, in hopes that people could see immigration from a different light. The film is directed mainly towards citizens of America, Central America, and Mexico although it can spread to any area with controversial opinions of immigration. The constraints of the film include time, as the film lasted just 96 minutes, rating, the limited budget of an independent film, the dangerous filming locations in Central America and Mexico, and language— the film is spoken completely in spanish with english subtitles. These constraints were overcome, and the film went on to be nominated for 22 awards, winning 12 of those including multiple awards at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009, perhaps the most prestigious awards in the independent film world. Fukunaga bravely delivers the powerful and eye-opening story of the journey experienced by Central Americans immigrating to America: One...
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