What Does It Mean to Be Portuguese?

The ultimate goal of a society is to reach utopia, to have every single person viewed equally. Under the Bill of Rights, everyone is created equally. But how much of that statement is actually true? Are we all created and treated equally? Integration is a welcoming concept that is often frowned upon by other generations. The ethnic food, the summers of weekend feasts, the language, the traditions, the music, the religion, the dancing, and the clothing. These are all typical aspects of cultures around the world. Some take pride in where they have come from, their roots. Others, steer away from it. They do so for many reasons, society’s influence being the top reason. Portuguese people, also known as Lusitanos, believe they have a community within the United States, but how much of that is imagined? Do segregation and social spaces influence their views? What does it mean to be Portuguese, in a society that is constantly judging you? Growing up, I was always involved in my community. The members around me influenced me. I took pride in being a Lusitano. Whether it meant accompanying my family to the local feasts to learn how to dance, trying and learning to cook our famous ethnic dishes, learning the language at a young age, or practicing my religion as a Roman Catholic, I was always trying to boost my status in the Portuguese community. Learning the language helped a lot because I could now interact with both of the communities I was a part of, or so I presumed But not everything is as black and white as I thought it was back then. Viewing this community with a mature, wiser perspective, I found the flaws that are in most communities within a society today. This community is more of an imagined community, filled with prejudice people against their own kind. The social norms that are supposed to be abided by are mostly superficial. As a member of both communities, Lusitano and American, I divide my time for both, which is not acceptable in a Lusitano community. I remain on the outskirts of this community because of my differences with the older generation members. With them, your everyday life consists of promoting the heritage and traditions to other Portuguese non-members. They want to grow their community, but only with members of “their own kind.” People that do not have the qualifications are looked down upon, and “not worthy.” I put both of those phrases in quotes because they are the key terms in this problem. It is an endless cycle of segregation. Like stated in Pratt’s essay, I am “trying to achieve solidarity on an essentially imagined bias,” (Pratt, 493). Being a part of both cultures can sometimes have its downfalls. “Their own kind” consists of Portuguese immigrants that immigrated to America. If you are anything less, you are looked down upon. It does not matter if you, as a first generation, were raised exactly like they were; you will never be worthy enough. This is because they believe once a person is nurtured in America; they are no longer fully Portuguese. They will receive opportunities that they, the older generations, never did. They will emerge themselves in the American culture and diverge from the Portuguese culture. This is their mind set. Americans are based on being financially stable and living the American dream. They drill these aspects into each of member to achieve. They also try to solve everything will violence. Their religion and traditions are scarcely practiced, something the Portuguese people do not tolerate. But the members of each culture do not see the benefits of each other. In a way, they are selfish in trying to rip each other out of the lives of their members. Achieving solidarity within this two-biased communities is rather difficult because I live so close to many members of each. When interacting with members of each community, and sometimes both, they all have different values to explain, all very valuable in their own interpretation of the community.
In terms, I am a part of my own contact zone, with many of the other Portuguese – American first generations. Our contact zone, or community, can be viewed as a “separate but equal trajectories that diverge, (Pratt, 489). Many Portuguese immigrants did not have an education upon immigrating to the United States. They were lucky if they made it to the fourth grade in their homeland, often because of financial reasons. Most were taught to farm and provide for their families. School was secondary and only for the rich whom could afford it. Growing up in America has given me many opportunities my parents and their peers never received. I am able to get an education, and provide for myself without having to struggle like they did. In a way, I feel like they hold this against the United States, that is the power to choose what you want to do in life and the paved road to get to where you want to go. In exploring our life in America and having the freedom to choose our path, some of us choose to marry outside of the Portuguese culture, or even change religions. If they were an outcast before, they are on a different planet now to the older generations. It was a tradition to be brought up as a practicing Roman Catholic. Practicing anything else was a sin. Marrying a non full-blooded Portuguese was also a sin in their eyes. These social spaces are the underlying problems to why most contact zones never submerge within each other, “I use this term [contact zones] to refer to the social spaces where cultures meet, grapple with each other, of ten in context of highly asymmetrical relations of power as they are lived out in many parts of the world,” (Pratt, 487). The difference of the said to believe power and stereotypes are what stop them from interacting with each other.
The problem with this stereotype is that they “will never know most of their fellow members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their community,” (Pratt, 493). They believe to live in America, but they do not abide by the laws and culture of this country. Their social norms were brought with them from Portugal. This often leads them to a confrontation with members of the opposing community. A sad, but true example is that most Portuguese parents abuse their children if they misbehave. This concept of raising a child was used for generations as a way to educate a child how to behave. The first generation Americans do not receive that discipline and are view to the older generations as spoiled and over privileged. Here, in America, is it illegal and punished by imprisonment and foster care for the children. Many Lusitanos do not understand this concept, and many end up with diverged families and time in prison because of it. It’s difficult to change your whole way of being if something you have been taught at a young age is no longer acceptable in the community you are now a part of. No matter the difficulty, these concepts of the American society and culture have to be accepted.
Whether I am considered a Lusitano, an American, or both, my traditions and heritage that I find valuable from both communities will be passed down through my generations. Pratt briefly discussed this in her essay as being a form of transculturation, “they [subordinate group] do determine to varying extents what gets absorbed into their own and what it gets used for, (Pratt, 491). The subordinate group is known as the minority. In my case, that would be the contact zone of the Portuguese-Americans. Being emerged in both cultures leads to a different view on the world. From that many view, certain aspects or traditions are important to each individual person. For example, for me, learning the language is vital. It allows you to gain the respect of your elders by interacting with them, and shows that our generation will carry on the language to their children. It’s a form of respect when you can interact with a Portuguese elder. Others do not seem to consider it a vital part of the culture. Another example is that I would rather attend weekend feasts filled with traditional festivities than spend the weekend at the beach. Whether it’s the American community or the Portuguese community, each individual within both will be influenced differently. To the older generations, the ones that stick with their roots are accepted into the community, but within reason. I cannot say others will do the same, but that is just an outcome of being involved in many communities.
A utopian society will never be achieved if members of different communities cannot look past their differences, and learn from each other. We spend most of our time judging those different from us, either from the fear of the unknown or just the way we were brought up, but it has to end. We need to realize that having your own community is fine, but judging others based on just your own beliefs is not fair to the rest. In order for this to come together, many have to get off their high horse, and enjoy the different traditions and cultures of those around them. Only by eliminating the prejudice and fear of the unknown will everyone be created, and treated equally. Only then will each generation come together and enjoy and learn from each other, whether new or old. Everyone can learn from one another; they just have to be willing and open to learn and experience things that have not experienced before.

Bibliography
Bartholomae, David, and Tony Petrosky. Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. Print.