Mexican Ethnicity

Similar to Alphones, I do not like to be put in a particular ethnic group. I wanted to be just me because when people ask about my ethnicity they automatically assume it is bad. For example, being Arab, Muslim, and Saudi is hard especially in the United States because of what happened in September 11th. What I believe that history is in the past, and what happened in September 11th is gone. It was a major disaster but what I believe that we should not be all blamed. Hopefully,

I really did not think there was anything extraordinary about my culture and heritage because I have lived in a Crystal City, Texas my whole life. Being Mexican American was really the usually thing so I did not consider anything special of it, but my history has shown me otherwise. Living in a small town has shown me that I can leave a legacy, keep the heritage of my family alive, and still strive to have an education.

There are two different dimensions of our identities: ethnicity and race. Ethnicity refers to one’s belonging to a specific cultural, or racial group that makes up culture, race language, and/or place of origin. For example, one can be African-American but have different ethnicities, one African-American and the other African-Caribbean decent. Race is a social construct that can be changed over time. Historically, referring to its specific characteristics one possesses based on: ethnicity, religion, or language; today's its classified solely based upon the color of one’s skin. Nevertheless, ethnic and racial identities are important and instill a sense of belonging and identifying with that specific group through attitude, behaviors. Moreover,

Ethnicity is characterized as the perceived belief that there is a commonality within a group may it be culture, language, religion, and/or history. They go on and state Schermerhorn’s definition of ethnic groups as those who are self-conscience of their identity

There is a massive amount of ethnicities in this world. You have ethnic groups that are not necessarily related to where you came from but what group you identify yourself with. As a descendant who speaks the Spanish language we are categorized as being part of the Hispanic ethnic group. My father having twelve siblings and my mother having nine, it was a huge family. Our grandparents and parents inculcated us to be a united family with all the values and beliefs they initiated. Every ethnic group is similar but different in its own unique way. In which some have music, food and believes that characterize us as that specific ethnic group. The only difference is the way people embrace it. We also have many different types of celebrations

Whatever you have grown up around, is what you consider home. You identify as the culture you grew up around. If one is caucasian and get adapted by a Mexican family, one would identify as Mexican. It is only what they know. Culture is

Every year on Christmas Eve and Christmas, the entire family crosses the border to Mexico for a family reunion at my grandmother’s. A few years ago, this was the norm and everyone would bring food and drinks and celebrate Christ’s birth. Then things started to change when my aunts and uncles. Little by little, my aunts and uncles, which started the quarrel, have overcome their ego with the arrival of my two nieces. They, as well as I, have realized that we cannot bring other people into our own problems simply because we are too prideful to be the first to apologize. I come from a Mexican Family Heritage’ we visit my grandfather’s grave once in a while on the Day of the Dead all the way to a small town name “Salinas” four hours away from Matamoros,

Specific Purpose: To inform the audience of the struggle for identification faced by Mexican-Americans as well as provide a brief historical analysis of these struggles.

Imagine someone is lost, standing in a checkout line at a corner drugstore. They need directions to get back on the road. The couple in front of them is having a very engaging conversation, fluently, in Spanish. Most would not even give an effort to talk or ask where to go, but why not? Too often the assumption is made that people who speak Spanish are immigrants, and do not speak English well. Hispanics are, persons of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American descent, other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race. Too often the assumption is made that Spanish-speakers are unamerican, lazy, receive low income, or are uneducated in any way. Hispanics are also demonized in the media as people who are stealing American jobs. That is the belief that some Americans associate with Hispanics.

When I get asked about my race I always say Hispanic or Latina; I don’t even know what I am. In high school my Spanish teacher once told me that Hispanic and Latina is not the same thing. Hispanics are individuals who are related to Spain and Latinos are individuals who are related to Latin America. However, there is also Chicano/ Chicana, a person who is born in the U.S but their parents were born in Mexico.

Prior to the 1930s, there were no Mexican-American promotion associations hesitantly strategizing about the issue of Mexican American whiteness in court. In any case that does not imply that state authorities and even courts did not address the inquiry of whether Mexican Americans were white in the years going before. Rather, we can consider the time 1848-1930 in three stages: amid the nineteenth century, whether Mexican Americans were white or not was a matter of nearby practice; a Federal area court choice in 1898 proclaimed Mexican Americans to be white for the reasons of naturalization to citizenship; and in an arrangement of miscegenation cases chose in the first many years of the twentieth century, Mexican American personality was created

The current census questions concerning race and Hispanic origin questions are respectful in that it allows Hispanic individual to classify how they see themselves instead of just lumping every Hispanic person into one category. The depth in which the census goes into identifying Hispanics and say an American Indian or Alaska Native tribes shows that we as people now know that not every Hispanic or American Indian are the same, in that they have different cultures. The categories do make sense. I don’t think that the categories should expand or change because it also has an additional box that says other race if you feel as if you don’t identify with any of the races listed above. The government could be interested in race and ethnicity for

Ethnicity is groups of individuals with the same common interest and beliefs. They speak the same language and they also have shared characteristics such as their culture. Ethnic groups look at themselves differently during certain periods of time. They are often times defined by being stereotyped. Reid Mandell, B., & Schram, B. (2012).

Every culture has their own unique and distinguishing characteristics. One’s cultural identity defines who they are as an individual, group, and community. Their cultural identity may be reflected in numerous ways such as: language, communication styles, religion, beliefs, values, clothing, or other types of aesthetic markers. Cultural identity is formed by many of these traits but is not limited to these specifically. This essay will provide detailed information on Mexican Americans, and their ancestry and heritage. I will also explain about this cultures central beliefs and values, while incorporating information on Mexican Americans, cultural patterns, cultural identity, and their cultures communication characteristics and styles.

In contrast to the idea of race, Ethnicity refers to ethnic affiliation, or the “cultural practices and outlooks of a given community of people that set them apart from others” (Giddens, 1997:210). Members of a particular ethnic group see themselves as culturally distinct from other groups of people in a society or culture. There are different characteristics which serve as a way of