Argentine Americans - Report Example

Please put here Please put your here of the 15th October 2008 Argentine Americans Overview: The word Argentinawas actually derived from Latin. The English meaning for it is Silver. May be this is the reason why sometimes Argentina is referred as "The Land of Silver" (Rodriguez). "The official name of the country is Republic of Argentina (Rodriguez)." The Republic of Argentina is located in the southernmost part of South America. It covers 15 percent of the total surface of the continent. The country is spread over an area of 2.35 million square miles and this includes a part of the Antarctic and Atlantic islands sector. This area is estimated to be about one-third of the size of the United States of America. According to the census statistics conducted in the year 1991, the population of Argentina was approximately 32 million which equals to 12 percent of the total population of South America. This figure makes Argentina the third most populated country of the Continent, the first two being Columbia and Brazil. Out of the total population of Argentina, 90 percent populations are Roman Catholics. The remaining percentage comprises of Protestants Jews and they live in Buenos Aires. Argentina is both an ethnic and diverse country. Most of the population who stay in that country comprise of immigrants from Italy and Spain (Rodriguez). "In the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, other ethnic groups, including Germans, Poles, Welsh, Irish, Lebanese, Hungarians, Czechs, Danish, French, Jews, Japanese, Koreans, and Swiss also chose Argentina for settlement (Rodriguez)." Argentina - Geography: The country Argentina is divided into four geographical sections. The Andes Mountain is considered as the northwestern border of the country. To the east of the Andes Mountains, lies a high plateau region which is an area that is large and grassy. "This grassy area is drained by the Ro Paraguay and Ro Paran, which themselves drain into the bay like Ro de la Plata (River of Silver), the widest river on earth (Rodriguez)." Early History of Argentina: During the sixteenth century, approximately 3 lakh American Indians immigrated and settled in Argentina. This was when even the Spanish people also immigrated to the country. There are almost ten distinct groups who have got different lifestyles. For example, the fertile river valleys were farmed by a tribal group called Guaran. Another tribal group named Onas who lived in the southern part of the country used to hunt animals like ostriches and seals. To the north of the country lived the Araucanians and they were away from the wild animals that were in the area. "Other tribes populating the area included the Incas in the northwest, the Charras in the east, and the Quechuas, Tehuelches, and Huarpes in the central and western regions. The Pampas inhabited the plains of the same name (Rodriguez)." Immigration Waves: If the history of Argentina is observed carefully, it can be noticed that the country can be characterized as a country familiar for its immigration. But many environmental forces like economic factors, political imbalances and social unsteadiness have altered Argentina into not only a country of immigration but also as a country of travel and emigration (Jachimowicz). Before the period of 1970s, the government of United States classified the immigrants in Argentina into a category named "Other Hispanics". However, the immigrants were considered as a relatively new group. Ever since the late 1990s a number of factors such as dismal employment prospects, strong demand for foreign labor and finally favorable policies for getting visas have led a number of Argentineans to migrate to the United States of America. "An estimated 185,000 Argentines emigrated between 1960 and 1970, and the number climbed to an estimated 200,000 in the decade that followed. Primary destination for these immigrants was the United States (Jachimowicz)." Over 60 percent of these Argentine immigrants are believed to have spread in just three major states of the United States, namely California, New York and Florida. "The U.S. Department of Justice terminated Argentina's participation in the Visa Waiver Program in February of 2002 due to increasing concerns that there was an increase of Argentine immigrants attempting to remain illegally in the United States after their 90 day tourist visa expired (Anzaldua)." Hierarchical position: As far as the Americans are concerned, they give much value to status in a hierarchy as it indicates their social distance between people. When it comes to corporate employees, additional benefits and job titles also mean a lot to them in the hierarchical structure of the organization for which they work for. If the Chilean companies in Argentina are considered, social discrimination exists on the basis of appearance, age and gender and all of these aspects are associated with none other than social status. But when it comes to Latin American companies try to avoid and eliminate the distance in power between the employees by creating different committees which symbolize the egalitarian spirit among the entire staff of the company. Prejudice and discrimination: The United States of America has a history of dominant white culture. It so happens in the United States that, if any one small group confines to a particular area and takes up jobs there, the Americans and other assimilated groups do not show any interest or attention towards them. The reason for this kind of continued prejudice and discrimination against communities who come as immigrants into the United States is that the U.S. has evolved and emerged as a single community that comprised of English speaking people alone. Though there were prejudice and discrimination against immigrants in the United States, the desire to maintain citizenship in the United States, inspired a number of policies to be introduced by the government of United States. All such policies were aimed at immigrant assimilation. There was an attempt to maintain and create a homogeneous national culture (Course notes.Org). Above all, the immigrants who came to the United States started to influence the political policies of the United States over a period of time. "Immigrants were changed by their experiences in their adopted nations, undergoing acculturation. At the same time, the languages, the arts, the music, and the political cultures of the Western Hemisphere nations were influenced by the cultures of the immigrants (Course notes.Org)." Education and increased demand for skilled labor are the two main causes that are believed to increase inequality. Another alternative view for the same as felt by many social scientists is the public policy. They express that education cannot be the cause of the widening gap between the top 1 % and others, including many well-educated professionals. The United States is considered as a unique place that has experienced such an increased inequality. This kind of trend, if caused by education has chances of manifesting itself in other developed nations. At the same time various aspects like expertise, productiveness and work experience, inheritance, gender and race has also got a strong influence on personal and household income was largely affected by the number of income earners. This also became a contributing factor to inequality between households based on the number of persons who are earning. However, there are still many unknown reasons which are believed to have given rise to inequality. There is a lot of prejudice and discrimination that is prevalent in the United States. Economists Timothy Smeeding has summed up the current rising inequality trend on the pages of the Social Science Quarterly. It has been quoted in that Social Science Quarterly that "Americans have the highest income inequality in the rich world and over the past 20-30 years. Americans have also experienced the greatest in income inequality among rich nations. The more detailed the data we use to observe this change, the more skewed the change appears to bethe majority of large gains are indeed at the top of distribution (Elephant Journal)." Income levels still remain considerably lower for female employees than for male employees because of certain racial demo graphs having medium income levels which are considerably below the national median. Despite this kind of considerable progress in pursuing gender and racial equality, some social scientists attribute these discrepancies in income to continued discrimination. In terms of racism, African Americans are less likely to be hired than European Americans with the same qualifications. Throughout the history of Argentina, assimilation and pluralism have played a major role. The earlier Mapuche tribes had allowed the merger of other nationalities. Many who had come from other European countries - willing to work hard - did achieve a lot of success over a period of time. One example can be read in the bibliography paper written by Anita Christina Butena titled 'Assimilation, Pluralism and Multiculturalism: The Policy of Racial/Ethnic Identity in America'. Future Prospects: Like many other expatriates who moved in to the land of liberation and made it a new home and over generations have integrated in the true sense of the word and added richness to the American culture and heritage. The Argentineans with their dedication, commitment and hard work to themselves will no doubt contribute to the United States of America over a period of time. The very fact that they are from a country of different origin will stay either at the back of their conscious mind or sub-conscious mind or like every other sect or nationality people, they will also make a hue and cry whenever there is an issue. These are all parts of the passing phase. The cry of discrimination will die down and the spirit of true liberty will sustain. Bibliography Anzaldua, Gloria. Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. San Fransisco: aunt lute books, 1987. Course notes.Org. "Nation Building and Economic Transformation in the Americas, 1800-1890." 12 July 2008. Course notes.Org. 16 October 2008 . Elephant Journal. Blog. 2 August 2008. 16 October 2008 . Jachimowicz, Maia. Argentina: A New Era of Migration and Migration Policy . 23 February 2006. 16 October 2008 . Rodriguez, Julio. Argentinean Americans. 21 May 2008. 15 October 2008 . Read More