An Insight To the Ethnic Communities in Latin America - Research Paper Example

? AN INSIGHT TO THE ETHNIC COMMUNITIES IN LATIN AMERICA AN INSIGHT TO THE ETHNIC COMMUNITIES IN LATIN AMERICA TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 3 Discussions 3 I. Menonites 3 a. History 3 b. Production 4 c. Effects to society 4 d. Popularity 4 II. Japanese 4 a. History 4 b. Production 4 c. Popularity 5 d. Effects to society 5 III. Italians 5 a. History 5 b. Production 5 c. Modes of preparation 6 d. Effects to society 6 IV Yugoslavs 6 a. History 6 b. Production 7 x. Effects to society 7 V. Armenians 7 a. history 7 b. Production 8 c. Effect to society 8 VI. Jewish 8 a. history 8 b. Production 9 c. Effects to society 9 Conclusion 9 Lists of references 11 An insight to the ethnic communities in Latin America Introduction There are many ethnic communities who migrated to Latin America for different purposes. Many of them chose to reside in Latin America. These are the people who came in from various places and brought with them their mixture of cultures and traditions. It is important that we gain an understanding of these diversities in order to establish harmony in working together with them. In this context, this study will point out their differences in history, production, modes of preparation, publicity, popularity and effects on society. Focus of the research is the ethnic communities in Latin America, namely: Italian, Yugoslavia, Armenian, Jewish, Mennonite and Japanese. Discussions. The cited facts about the seven mentioned ethnic communities were gathered from different researches and articles published in journals and in the internet. I. Menonites. The facts about the Mennonites came from Countries and their culture. a. History. Mennonites is a group of German-speaking people who belonged to Anabaptist movement that was very popular in Holland in the mid-16th century. As a church movement, Menomites was “ a radical wing of the 16th century Protestant reformation”. As reported, there were about 80,000 Menonites in Latin America, with the largest numbers found in Paraguay (15,000), Bolivia (8,000), and Brazil (6,000). In the aforesaid article, the Mennonites left Canada to escape repression and from the Soviet Union, to run away from persecution. They chose to settle in Paraguay because of the offer of inexpensive land, immunity from military service, and religious and other freedoms b. Production. Menonites did well in agriculture and as dairy farmers. They supplied not only their own needs, but were also suppliers of 50 percent of milk, butter, cheese and yogurt for Paraguay. c. Effects on society. Menonites preferred to retain their own culture while staying in Paraguay. They had their own society, collected their own taxes, set up their own schools and hospitals, built German-village-style houses, dressed in their own conservative style and followed their religious beliefs of avoiding worldly pleasures d. Popularity. Menonites are sociable people. They befriended the neighboring Indian groups and employed them as wage laborers on their farms. They were even able to convert the Indians who resettled in Menonites land to Christianity. II. Japanese. The specific information about the Japanese immigrants to Latin America came from the article of Cameron, Sarah which was published in the Encyclopedia Britannica. .a. History. The first set of Japanese immigrants came to Brazil in 1800, which fled from their country because of poverty and fear of persecution due to differences in religious beliefs b. Production. There first set of 803 Japanese workers who arrived in Brazil in 1908 worked in the coffee plantations in the South. They were able to develop insignificant lands into productivity because of their agricultural skills. In 1996, according to Cameron, Sarah, there were about 1 million Japanese in Brazil who were known for gardening skills and coffee growing. Later, the Japanese immigrants became entrepreneurs as they started putting up Japanese restaurants, set up retail stores selling Japanese goods and clothing. c. Popularity. According to Cameron, Sarah, Japanese immigrants were suspected of espionage when Pearl Harbor was bombed in 1941. They neighbors distrusted them and those suspected were brought to concentration camps. The Japanese had a difficult period during those days because their businesses were confiscated. d. Effects on society. Over time, the Japanese gained popularity as honest, trust-worthy people and hard working businessmen, and they were able to integrate in the Peruvian society. It was even mentioned in Cameron’s article that the Peru people named Japan as their most trusted country. They even voted the first Japanese-descent person as their President. 3. Italians. The interesting facts about the Italians were recorded in the Digital History and are used as a reference for the study. a. History. The reasons of the Italians in migrating to other countries were to cope up with poverty and dislocation in their country. According to Digital History, Italians suffered numerous natural disasters during the 20th century like earthquake, tidal wave, eruption of a volcano that killed thousands of people. They also suffered the exploitation of their own people as they paid high taxes, and were hurt by protective tariffs. The Italian government was divided into northern and southern Italy, wherein the southern part is where the poorest people live. The reasons for their poverty were the lack of agricultural land, soil erosion, deforestation as well as lack of coal and iron ore needed by industry. b. Production. Early Italian settlers in South America became fruit merchants, construction workers, and worked as public work employees who dug tunnels, laid railroad tracks, constructed bridges and roads. Italian women worked at home on a piece basis. c. Popularity. Many American-Italians became successful in the field of classical and popular music. d. Modes of preparation. The Italians had no plan to stay permanently in the U.S. Their motivation was only to earn enough money and return to their country. Because of this desire, Italians lived frugally as much as possible to save. According to the Digital History, about 73% of Italian workers eventually returned to their country after saving enough money. e. Effects to society. The Italians do not consider their immigration to US as a rejection of their country. They want to think of it only as a reflection of their loyalty since they wanted to establish economic order by sending money back home since they have the intention of returning to their country with a better life. 4. Yugoslav. The records of The country & their culture about the Yugoslavs were used as reference in this study. a. History. Immigration of the Yugoslavs started after 1890. Inter-ethnic disputes forced Yugoslav-Americans to leave their country as refugees and rebuilt their lives in America. Yugoslavs entered the United States in six waves of immigration, and according to the statistics of “Country & their culture” , that out of the 258,000 Americans of Yugoslavian ancestry, only 12% chose to settle in the South. Most of them settled in the cities of the West. Others settled as non-profit religious groups. Early batch worked as fishermen or sailors. Second wave of immigrants who came in during 1820 to 1880 were unskilled and poor young men who worked long hours for low paying jobs. The third batch of immigrants fled to United States from1921 to 1930 as they sought freedom from ethnic oppression from their government rule. From 1980 to 1990 the Yugoslav batch that came to US was the educated group of professionals, artists and intellectuals who were able to easily integrate with the US lifestyle. b. Production. When they entered the US, Yugoslavs became successful merchants and fruit growers, non-profit religious groups, fishermen or sailors. Others were unskilled and poor young men who worked long hours for low paying jobs. c. Modes of preparation. These immigrants met many challenges as they experienced a new life and culture in the US. They had to study English language, customs and skills. The early Yugoslav immigrants who were already established helped others to take in the American style of living. They offered free legal service, gave them English language tutorial, trained them in computer operations, and helped them look for homes. d. Effects to society. After the war in 1995, there were more than 1 million refugees in the United States who can no longer return to their homeland because of the changes in their countries. Many of them remained in the US. Most of the refugees enrolled in universities to get higher education and better employment. In many instances, Americans changed the names of the Yugoslavs because of difficulty of pronunciations. 5. Armenian a. History. A large number of Armenians chose to live outside of their country’s borders because of poverty. The report of Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs as shown in the study of Gevorkyan, Aleksandr, et. al, (March 2008), said that about 60 percent of an estimated 8 million Armenians today live outside of the country's borders, with large clusters in Russia and the United States, and smaller numbers across former Soviet Union countries, Europe, and Latin America. Armenians who migrated to the US usually came with their families to establish permanent residency. A total of 6,317 Armenians were granted permanent resident status as of 2007 Gevorkyan, Aleksandr. et.al. said. b. Production. The occupations of migrant Armenians were mostly construction jobs, taxi drivers and street market positions. Women, who compose a large part of Armenia immigrants to US worked as housekeepers, baby sitters and other low-skilled jobs. c. Effect to society. The US and Europe are not the preferred destinations of Armenians when they considered immigration. Many of them went to Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan because of its proximity and travel without a visa. Armenians’ remittances to their home country became an important source of revenue for the country that saved its economy from collapsing. 6. Jewish. a. History. From among the ethnic communities studied, the Jewish population in the United States appears to be largest. The Jewish immigrants increased from 50 Jews in 1660 to 5,340,0000 5 to 6,155,000 Jews in 2000. (Sheskin, Ira and Dashefsky, Arnold. 2011) According to Sheskin & Dashefsky, (2011) the first Jews who came to Mexico were the Marranos who accompanied who accompanied Christopher Columbus on his voyage to India that started on August 3, 1492. In Brazil, they resided in Reclife, and were able to get back to Judaism. However, in1631, the Marranos were forced to leave Reclife when the Portuguese conquered again Reclife and reintroduced the Inquisition. The Inquisition is a form of suppression of heresy, and of someone who holds different beliefs from the Church. Because of severe oppression, the Jews settled in Latin America. Immigration to Mexico, Uruguay and Peru increased when the rule of The Inquisition was abolished and these countries had an open door policy for immigrants. b. Production. Their means of living were trade, commerce and some even held government positions. c. Effects to society. Most Jews today lived in cosmopolitan cities in America like New York where they found many opportunities for trade and commerce. They were also able to practice their religion freely and to establish their synagogues that took care of all their religious and communal needs. (Sarna, Jonahan D. and Golden, Jonathan. October 2000.) Conclusion. Due to limitations of time, only 6 ethnic communities are discussed. As shown in the discussions, the reasons why these people left their own countries are almost identical, that of getting away from poverty and suppression of their freedom. They chose Latin America as a place for refuge because of its leniency and open policy for immigrants. These immigrants although from the start experienced difficulties in living American style were able to assimilate in the society. They accepted hard and low paying jobs to be able to send remittances to their families in their homeland. LIST OF REFERENCES Cameron, Sarah. The Japanese in Latin America: Year In Review 1996." Britannica Book of the Year, 1997. Encyclop?dia Britannica Online. Encyclop?dia Britannica Inc., 2011. Retrieved 06 Dec. 2011from. Countries and their culture (2011) Bosnian Americans. Retrieved 07 December 2011 fromhttp://www.everyculture.com/multi/A-Br/Bosnian-Americans.html Countries and their culture. (2011). Mennonites. Retrieved 07 December 2011 fromhttp://www.everyculture.com/South-America/Mennonites.html Digital History (n.d.) . Italians. Retrieved 07 December 2011 from http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/italian_immigration.cfm Gevorkyan, Aleksandr, Gevorkyan, Arkady & Mashuryan,Karin. (March 2008). Little Job Growth Makes Labor Migration and Remittances the Norm in Post-Soviet Armenia Migration. Information Source Retrieved 07 December 2011 from http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?ID=676 Sheskin, Ira and Dashefsky, Arnold (2011). Jewish population in the United States 2010. North American Jewish Data Bank.p.3. Sarna, Jonahan D. and Golden, Jonathan.(October 2000.)The American Jewish Experience through the Nineteenth Century: Immigration and Acculturation . Brandeis University. National Humanities Center.org. Retrieved 07 December 2011 from http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/nineteen/nkeyinfo/judaism.htm Read More