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Immigrant Women’s Lives
Immigrant Women’s Lives
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An immigrant experience involves many different emotions, thoughts and experiences. One is trying to assimilate into a new culture. Immigrants can feel anxiety-ridden to fit in and make peace with their cultural differences while at the same time preserving their own identity. They may try to be like one of their new country’s inhabitants or follow strictly traditional cultural practices to control the process. A discussion of the immigrant experience is vital to understanding inter-cultural issues. The word immigrant is derived from “inmigrare”, meaning “to transfer.” The Medieval term was the “emigrant,” but the French coined the modern English term in 1670. Generally, an emigrant is an individual who escapes a country or region to flee political oppression or economic hardship. The advent of European colonization can be dated; most developing countries have recognized this type of movement as a national trend. In the seventeenth century, Europe had a formidable naval power. It was the world’s leading economic and military force; it had the largest empire in history, and its kings ruled over hundreds of millions of people in some 150 countries. The Netherlands, France, Sweden and England emerged as centres of power and growth. By 1650, modern versions of feudalism had taken root. The causes for this intense domination were very different from those that led to European conquest earlier in history. In 1492-4, Columbus’ voyages carried out through greed for gold led Europe to exploration on a grand scale. This paper will focus on the perspectives of individuals from developing countries (Diaspora) to developed countries (Immigration).
Danticat’s text, “Create Dangerously”, has the primary purpose of guiding readers, primarily young people from Haiti, on how to inspire hope and keep their creativity alive in the face of adversity (Danticat, 2011). Her audience for this piece includes the former teenage students she met in class. Danticat’s primary focus is on the creative process for the Haitian youth she encounters and all individuals faced with trauma. Her main claim is that hope and creativity help people survive anything and guide them to a better life. Danticat’s text “Create Dangerously” defines itself as written by Toni Morrison with an audience of primarily teenage students who were formerly students of Toni Morrison. The text describes the experiences of an artist as an immigrant who has been in the United States for over two decades. Danticat explains how and why the artist works the way she does despite hardships ranging from financial issues to persecutions and racism. Um… I never said, “Create Dangerously”. I just said, “Create”. You could create from a place of love or a place of anger, a place of fear, or a place of joy. I certainly didn’t say “dangerously”. This is part of what happens when you talk about things too much when people–the wrong people–listen to your words too carefully. It’s not dangerous to create any more than it is challenging to live.
Alvarez’s text, “A Genetics of Justice”, is vital to anyone interested in justice and the way it is distributed. In the text, Alvarez focuses on correcting injustices that have been committed against victims of wrongful convictions to more fairly distribute justice. The audience of this text would be anyone interested in eliminating inequities wherever they are found, including victims of wrongful convictions, academics, members of law enforcement, attorneys, politicians and judges. Alvarez explores the issue of how to make distribution more equal between people who have had crimes committed against them. She explains that we need a “genetics of justice” to measure how much injustice someone has been wrongfully convicted for by comparing their DNA with a crime scene’s evidence (Alvarez, 1998). She describes her life as an immigrant in New York City when the city was plagued with many injustices against minorities and concluded that “the best way to overcome injustice is to identify it and seek justice.” Alvarez reexamines the issue of wrongful convictions and the trials before she was convicted. She looks at how she was wrongfully convicted for her alleged role in a robbery in Queens. Alvarez believes that there needs to be an overhaul of our judicial system because too much evidence has been ignored or destroyed by those in charge of law enforcement, and she has many ideas on how to make justice more fair.
The two articles, Danticat’s “Create Dangerously” and Alvarez’s “A Genetics of Justice”, demonstrates various rhetorical elements. Create Dangerously shows ethos and pathos, while A Genetics of Justice displays logos. Pathos, or appeal to emotion, is evident in Create Dangerously, which has a narrative voice that is filled with urgency and determination to empower the Haitian people. This can be seen through extensive use of imagery such as “time is running out for the people,” “dying,” and “the body politic.” The discourse also implies an author who cares about Haiti’s future.
Ethos or one’s credibility with their audience is illustrated in both pieces due to their respective authors’ roots in Haiti. Danticat’s narrative voice grounds the readers in Haiti’s past and current conditions, which allows the reader to understand their potential future. This ethos is demonstrated by their concrete and personal examples, such as her mother, who witnessed land being taken from her family or a young girl who lost her childhood because of a lack of safe water. Lannon Alvarez’s author persona is also rooted in Haiti through his upbringing. He was taught not to judge others by skin colour, that everyone has the right to life, and that each person has sovereignty over their own body, which can be seen throughout many of his pieces.
Apart from the two articles, Danticat’s “Create Dangerously” and Alvarez’s “A Genetics of Justice”, other literary texts by Alvarez and Danticat that serve as evidence to support their literary analysis are their novels “Ayiti” by Danticat, and “The Republic of Love” by Alvarez.
Alvarez’s “The Republic of Love” is a love story set in the context of corruption in the Dominican Republic. Alvarez’s novel explores the relationship between love and corruption. By doing so, Alvarez questions the meaning of justice in a corrupt society such as her own in the Dominican Republic. At this time during this era, society had an idealized notion of romantic love and marriage as an adventure in which husband and wife challenge each other to become better people. However, the author deals with this romanticized idea of love and marriage when she exposes that in a corrupt society, romance can be an adventure in which a spouse will exploit their partner’s weaknesses to satisfy his ends. This novel also shows that corruption affects all aspects of life, including marriage. The corruption between the characters is so great that it affects their ability to love each other and live happily ever after as they originally thought they would. Alvarez’s novel “The Republic of Love” exposes how love in a corrupt society can be used to exploit another’s weaknesses to get what one wants.
The main gaps that are still present in Alvarez and Danticat’s literature about discussing the intersections in immigrant women’s lives. The main gaps are the lack of a thorough understanding of the situation, causes and contexts for mental illness and possible solutions to address these challenges. There is also a need to move beyond generalizations about immigrant women’s experiences with mental illness. In some parts of the world, traditional approaches can still be valuable in supporting those who struggle with depression or other mental health conditions. Still, this option may not be available for immigrant groups who have moved from rural villages. Yet, the National Center for Mental Health reports that depression is one of the most common disorders in the United States and affects at least 20 million Americans. The reasons for depression are as diverse as the causes of immigration (Meadows et al., 2018). There is a need for what Fernandez calls “more nuanced understandings” about both immigrant women and mental illness. Although there is no one correct way to understand things like mental illness, this doesn’t mean that women’s experiences should be discounted as irrelevant.
I believe that immigrant women’s lives present a three-way intersection, one between the realms of private, public, and gender. Immigrant women cannot just be seen as women in relation to their private lives or public policies on immigration because they have a unique perspective that cannot be denied. The problems that immigrant women face are not purely domestic occurrences because they are also the subjects of international and national laws that exclude them from participation in society. More articles should explore these intersections in greater detail to better understand how they work together to create an environment where immigrant women’s existence is constantly being challenged and questioned (Davidson, 2022). I hope this provides a new perspective on how these three realms influence each other and what it means for an immigrant woman’s voice to be silenced in all of them.
Reference
Alvarez, J. (1998). A Genetics of Justice.”. Something to Declare: Essays. New York: Plume, 103-11.
Danticat, E. (2011). Create dangerously: The immigrant artist at work. Vintage.
Davidson, L. (2022). Alienation, Loneliness and the Immigrant Experience. Journal of Positive School Psychology, 6(3), 1330-1336.
Meadows, L. M., Thurston, W. E., & Melton, C. (2001). Immigrant women’s health. Social science & medicine, 52(9), 1451-1458.
Feeding the Hungry
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2. Feeding the Hungry
Traditional farming was very good and environmental friendly since there was rare signs of environmental degradation as farmers were concerned with ecological changes. The current capital-technology intensive farming has largely led to serious environmental degradation because the farmers and scientist only focus on long term sustainability of food production and low cost food. Technology has really contributed to monoculture through the introduction of agrochemical that has provided fertilizers, insecticides and pesticides. The ever increasing population and the current global hunger are what prompt the use of new technologies which are very harmful in the society. This piece of writing criticizes and assesses some of the strategies put in place to feed ever growing global population.
It is unfortunate that most countries have resorted to monoculture as one of the ways of producing food in large scale to feed the huge population. However, the need to maximize profit through specialization thus boosting country’s economy is the main cause of monoculture in many countries. It is evident that modernized agriculture has brought immense negative contributions in the ecological system and further extended the influence on peoples’ lives, culture, political and social status. Mechanized farming has led to introduction of pesticides, fertilizers and even genetically Engineered Food. Nevertheless, use of fertilizers and pesticides has greatly depleted and polluted soil, water and every other useful resource used in farming thus causing serious consequences on the environment (Gritzner 59-65).
There has been great efforts of modifying herbicides and even increased use of crop engineering to boost food production and feed the hungry generation. Some of these practices have yield intended change but with a very serious harm to the environment. Mechanized farming is not beneficial since it does more harm than good but efforts to indulge in agro ecology are also greatly suppressed in many ways including the government. The need to make money and the intensive advertisements by huge agrochemical corporations is really hindering farmers from adopting the best style of farming that is environmental friendly. Farming can be done in a way that animals and crops grown mutually benefit each other without inclusion of chemicals and fertilizers which are harmful to the environment. Although it is important to feed the society, their health issues must also be taken care of. The size of land does also not support crop rotation and generally the whole issue of agro ecology (Gritzner 59-65).
A capital-technology intensive agricultural practice such as use of fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides which has contributed to monoculture has posed danger in our ecosystem. I strongly support agro ecology since it is the only way environmental degradation can be minimized and our environment can remain at least green and useful to every living organism found in it. Agro ecology would also largely contribute to increase in food production without harming our great environment. Human activities accompanied with intensive and extensive agricultural research on improvement of production yield has overtaken the issues regarding the quality of our ecosystem and the human health to a greater extent. I am left wondering whether the most important thing that farmers emphasize on is just money but not the quality and the eventual effect of their products. Farmers must ensure that the crops they grow are very healthy for human consumption (Gritzner 59-65).
I believe greediness has hugely contributed to environmental degradation particularly by most governments who have encouraged farmers to use monoculture and mechanized farming in order to increase the countries’ income in the international markets. The government should instead insist on large scale food production but not cash crop farming. Farmers should be encouraged to grow both subsistence farming as a way of providing food for their families. Why can’t the administrations consider the plight of their people in terms of health and the effects of their proposals to the ecosystem? Many diseases are on the rise such as cancer which consumes very many people globally due to the increased use of fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, pesticides and technological modification of crops and animals yet no action is taken by the major players (Gritzner 64-70).
Agro ecology may not be implemented at this time because the farmers are convinced that what is in the market is the best especially as far as revenue collection is concerned. However, if societies and citizens can rise against this culture that derail human lives and the ecosystem, farmers may relent and get back to the poly-culture. Unless organizations come out strongly to fight this vice, there will be more depletion of the environment. Poly culture should be practiced to ensure the soil gets enough nutrients and the farmers get healthy and sufficient food.
The ever increasing population is actually imposing an immense threat to the environment and eventually the climate. Climatic changes are of a major concern globally and cannot be assumed. Climatic changes have really affected our surrounding in different ways that cannot be avoided in any way. Every nation and village has been affected and this concerns every kind of humanity despite of other distinguishing factors such as race, ethnicity, age, sex and religion. The impact of climatic changes is very bad. The effects of climatic change have led to death, malnutrition, droughts and are costly in most countries. The issue of climatic change is serious and some experts and scientists say that the climatic change is still going to be a major issue as people can do very less to stop its impact but every individual can at least do something to control the climatic changes. Everybody should be responsible enough to control climatic change. There is no way the issue of food production can be raised without touching on the climatic changes (Cramer & Schellnhuber 177-185).
Climatic changes have been brought about by global warming which is as a result of increase in population and use of land, industrialization. Climatic changes have made us see nature different and the water levels have also gone down. Cases of Katarina have gone so high and rainfall is not falling most of the times as it used to in other previous days. The vegetation cover is no longer the same the way it used to be in the old days and some animals having stopped to exist like long before. Animals have not been able to get food that can satisfy them because of lack of rainfall. Agricultural production has really gone down and unless the climatic changes are addressed, no major increase in food production will be realized. No water is enough for the human consumption (Cramer & Schellnhuber 177-185).
There are many impacts that are experienced in many parts of the world due to the global warming. The temperatures have averagely grown and very violent storms plus extreme weather events in many parts of the world. Forests that support much wildlife are at risk especially the Canada’s forests as well as meltdown of ice sheets and alpine glaciers in arctic areas. Governments should form bodies that can control the impacts of environment changes which have increased the risks of diseases and freshwater shortages (Cramer & Schellnhuber 177-185).
Generally, traditional kind of farming should be adopted to avoid harm to our precious surrounding and prompting serious climatic changes. Hunger will definitely increase if climatic changes and global warming is not taken care of. The global warming is a big problem worldwide and has very serious consequences on the ecosystem and the human life. Human activities should be controlled and other new options can be applied that do not harm the environment. People should ensure that they are careful enough in their actions to avoid damage to our surrounding by carrying out the most appropriate farming method to feed the hungry world.
Works CitedCramer, Wolfang, and Hans J. Schellnhuber. Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change: [international Symposium on Stabilisation of Greenhouse Gas Concentrations, Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change, (adcc), Exeter, United Kingdom, on 1 – 3 February 2005]. Cambridge [u.a.: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2006. Print.
Gritzner, Charles F. Feeding a Hungry World. New York: Infobase Pub, 2010. Internet resource.
East Meets West Preschool Program
East Meets West Preschool Program
It is during the early periods of development of a child that he or she has the highest ability to adapt to different kinds of environment (Banks, 2009). In addition, it is also during this period that a child can easily master particular learning skills. According to Maria Montessori philosophy, children will have mental powers since their birth that will assist in their individual development. Completion of the task of self-construction can only be through purposeful exploration, movement, and discovery of people and things around them (adjacent environment). Per se, at this age introducing different cultures to them at such an early age would beneficial. Practices such as yoga and meditation will help in both mental and physical development of a child. Furthermore, tolerance of the new values learnt and their incorporation to children activities is easier given the fact that such children are still in their learning phase
Integration of the west and eastern education will facilitate the provision of high quality and comprehensive education curriculum, which has an advantage of hefty research on different faculties (Morgan, 2007). Montessori philosophy suggests that it is the responsibility of a teacher to recognize individual phases of development in individual children and avail the necessary materials in the classroom environment in each phase (Beck, 2009). Accordingly, teachers should introduce activities such as martial arts. Such activities that are predominantly from the east will assist children to understand the new culture and in the process develop respect for their own culture. Given that Montessori education gives room for age differentiation, it will allow for determination of various levels of culture comprehension. Teaching culture to children at different levels will be essential in monitoring the success of the program and in addition, assist in understanding its impact on the preschoolers.
Through the merging, the school should be able to accommodate different classes and cultures of children. According to study, the rift between the eastern and western cultures has been widening. Montessori philosophy is adamant on the differentiation of different classes. This will assist in the teaching of preschoolers from the western world eastern culture. The consequence of this is that as they grow they will learn to tolerate different cultures. Currently, the two major cultures of the world are from east and west (Mayesky, 2011). Teaching children eastern techniques will be detrimental in closing the gap. As such, there will be a more united world in the future reducing the current tensions. Montessori philosophy has the capability of incorporating children from the east to participate in such activities (Slentz, 2010). As a result, preschoolers from the two divides of culture will learn the importance of embracing different cultures.
Maria Montessori in her philosophy maintains that education is not artificial but rather a natural process that individual will undergo not only through listening to words but also by experiencing their environment (Beck, 2009). Teaching yoga, meditation, and martial arts will be an additional to their class work that will cement their experience. It is obvious that a child that has grown up experiencing two different cultures has adequate preparation of the society. As such, this will benefit them given that any specific society constitutes of different types of people having cultures. As such, tolerance is an important virtue because a child’s major occupation is creating the individuals that they will become in the future. Thus, an environment exposing a child to different cultures helps in enhancing their integration and cohesion skills.
References
Slentz, K. L. (2010). Early Childhood Education: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow. London: Taylor & Francis Publishers.
Morgan, H. (2007). Early childhood education: history, theory, and practice. New York: Rowman &Littlefield Publishers.
Mayesky, M. (2011). Creative Activities for Young Children. California: Cengage Learning.
Beck, V. (2009). Teaching Young Children in Multicultural Classrooms: Issues, Concepts, and Strategies. California: Cengage Learning.
Banks, J.A. (2009). Multicultural Education: Issues and Perspectives. Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons Publishers.