Introduction
This research seeks to elucidate in depth the characteristics of the Korean American and Mexican American subcultures in regard to their social organization, lifestyle, culture and traditions as well as their political inclinations and the impact they have on America’s social cultural setting.
America is a country of myriad social and cultural diversity. Nearly all the ethnic groups in the world are represented in America’s social cultural aspect. Mexican Americans and Korean Americans are a minority representative of a subculture in the midst of other subcultures in America. The American society is known as a “melting pot”. This is due to the many cultures and races that cut across America’s social landscape. Today diversity is touted as Americas greatest asset as immigrants and other minorities continue to find opportunity in the country. Many have been able to uplift their economic status in life owing to the spirit of inclusion. America today is in a position to remain influential and competitive in the world economy owing to the integration of a diverse population.
Mexican Americans
Mexican Americans comprise 60% of the Hispanic population in the United States of America. They are to be found predominantly in the states of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. Although from the same heritage, differences can be noted on the culture of Mexican, Puerto Rican and Latin Americans in regard to tradition and culture (Luis, 2004).
Food in Mexican American culture
Food forms a basic essence of the Mexican American culture, food is just not only food when it comes to the rich Mexican cuisine. Mexican food is best known for its intense flavors, enticing color and aroma prepared from a mix of different herbs and spices. Over the years Mexican cuisine has integrated with American cuisine especially in the California and Texan states to form a rich mix that is referred to as either “tex-mex” or “cal-mex”. When it comes to food, to Mexicans, it’s more of a style and a statement ( Eui-Young,1992).
Family Life
Indeed from numerous observations it is easy to conclude that the family unit is the most important social units to Mexican Americans.though the traditional concept of manhood and womanhood is slowly fading away, male dominance is an issue to have in mind when dealing with Hispanics and Mexicans, this has become a dominant picture in what is referred in America as machismo. The machismo role encourages the provision and protection of the family members. Traditionally, the father is the head of the house, the decision maker and wielder of immense powers as far as the operation of the family is concerned. In his absence the eldest son assumes his role. Generally, all members of the family are supposed to submit to the decision of the male head. Complete allegiance, respect and obedience is expected of women when they are dealing with their men. In case of conflict in the family, the decision of the man carries the day. On the other hand, women run the household and perform relevant chores like preparing food. But with the increased exposure to the American culture, poverty and economic insecurity, the pressure on Mexican American families have been significantly transformed to leading to increased matriarchy. As a result the concept of patriarchy has found less affirmation in the day to day lives of Mexican Americans. However, the concept of male dominance continues to exist to date (Laura, 2007).
Intermarriages and assimilation
Mexican Americans are moderately assimilated into the American culture. They are beginning to mobilize politically into a formidable political bloc capable of voting in one of their own. This political trajectory is bound to increase in the coming years. This has roots in the prior civil rights movement run mainly by Mendoza Lopez. The Mexican American civil rights movement included a broad cross section of issues including better education, reinstatement of land grants, farm workers’ rights among other rights issues. In the economic front, Mexican Americans account for only 73% of the median income in the US. Unemployment is still high. This has been blamed on the poor show in the academic front where only 2 out of 5 Mexicans complete high school. Although, progress has been noted in these areas, indicated by the higher enrolment in higher education facilities. Intermarriage has also been a point on integrations. Intermarriage has mainly been marriage between Mexican Americans and Anglo Americans. This has been made possible by among other factors, social mobility, decrease in residential segregation, increase in educational levels and generally the decrease in discrimination. This assimilation process has greatly been influence by harmony in the Mexican Americans’ socioeconomic profile with that of the population as a whole.
Religion
Majority of Mexican Americans are Roman Catholic. But due to increased exposure to the American society Protestantism is fast growing especially within the immigrant communities. Religion continues to play a significant role in the lives of American Mexicans. Apart from the two dominant religions, a large number also subscribe to other religions like the Jehovah witness and the church of Jesus Christ of latter day.
Music, dancing and festivals
Music and dance is considered an important aspect in the social lives of Mexican Americans. Indeed Mexicans are a fun loving people. The singing of the corridos and Marriachs has continued to evolve over the years and gain recognition in many parts of America. Indeed their most popular dance moves which include the Tapatio or tap dance and the salsa have gained much popularity not only in America but also around the world. Similarly, their festivals are full of color and pomp, loud music with lots of dancing (Cinco de, 2007).
Korean Americans
Korean Americans are Americans who have a common ancestry in Korea. A large population of Koreans in America is considered immigrants and is to be found in the states in large numbers in the states of California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, and Texas. Korean Americans comprise of the fifth largest Asian Americans group after the Chinese, Filipinos, Asian Indians and Vietnamese Americans (Kwak & Seong, 1991).
Culture, traditions, customs and beliefs
The Korean American culture is infused with that of the Chinese, Indian, Japanese and western ideologies. Yet Koreans have managed to preserve and sustain certain aspects of their unique culture in regard to literature, music and way of life. Korean Americans place a great significance on education as a means of ensuring economic empowerment and upward social mobility. Due to increased pressure from their parents Korean students often achieve exemplary academic performance this coupled with American stereotype on their performance puts more pressure on their performance (Kwak & Seong, 1991).
Religion
A significant percentage of American Koreans take part religion. Most Korean Americans prescribe to the ethnic Korean protestant churches. Korean Americans’ participation in religion plays a fundamental role in the integration of the Koreans into the American community. Traditionally Christians have always contributed to high number of Korean immigrants who rely heavily on their churches and religion as community centers. These churches also provide educational and resource facilities where most Korean Americans get classes in reading and writing Korean. Today there is an estimated 3000 Christian Korean churches in contrast with only 90 Buddhist temples. This shows that Buddhism is slowly loosing its prominence to Christianity in modern America among the Korean American community
Literature, Art, and Music
Korean culture heavily borrows from Chinese. But it is replete with its own uniqueness and distinctive features. Poems, short stories represent a rich mix of Korean art. This tradition includes works of art in writing mostly in Chinese as well as folk. Korean myth and legend also features heavily in Korean culture, stories of dragons dating back in the 1400s are still being told to date. Though there are a lot of similarities in the Japanese, Chinese and Korean art forms, Korea still continues to maintain its own unique form which is characterized by simple form, color , humor, and natural images. Korean music is based on Confucians rituals, chants and folk music with a distinct accompaniment of flutes, reed instruments and percussions. Modern Korean Americans continue to incorporate this traditional aspect in their compositions, but the fusion with western influence has greatly led to the introduction of the improvisational compositions (Eui-Young, 1992).
Sports
A number of sports activities that have their roots in Korea continue to be popular around the world. Korean Americans continue to practice the ever, popular tae kwon do a self defense method that originated from Korea years ago. Initially, the sport was banned when Japan had control over Korea between 1910-1945 and seek to assimilate Korea into its culture. But after the Korean War modern taekwondo began to take shape in a number of countries including the US. As it gained popularity, taekwondo was one of the martial arts to be an official Olympic game.
Special events
Korean Americans continue to place a special emphasis on family. This is evident in the way they treat special events involving families. Traditionally, with the help of marriage brokers Koreans would choose the children’s spouses. They would also be involved in the extensive preparation of the wedding ceremonies. This tradition is still common in rural Korea but most modern Korean Americans have discarded the tradition and allow their children to choose their marriage partners. Most Korean Americans being members of the Christian churches prefer western style wedding ceremonies
Cuisine
Korean American cooking is similar to most Asian cuisines where the use of the chopsticks is highly popular. Though the Korean cuisine consists of a wide variety of culinary, rice and soy sauce is considered a staple. Korean food is also distinct in many ways in that it is highly seasoned with the use of heavy spices and herbs like ginger, garlic, sesame seeds and soy sauce. Most of this traditional cuisine is still a part and parcel of the eating habits of modern Korean Americans
Traditional clothing
Korean Americans rarely wear their traditional regalia in the United States preferring western style clothing as standard attire. However, traditional attires are worn by men and women alike during holidays. This may include long pleated and full skirts for women and a long white overcoats and silky baggy pants for men
Holidays
American Koreans in the United States celebrate important days throughout the year. Most Korean Americans begin the year by observing the traditional sol for three days following the Confucian traditions. Family members, dressed in traditional regalia pay homage to the oldest members of the family. These festivities and rituals are usually meant to bay off evil spirits. The first fool moon is also a day for worship where torches burn through the entire night also to bay off evil spirits. Thanksgiving harvest called chusok is also celebrated to give thanks for the harvest. Other holidays celebrated include, buddhas birthday, National foundation day, constitution day and fathers day. Most Christians however observe Easter and Christmas
Language
Almost all Koreans are native speakers of the Korean dialect which has been spoken for over 5,000 years. While most Korean Americans speak English exclusively new immigrants often know little English and have to learn in order to integrate with their fellow Korean Americans. But most Korean parents continue to send their children to Korean schools to learn their native language in a bid to preserve their culture (Kittler & Sucher, 1989).
Politics
Though significant in numbers, Korean American participation in politics has always been low. They hardly ever make financial contributions to candidates and generally avoid politics. Through the Korean American voters initiative, a large numbers of immigrant Koreans have been encouraged to join and participate in political decisions, this has been through vigorous media campaigns to sensitize the group, through college internship programs that encourage community services as well as coalitions with other Asians American communities (Kwak & Seon, 1991).
Similarities and differences in the two cultures
Culture is normally a cultivation of historical products and processes that may be unique or similar to various ethnic groupings. Through this a number of similarities and differences can be identified between the cultures and set up of the Korean Americans and Mexican Americans. The most basic similarities that exist between the two cultures will have to be in food. Both Mexican and Koreans over the years have employed the use of herbs and heavy spices in their cuisines. Indeed most of the traditional foods in both cultures have spices and herbs as an integral ingredient. Food is also a main factor in their identity. Similarly family is also an important aspect in the lives of both Mexicans and Koreans. A strong emphasis is still maintained around the family unit. Most special events among Korean Americans like marriage revolve and depend on the family unit for organization while Mexican Americans continue to maintain the traditional notion where the family is the most important unit. Religion is also a common point of convergence, while traditionally ancient Mexico and Korea subscribed to the traditional worship especially Buddhism, today, a large number of Mexican American and korean Americans have assimilated themselves to the western ideology of worship. Protestantism and Catholicism is fast growing especially in the immigrant communities common in these communities today (Banks, 1989).
Other than the similarities a few differences do exist. One of this is language, coming from different historical backgrounds their languages greatly differ. Most Koreans speak their local dialect which was first written and spoken for over 5,000 years, when king Sejong invented the Korean alphabet this trend has been sustained even by modern day korean Americans. Most second and subsequent generation Mexicans have not given up their culture and most importantly their language, Spanish. Though, having been assimilated into the American community modern day Mexican Americans are not keen on preserving this and prefer English. Politically, Mexican Americans have been actively involved in both local and national politics; they have been competing and organizing in a way that has catapulted them into the national scene consequently highlighting and addressing the neglect that they had experienced in previous polls. On the other hand Korean Americans have traditionally kept away from active politics. Past discrimination laws against Asian communities have seen them distrust most governments but due to vigorous sensitization by pressure groups, their involvement in politics is starting to grow (Glendon, 2008).
Intermarriage being a point of integration has mainly seen marriages between Mexicans and Anglo Americans this coupled with decreased segregation has enable the assimilation of most Mexicans in the American society and traditions as a result, most Mexican Americans no longer observe holidays and events that are unique to them preferring to observe the traditional American holidays. In contrast, American Koreans in the United States celebrate important days throughout the year. Most Korean Americans begin the year by observing the traditional sol for three days following the Confucian traditions in these events family members, dressed in traditional regalia pay homage to the oldest members of the family. These festivities and rituals are usually meant to bay off evil spirits. Thanksgiving harvest called chusok is also celebrated
Application of research in teaching
Ethnic minorities in the United States are fast growing but unfortunately they remain one of the least educated groups. Over the years educators have come up with programs and curriculums to help in improving educational policies in ethnic groups. That has been with emphasis in the integration of minority groups’ history and culture in social studies. A careful analysis of this paper and research may provide insightful framework and development of curriculums that provide for the following:-integrating into the social curriculum modalities and teaching that value ethnic diversity and inclusion, this will promote the appreciation of culture as a result provide a better understanding and cohesiveness in society (Yuri, 2007). Secondly, developing such curriculums will ensure that teachers themselves will become knowledgeable and able to convey positive teaching in a classroom setting this will greatly promote ethnic literacy which provides knowledge on the role ethnicity plays in regard to our day to day lives. Thirdly, teaching social integration of ethnic minorities is important in building the self esteem of ethnic minorities; this has a great impact on personal development as well as attitude change (Mangiafico, 1991).
References
- Banks, J. C. (1989). Multicultural instruction: Issues and perspectives. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
- Kittler, P. & Sucher, K. (1989). Food and Culture in the united states. Van Nostrand & Reinhold.
- Kwak, T. & Seong H. (1991).The Korean American Community: Seoul: Kyungnam University Press.
- Lehrer, Brian. (1988). The Korean Americans: Chelsea House Publishers.
- Mangiafico, Luciano. (1991). present-day American Immigrants: Patterns of Filipino, Asian Settlement in the America. New York: Praeger Publishers.
- Cinco de, Mayo. (2007). Trade With Mexico.
- Eui-Young, Yu. (1992). the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
- Glendon, Mary. (2008). Amb. Glendon Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
- Laura, M. (2007). Risk analysis within Mexican-American Families. Web.
- Luis, Valdez. (2004). An account of Mexican Americans in the state of California: the chicano movement.
- Yuri, Jang. (2007). An analysis of Acculturation for Korean American Adults.
Methodology
In this research, I employed the use of the internet to come up with resources on the subject matter, e-books and journals provided insightful information on the values, characteristics and statistics on Korean Americans and Mexican Americans. Using the search engine Google, I prompted the search words Korean and Mexican cultures; this further directed me to journals and sites such as oop.com which I found to be most resourceful. Oop.com was of significant importance since it contained a large volume of materials, academic papers and submitted essays from different writers with a large volume of detailed information on the two cultures. Here I was able to further analyze the information by keying in their search sections, Mexican American culture and family organization. The same applied for the for the Korean American culture. I also compared the e-books with government resources to come up with a conclusive assessment on the subject. Generally the internet was more resourceful
Personal and Professional Relevance
Personally, the integration of ethnic minority teachings in the curriculum is an important step in the realization of a cohesive society. A goal for the developing and implementation of social ideals that promote this values will go along way in promoting pride and self esteem in members of ethnic minorities. Respect for ethnic and cultural diversity is a continuous process that can be attained. Mexican Americans and other ethnic minorities in America today enjoy a sense of economic progress. This has ensured that stability in society is maintained as well as the appreciation of diversity.
Professionally, this research has been significant since it has showed that in the teaching profession, these ideals can only be inculcated through the development of effective curriculum development for educators that incorporates relevant materials so as to positively reflect on ethnic minorities. Currently many materials available on this subject limit their concentration on ethnic minorities on isolated events as well as the representation of historical figures in character extremes. To reiterate, for everyone to appreciate the heritage of social minorities, a more comprehensive curriculum developed by professionals must be adopted (Lehrer, 1988)
Section C
