Assimilation in American Life

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Assimilation is defined as the process through which different things come together and adapt to each other’s habits, creating completely new habits. (Salins 97). In the human society, it happens when a family or an individual moves to a different location either voluntarily or through unavoidable circumstances and over time they adapt the cultural and social habits of the hosts. Some of the causes of voluntary migration includes education, work, the need to relocate to a different environment among others.

The circumstances which force an individual to relocate on the other hand include war, natural calamities, cultural issue and so on. Assimilation is important to both the hosts and the immigrants since both parties are able to learn a lot from the others in all spheres of life (Chorlton 24). Every culture has something that sets it apart and so the coming together of two or more cultures creates a blend that is neutral and one which is easy to adopt.

James is a citizen of the United States by birth since his parents migrated from Africa before he was born. They came from Kenya specifically which is in the eastern part of Africa. James’ parents migrated to the United States two years before he was born and this was brought about by the scholarship attained by the father in Massachusetts State University.

Since he had already married but without children, relocating with his wife was not such a hustle and it would save his young family from the statistics of families which have broken up due to long distance. James’ father had the option of studying at home but he decided against it since he considered it wise to travel the world and learn other people’s cultures and traditions.

This family arrived in the United States in the year 2005 and settled in Massachusetts where the university is located. From this therefore, it is clear that their choice of state was for convenience since they were not conversant with the country and having to move from one state to another would be hectic and expensive since again they still didn’t have jobs. They arrived as a family of two, husband and wife but later on they bore three children, James being the first born.

For successful assimilation to take place hence ensuring that both parties are comfortable with each other, every member of the family has to play a role (Gordon 64). According to an interview with James, assimilation begins at the point where both the hosts and the immigrants accept and appreciate each other’s presence. This means that the hosts do not develop negative attitudes towards the new presence in the neighborhood and the immigrants do not develop the feeling that they are unwanted.

In most cases, the first reception the immigrants get on arrival determines every other feeling and actions that might occur later on. In his case for the example, the parents were warmly welcomed in the neighborhood they moved into since there were other people from Africa who had already settled there. They were given the best orientation and this made them comfortable in the state from the onset. As a result, both the wife and the husband were able to express themselves with no reservations.

This enabled them to pick the culture of the state easily. They were also able to pass over part of their culture to their closest neighbors and to them the time they spent with the neighbors comparing their different cultures was golden. They were also able to understand the rules and regulations of the state within a short time hence were never caught up on the wrong side of the law, a common mishap with most immigrants.

The assimilation strategies that were used by this family were mostly primary and secondary strategies. Primary strategies involved hanging out with the hosts in social places hence being able to develop personal relationships (Early 99).

From these personal relationships, they were able to develop trust with the neighbors and this ensured that they were always given any relevant information especially with regards to matters of security. As a result of this trust, they were not considered as a threat and so people were free to interact with them.

The other strategy that they used was the secondary strategy which is concerned with the relationships created in the workplace and schools as well. On arrival to the United States, James’ parents secured part time jobs so that they could be able to provide for their basic needs. The workplace relationships played a major role in their assimilation process since they were able to interact with people from different professions.

This helped them specifically in choosing their career paths since they were able to know the kind of professions that were on demand in the country. This assimilation can also be attributed to the fact that they were still young and hence more flexible. It is a universal belief that age plays a major role in adaptation to different environments. Elderly people are less likely to pick up new trends as compared to the young age as was the case with James’ parents.

In this family assimilation took place with less effort since each person played their role in accepting the changes. They were however careful not to lose it completely in terms of their culture and beliefs.

They did not fully embrace the American culture but only took what they needed to fit into the community. As for the cultural assimilation, they maintained more of their culture and adopted less of the foreign culture especially in their private lives. In cases such as education where it was inevitable, they were able to embrace it fully (Barth 46).

In social assimilation, they had to take up the social behavior of the hosts in order to fit into the community. They adopted the living standards of the country which were completely different from what they were used to at home and this forced them to work extra hard so as to catch up.

On marital assimilation, this did not affect them much since they were already married before they migrated, hence not having the need to look for partners in the new country. Both of them were however keen on preserving part of their culture especially where the family order is concerned. Most African families believe that women are supposed to cook and take care of their husbands, a norm that is long forgotten in the western countries.

They therefore decided unanimously to conserve this part of their culture to avoid negative issues in their marriage. The experience this family had in the host country was as a result of the changes that have taken place in the recent past in favor of assimilation. Earlier on, immigrants especially from the less developed countries were not welcomed in most states hence they had a hard time assimilating with the hosts if they ever did.

Works Cited

Barth, Kelly. Assimilation. Detroit, Michigan: Greenhaven Press, 2010. Print.

Chorlton, David. Assimilation. Charlotte, NC: Main Street Rag, 2000. Print.

Early, Gerald L. Lure and Loathing: Essays on Race, Identity, and the Ambivalence of Assimilation. New York, NY: Penguin Press, 1993. Print.

Gordon, Milton M. Assimilation in American Life: The Role of Race, Religion, and National Origins. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1964. Print.

Salins, Peter D. Assimilation, American Style. New York, NY: BasicBooks, 1997. Print.

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Assimilation in American Life

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