Personal Narrative: My Identity In Rio Grande Valley

Tejano Religion and Ethnicity, by Matovina timothy M., is a historic book that presents intensive research of the complex mesh of ethnic, religious, and political devotion in the development of the identity of Tejanos (Texas residents of Spanish) in the first decades of their interaction with Anglos in San Antonio. It was the first major Mexican population to be absorbed into the expanding Anglo-American empire. In 1821, San Antonio was a Mexican Catholic town of Mexico. In the same year, Mexico had just gained its independence from Spain. But the Tejanos in Texas gradually started to lose ground to the Anglo foreigners who were allowed to immigrate into their country.

Growing up under both the influence of his parents’ Mexican culture and his own experience of a more modern California, Richard Rodriguez seemed to have the best of both worlds. His Mexican lifestyle was the way of tradition and cynicism, and his California lifestyle was the way of defiance and optimism. However, as he writes in his book Days of Obligation, this clash between cultures only conflicted his feelings. Rodriguez’s acknowledgement of the age and the religion of California and Mexico allows himself to explore his identity struggle. With the big age difference between Mexico and California, Rodriguez finds himself facing the paradox of Mexican rigidity or California novelty.

Richard Rodriguez’s autobiography, Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez, depicts his transformation from a socioeconomically disadvantaged first generation child of Mexican-American immigrants to a successful author, academic, and intellectual. During his metamorphosis, however, Rodriguez goes through an arduous process of assimilation that grants him a mastery of the English language and an embrace of American culture at the expense of his cultural heritage. His struggle to find a balance between these two worlds is prevalent throughout his autobiography, demonstrating the complex nature of identity and the manner in which language and culture impact it. In the text, identity seems to be formed at times around perceived similarities,

The community I grew up in central Texas celebrated my heritage, honored differences in culture, and fostered personal growth and self-discovery. My parents, with the strong work ethic they developed on their family’s farms in Ghana, encouraged my brother and me to work hard and find ways to use our skills to be of service to others, which wasn’t hard to do growing up in Austin with its many avenues to become involved and take care of the community, whether it was helping to direct families through the Trail of Lights at Zilker Park during the winter or raise money for educational programs for underprivileged kids in the area through working the concession stands at the University of Texas at Austin. It was this collaborative mindset that Austin

I believe the term, hispanic, itself does not define who I am. I define who I am and who I want to become. However, I do come from a Mexican heritage. Coming from a Mexican heritage has influenced and deeply impacted my life. My heritage has taught me a lot.

Richard Rodriguez’s claim about a person's identity is the using race as a basis for identifying Americans is not valid; culture should be what defines a identity. Richard Rodriguez says that newcomers were being “welcomed within a new community for reasons of culture. “ (136-137). Richard Rodriguez says that newcomers were welcomed when they were identified by their culture. Richard Rodriguez also says “I am Chinese, and that is because I live in a Chinese city and I want to be Chinese.“

Samuel Huntington’s article The Hispanic Challenge argues that Hispanics, specifically Mexicans, are not true American citizens. According to Huntington, Americans are people who believe in the American creed. However, he believes this creed is being threatened. For some time now, large influxes of Hispanic immigrants have been coming to the US and have brought their own culture with them. The writer of Speaking in Tongues, Gloria Anzaldua, believes that Hispanics have the right to hold onto their culture in America.

Growing up in a Spanish-speaking household, he reflects on the intimacy and warmth of his family's private language. However, as he entered school and adopted English, he experienced a sense of alienation from his heritage and his family. Rodriguez argues that the shift to English not only facilitated his academic success but also widened the gap between him and his loved ones. Through introspection, he acknowledges the sacrifices and trade-offs involved in embracing the public language. Rodriguez's essay poignantly highlights the complex relationship between language, culture, and personal identity, prompting readers to reflect on their own experiences of linguistic assimilation and the resulting transformations.

Growing up in California, my whole life has been around farming and like many others, it’s how I make a living. It’s now been at least a year, living through the Dust bowl and many people have migrated to California with the hope of surviving this crisis. Keeping my crops has become a struggle and that's what most people including me depend on. I am lucky enough to be able to pay my mortgages even though I’m not able to keep the land with the help of family. It’s practically impossible.

From as early as I could remember I noticed I was not like the others kids. I had an interest for things most kids would not be interested in. I liked interacting with people, knowing about people and their life stories; I wanted to help in anyway that I could when I would hear everyone’s problems. I thought outside the box throughout my whole childhood and I wanted to make the most out of my knowledge. I told myself that I was going to dedicate my life to helping my community.

In this section, I asked several children of immigrants what they perceived to be their identity and if they felt that their status as undocumented or their heritage played a major role in who they saw themselves as. According to Kevin, an undocumented immigrant whose family moved here from Mexico when he was just 6 years old, he considers himself more American than Mexican as he has lived the vast majority of his life

I identify as a Latina. I have always considered myself as a Latina, but throughout time, I believe that I have assimilated more into a white individual because of the privilege that I hold and because I have lived in the US most of my life. I have received mostly negative messages from those who are not from my ethnicity. My peers and I were told we wouldn’t graduate high school and be laborers for the rest of our lives. With the current politics, I believe that this still holds true where some people still hold stereotypes and give oppressing messages to Latinos.

I’m the first generation of my family to be Mexican -American, but I have been introduced to the Mexican culture since I was born. I appreciate the difficulties my parents have faced to make me the person that I am today even though I wasn’t born in Mexico my parents have taught me the language and the culture which I’m so proud of being part of. For others being Hispanic is actually being born in any Latin American countries which is not true at all. Being Hispanic is much more than my cultural background it actually describes how much I appreciate my culture and how I get to experience things other people don’t. I fit into the Hispanic community through the experiencing the culture first hand ,participating in traditions and planning to include my culture in my future.

Cultural influences people on how to communicate with one another and its methods of communication from one culture to another. Culture plays a significant role in intercultural communication. Cultural identity is an element in a person’s life when one understands their own culture, leading to an understanding and appreciation of other cultures as well. It promotes a vital part of communication between people who come from different cultures. This paper will examine my Mexican American cultural background and how it affects my way of communicating with others.

When migrating into the Rio Grande Valley, the loss of one’s culture and language becomes inevitable due to the process of “Americanization” and language dominancy. Although society judged and attacked her because of her culture, Gloria Anzaldúa, a Chicana writer, published an informative and prideful book called “ The Borderlands: La Frontera”, which she wrote her famous chapter “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” that depicted her refusal of others who try to extract her culture and the connection between the cultural density of a person’s language and their identity. In addition, Anzaldúa informs her audience about the Chicano Heritage and culture to justify that, just like another language, it recognition is important to Chicanos as it identifies