Martinez, John

Jennifer Rodrick
English 115
October 24, 2017

Project space

What shapes a group of people's identities? How are peoples identities, like immigrants

to the United States, shaped, after getting to a new land, a new space. How does being in a new

space shape someone's identity. The space around us shapes our identities by forcing us to

conform with a majority, by making us be performative, and by making us want to escape any

existing negative stereotypes regarding our group. Weather it is a new space or the space we

were brought up in our environment has the single biggest part in shaping our identities.

With a group of people like Hispanics born in the U.S, such as myself, we are torn at the

question of culture. What culture do we as Hispanic American identify with, well both really. It

isn't that we consider English or Spanish to be our first languages or that we identify as Hispanic,

but that we grew up here in the United States and only know this as home. We might listen to

other kinds of music, eat different foods or believe in other things but weather conforming or

assimilating into the dominant culture was done consciously or unconsciously it is our space that

has shaped our identities to become a mix of both cultures. In "Two Americas? A massive wave

of Hispanic immigration is raising questions about identity and integration." Two important

questions are put forth. "Are Hispanics rejecting the powerful forces of American cultural

assimilation, which swallowed up the successive waves of European immigrants who preceded

them? " "Or are Hispanics simply redefining the meaning of mainstream in an ever more

diverse, multicultural United States of America?".(Two Americas) I would answer these two

questions with, Hispanic are not rejecting the "powerful forces of American assimilation"

because we embrace it and incorporate it into our culture " redefining the meaning of mainstream
Martinez, John
Jennifer Rodrick
English 115
October 24, 2017

in an ever more diverse, multicultural United States...". We are not staying true to our culture or

feel ashamed by incorporating some of a dominate culture into our own, our cultural identities

our being redefined by minor interactions with different cultures every day.

However cultural identity and someone's personal identity are two different things even

though they are shaped by the same forces and relatively grow together. They in fact positively

correlate, as culture identity is relatively a mix of both the dominate and minority culture,

personal identity is more like to be American and whatever other nationality that person is.

However, someone could argue that in places that are less diverse, some member of the dominate

group could reject members of a minority group. This could be true for Hispanic Americans like

in most Mideastern states, that have a considerably less Hispanics population than in the west

coast. While not experiencing this for myself, I could imagine that there are people that can be

discriminated against because of negative stereotypes a majority of the population could have,

and that space could be negatively shaping someone's identity or perception of one's own space.

In other word, one's negative experiences within one's space can have a negative impact on how

someone self identifies within that space or society. Out of this can come two possible outcomes

one could either embrace those negative stereotypes or work to separate themselves from those

stereotypes. Looking back to Hispanic Americans "A new data report from the National Center

for Education Statistics (NCES), "Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic

Groups, 2017," states that between 2000 and 2016 the percentage of school age children in the

nation who are""Hispanic has jumped significantly over those same years-from 16 percent to

25 percent". (Kennedy, Mike). These finding might just be for school aged children but show in

interest in parents to assimilate their children to the dominate culture by means of education.
Martinez, John
Jennifer Rodrick
English 115
October 24, 2017

By having their children be educated the same way as the dominate culture, parents can

find some assimilation into that same dominate culture. And with both nature born Hispanic

Americans and those who find a path to citizenship, a big part of the space that shapes our

personality is being accepted into that space and holding some power. Whether that power is

political or economic it is a way in which we influence our space and in turn our identity. For

myself I can say that I have had a good experience here in California because other before

myself have made this space more equal by gaining economic power. In help wanted: Hispanics,

Julie Lopez talks about equality among working people in the U.S "Hispanic Americans have

improved career opportunities because of the trend toward achieving diversity in the workplace.

Their chances of employment have also improved with the realization of many companies that

more customers can be reached if Hispanic employees gain more purchasing dollars." (Lopez,

Julie). Here she talks about how we can all achieve workplace equality and what that means for

everyone. For the future of that space and everyone that will live in it, because our space

influences our identity so shaping that space for our children should affect their identities as well.
Martinez, John
Jennifer Rodrick
English 115
October 24, 2017

Work cited

Kennedy, Mike. "U.S. school population is becoming less white, less black." American School &
University, 20 July 2017. General OneFile, libproxy.csun.edu/login?
url=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=csunorthridge&v=2.1&id=GALE
%7CA499754028&it=r&asid=752716fec120f47539003628f84869da. Accessed 24 Oct. 2017.

Lopez, Julie Amparano. "Help wanted: Hispanics." Hispanic, May 1993, p. 64+. General
OneFile, libproxy.csun.edu/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=csunorthridge&v=2.1&id=GALE
%7CA13823394&it=r&asid=6086d5c9649bef72a7bd2ebb67b5e531. Accessed 24 Oct. 2017.

"Two Americas? A massive wave of Hispanic immigration is raising questions about identity and
integration." Newsweek International, 22 Mar. 2004, p. 42. General OneFile,
libproxy.csun.edu/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=csunorthridge&v=2.1&id=GALE
%7CA114332392&it=r&asid=77a37a864c0f02978fbd3e3e849cd649. Accessed 24 Oct. 2017.