Native Civilizations And The United States - 1198 Words

As I was sitting in a classroom learning about world history, I wondered how the ancient civilizations responded to the immigration challenges that they had to face. Since the early civilizations, people have immigrated from place to place to find a better life for their families. The bad situations they live in obligated them to leave their houses and immigrated to unknown places. Even today thousands of people immigrate to another country looking for a better life. For example, throughout the American history millions of people around the world have left their homelands for a chance to start a new life in the United States. In the stories, Changing America 2001, Letters from an American farmer, the Art of Happiness, and Silent Dancing, we can see the most common problem that immigrants face in this country, finding their identity. As an immigrant, I personally have experienced some of the challenges that the immigrants in these stories share. I have gone through the process of adju sting to living in a country where another language is spoken and has a different culture. As humans, we start developing our identity since we are children. The living situations that we face have a big impact in defining who we are. The story Silent Dancing is an example of how culture shapes us in who we are. Culture refers to the characteristics of a particular group of people, including their language, cuisine, social habits, religion, music, and arts. It is a people’s way of life.Show MoreRelatedNative Americans History1879 Words   |  7 PagesWhen asking a child, educated or not, what they ideas are when they hear the term Native American where does they mind venture to? More than likely do they not consider the former House of Representative, Charles D. Curtis or professor pitcher Joba Chamberlain. But they also do not think of a Native American as being an average person, a boy/girl like themselves. What children believe to be Native American are descriptions such as, feather headdresses, tomahawks, and long braided hair or scalpedRead MoreTurner and the Glorification of Westward Expansion Essay1634 Words   |  7 PagesFrontier in American History,† the United States had recently fulfilled the goal of Manifest Destiny by finishing its conquest of the West. Westward expansion had been an integral aspect of the American identity and its citizens were left wondering what would continue to propel the United States into the future. At the same time, people were also looking back and trying to decide how exactly the frontier had shaped American life. The common belief was that the United States’ conquest of the West was gloriousRead MoreRemoval Act of 1830 Essay1481 Words   |  6 PagesEurope and Asia after they migrated. In fact, the two civilizations evolved in totally different manners, and at different speeds. The people in the Americas, or Native Americans existed mainly as hunter-gatherers using tools of bone, wood, and useful animal parts. Native Americans formed their beliefs into many different religio ns, and resided happily perhaps in buckskin wigwams or wooden longhouses. At the height of their civilization though, whites in Europe had their own religions and sociologicalRead MoreThe Indian Civilization Fund Act Of 1819 And Indian Education1267 Words   |  6 PagesThe Indian Civilization Fund Act of 1819 and the Indian Education Act of 1972 were instrumental in the government’s involvement in the education of American Indians. The Indian Civilization Fund Act was negatively viewed at the time, but led to positive things in the future, such as the Indian Education Act of 1972. Both policies had effects at that time and in the future on both Native societies and the United States as a whole. Without these policies, American Indian education would not existRead MoreNative Americans And American History1396 Words   |  6 PagesNative Americans have remained a prominent aspect of American history; not just a history of the people, but a history of the land and the ext ensive traditions that shadowed it, like footprints in the sand. However, when the Europeans staggered over with indifference towards the natives and their unusual customs, a conflict erupted that dates back hundreds of years and continues into the present. As the United States grew further more intolerant of the natives, the daring judgment to either assimilateRead MoreHoward Zinn on Colonization865 Words   |  4 Pagesknow of the horrible atrocities he caused when he first landed in America. While considered a hero by most in the United States, Zinn argues that people should think twice about Columbus’ actions, and question whether his behavior to the Indians was necessary. In quotes one and five, Zinn clearly depicts his thoughts on the atrocities done by Columbus and other colonists to the natives living in America. Zinn first refers to the author Morrison and how he deals with who Columbus really was. InsteadRead More Development of Anthropology as a Discipline in the United States1580 Words   |  7 PagesDevelopment of Anthropology as a Discipline in the United States I. Early History of Anthropology in the United States 1870-1900 â€Å"The roots of anthropology lie in the eye-witness accounts of travelers who have journeyed to lands on the margins of state-based societies and described their cultures and in the efforts of individuals who have analyzed the information collected. In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, a number of anthropologists recognized that the practice of anthropology was intimatelyRead MoreThe Colonization Of North And South America1295 Words   |  6 Pages Through the 16th-19th centuries, the Native Americans populations declined in the following ways:  epidemic diseases  brought from Europe; violence  and warfare. During the prospect of exploration, Thomas Jefferson viewed American Indians as people with the possibly of â€Å"Enlightenment† and from a political standpoint either they were enemies of war or allies in peace. While the United States had set a precedent to explore new lands in its short history, native peoples’ who had inherited lands thro ughRead MoreThe Indian Removal Act By President Jackson1371 Words   |  6 Pagesoptimistic virtues without the consideration of the Native American demographic. While expanding, the Americans encountered numerous Native Americans that ranged from a violent interaction to a peaceful treaty of removal in order to satisfy the American’s territorial cupidity. Despite America resorting back to its founding principles to justify their expansion, they probably caused an evident strain in the relationship substantiated by the Native Americans and the land they domesticate in. It soundsRead MoreHow American Indians Have Adapted their Culture Since Colonization962 Words   |  4 Pagessocial organization, and material culture. Over the years things have change in the history of Native Americans, prior to the reconstruction period, Native Americans knew who they were and what they lived for. Before the Europeans came and changed their living they one with nature and the land theyâ₠¬â„¢ve came to know. They believe that America was there’s and they lived free. In today’s history of Native Americans culture was founded in many ways, started in the mid 8200s B.C and before Christopher

Intercultural Communication Translational Action and Intercultural

Question: Describe about the Intercultural Communication for Translational Action and Intercultural. Answer: I must say that recent events like terrorist attack and the Bali Bombing have severely shocked the people in Australia as well as elsewhere in this globe. I have found that since this attack, people in different parts of Australia feel more insecure living with any other people who are from different cultural backgrounds. As one of the many immigrants to Australia, I have encountered several people who have shown interest in me because of my dissimilar cultural and ethnic backdrop (Asante, Miike and Yin 2013). However, it is required to mention that the ways in which all the people have reacted to my culture has been categorized in four ways. Firstly, I must say that there are some people who do not treat me as a foreigner and expect me to understand Australian culture properly. Secondly, I am from Africa and some of the Australians are open-mined and they accept me as an African and do understand the importance of understanding the intercultural difference (Buhrig, House and ten Thi je 2014). Thirdly, I must say that there are some people who have a closed mind set and are simply not bothered to accommodate any outside culture and are highly unwilling to know about the culture of a different nation. Finally, there are some groups of people who do not like to communicate with me because of my different cultural background (Carbaugh 2013). However, it is required to mention here that with this last group of people, when I tried to communicate, though, they were highly impatient with my un-Australian accent in the language and this to some extent made me skeptical about my sustainability in this nation. From my experience, I have understood that this situation is the second phase of how people from the host nation react to the foreigners. Casmir (2013) has stated in his research paper that this second phase is called ethnocentrism and here the people believe that their own culture is always better than others and they judge others by taking their own culture as the base line . In this part, focus would be shed on several intercultural dimensions of communication and these are as follows: Worldviews- procedures of thinking Cognitive procedure- ways of expressing concepts Linguistic forms- procedure of expressing ideas Behavioral patterns- ways of acting and performing Social structures- procedures of interacting Media influence- ways of channeling the messages Motivational resources- ways of deciding anything (Martin and Nakayama 2013) After discussion of this part, it can be stated that these seven dimensions have helped me to understand the intercultural communication properly. However, I must say that I have learnt that the Australians in general enjoy a good laugh and have a fairly dry sense of humor. Moreover, I saw that humor is largely used and probably the best techniques to break the ice and in some cases, I was wrong. At the time inter cultural communication, I have found that people in Africa are warmer to relationship than the people in Australia. Australian culture tends lends itself to be more egalitarian culture than my home country Africa. Mindess (2014) has stated that Australians welcome as well as embrace the migrants along with descendents of migrants from different ethnic and cultural backdrops and at the same time inspire them to maintain elements of their own culture. However, it is unfortunate to mention that despite such recent public policy of the government, difficulties of communication among people of such diverse backgrounds take place. Samovar et al. (2014), in his research paper has mentioned in his research paper that this typical communication tends to be demonstrated as cross-cultural or the intercultural communication because these two terms, from time to time are used interchangeably (Neuliep 2014). I must mention here that my experience both as a learner of English and an immigrant in Australia have stimulated my curiosity regarding different cultures. I started learning English in my middle school years, as the others in my country do. However, from my sole interest, I started communicating personally with the English speakers from the beginning of my under graduate years. My subject was English Language and Culture and my principle focus was on communicative and cultural learning than structural language learning. Help from my professors were highly helpful, as I was able to communicate with the native Australians quite easily. However, my experience was not good in all the cases and this disappointed me sometimes. Apart from that, I must say that this intercultural communication helped me to learn about different cultures and this prompted me to reflect on as well as make comparisons between my own and other cultures (Sharifian and Jamarani 2013). The second group of people with whom I met responded differently to me and this was curious enough for me. I found that some were the open-minded people who used to ask me many questions about Africa, African culture and African food habit to know my insiders viewpoint. However, it is required to mention that most of the Australians were curious about the social condition and poverty of Africa, as this comes to the news most frequently. On the other hand, I have seen some other peoples who posses stereotypes regarding Africa and judge me based on their knowledge. Some were even racists who were eager to judge me on the basis of the skin color that I possess. From my learning, I must say that this approach was demonstrated by a group of people who looked down on me because they perceive more like an Australian and African. Shuter (2012) has demonstrated that that this stereotypical categorization of other cultures prevented genuine communication. I have learnt from this position that I did not seem to be fit their stereotype image of a typical African, a person who differs from an Australian. I have already mentioned that my experience in case of inter-cultural communication was mixed and I found that after the attack of September 11, many Australians have some negative images of others of obviously different culture and ethnicity. After discussing my experience of this inter-cultural communication, I have found that many Australians reacted badly towards me, as I am from other cultural backdrop. All the Australians were talking among this regarding this September attack and they showed no interest in discussion with me (Sharifian and Jamarani 2013). On the other hand, some other Australians talked with me and were interested enough to discuss the political situation in Africa. Therefore, I can conclude that being an African, in Australia, I had a mixed experience of intercultural communication. References Asante, M.K., Miike, Y. and Yin, J., 2013.The global intercultural communication reader. Routledge. Buhrig, K., House, J. and ten Thije, J., 2014.Translational action and intercultural communication. Routledge. Carbaugh, D., 2013.Cultural communication and intercultural contact. Routledge. Casmir, F.L., 2013.Ethics in intercultural and international communication. Routledge. Martin, J.N. and Nakayama, T.K., 2013.Experiencing intercultural communication. McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Mindess, A., 2014.Reading between the signs: Intercultural communication for sign language interpreters. Nicholas Brealey Publishing. Neuliep, J.W., 2014.Intercultural communication: A contextual approach. Sage Publications. Samovar, L.A., Porter, R.E., McDaniel, E.R. and Roy, C.S., 2014.Intercultural communication: A reader. Cengage Learning. Sharifian, F. and Jamarani, M. eds., 2013.Language and intercultural communication in the new era. Routledge. Shuter, R., 2012. Intercultural new media studies: The next frontier in intercultural communication.Journal of Intercultural Communication Research,41(3), pp.219-237.