Alycia Holwerda

            As part of the general education program, I completed ETHN204W: Perspectives on Latino/Hispanic Diversity. I read two books called From Indians to Chicanos: The Dynamics of Mexican American Culture and The World of Mexican Migrants: The Rock and the Hard Place. I also watched videos about the Chicano history, read current news articles on Latino/Hispanic topics, completed weekly discussion reflections, and wrote two reflection papers that are both attached.

Many terms are mistakenly used as synonyms: Hispanic, Mexican, Latino, and Chicano. A Hispanic is used to refer to someone from Spain or the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America, as well as people of Hispanic descent. A Mexican is someone from Mexico or from Mexican descent. A Latino is someone from Latin America (Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Brazil, and Central and South America) as well as Latino descent. A Chicano, Mexican-American, is normally used to refer to someone born in the United States to Mexican parents or grandparents. The difference between a Latino and Chicano is that a Latino is directly from Latin America while a Chicano was born in the United States but of Latin/Hispanic/Mexican descent.

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            Through this class I asked questions that showed an increased understanding of complex cultural practices, products, and perspectives to the Latino and Hispanic culture (Global Citizenship Knowledge: Level 2). I recognized new perspectives about other cultures and compared and contrasted that to my own.  A Latino is someone from deep, multicultural roots whose ancestors endured various hardships throughout history which strengthen and revolutionized the Latino identity into what it is today. I learned various aspects to the Chicano culture such as their history, political views, religion, food, art, socioeconomic role, status in today’s world, and many individual’s stories. My learning can be exemplified through the two attached papers. In them, I ask deep questions about the Latino culture and answer them through my newly, knowledgeable perspective. One of these questions is, “How do you define ‘Latino/Hispanic’ and what do you think is crucial in defining an ethnic group?” This class allowed me to obtain and analyze information about other cultures.

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            After this class my perspective on the Latino/Hispanic culture specifically that of migrant workers has drastically changed. I was further able to understand why this group of people would flee their country, what struggles they faced from others, and how they continued to support the United States, their family, and themselves through their work. I was further able to appreciate my upbringing and customs that has allowed me to not face the circumstances that migrant workers do.

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            Not only did this class allow me to gain in my knowledge and understanding of other cultures but also in my self-awareness for my cultures and others. I was able to show emerging awareness of the varied contexts and boundaries of my own culture and its cultural rules and biases (Global Citizenship Self-Awareness: Level 2). I was able to recognize about different challenges other cultures face that I do not in my culture. Migrant workers face hardships such as enduring a lack of job security, challenging work environments, and lack of employment rights. I do not have to face any of these challenges since my employers at Target and Buffalo Wild Wings are required by law to ensure my safety and compensations. However, since many migrant workers are also illegal immigrants, employers feel they can cheat them out of their rights.

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            Before this class I had many cultural biases towards migrant workers. However, this class allowed me to gain new perspectives on migrant workers and Latinos to change my biases. I was able to recognize new perspective about my cultural rules and biases and compare and contrasts my culture with other individuals and their cultures (Global Citizenship Self-Awareness: Level 3). Prior to this class I believed migrant workers were stealing jobs away from U.S. Citizens, but in fact do jobs Americans do not want to do and are a valuable component to the American economy. This class allowed me to recognize many biases like this one, gain a different perspective, and then alter my biases. I hope to reduce my number of biases in the future by continuing to gather information on why I have my biases and attempt to learn new perspectives to these biases.

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            After completing this class, I can now take this knowledge and share these perspectives with others. I hope to take this opinion to help others understand there are two sides to the subject of illegal immigrants. I hope to continue to grow my knowledge on this subject and to understand more as to why certain background to cultures like I have with the Latino/Hispanic culture.