论文 美国移民文化.doc

Brief Analysis on American Immigrant Culture 12专升本2班12106125204 陈亿文 Abstract America is primarily a nation of immigrants; the ancestors of Americans immigrated from many parts of the world. After all the collision, integration in this melting pot, immigrants achieve a colorful immigration culture which called Americanization; while all these kinds of culture blend into the Americanization immigrant cultures which shows a pluralistic feature . And this kind of culture laid a solid foundation for the formation and development of the main stream of todays American culture. The main contents of this paper will discuss the formation connotation and characteristics of American immigrant culture.Key words American culture; Americanization; immigrant culture; integrated pluralistic1. IntroductionEver since its founding in 1776, and even before then, the United States has attracted immigrants from almost all over the world. For over two centuries, people have flocked under this nations protective wings as opportunists, refugees, and even illegal aliens. Over time, millions around the world have found emigrating to the U.S. as the only alternative to starvation, death, or a life full of hardship and suffering. With thousands from nations spanning the globe, America has become a mosaic of people, culture, and hope. Over the past 300 years, not a single country like the United States to accept the cultural background is very complex, the large number of immigrants.With the Statue of Liberty a gift from France upon the United States 100th anniversary which symbolizes the freedom and the democracy stands on Liberty Island in New York Harbor,meets the millions of immigrations to the United States since the late 19th century. IMMIGRATION was nothing new to American people. And now it has become a unique country with more than 100 ethnic groups mixture. The formation and development of the American nation is an ongoing acceptance and assimilation of immigrants in the process.Their culture present a comparative mixed situation.Thus, Amerian immigrant culture became different from other cultures.However, there raises a social impact on the U.S. At the same time, is also changing to a certain extent its own inherent lifestyle, which work together to create a unique culture - American immigrant culture. How did this culture happen? What are the connotation of immigrantion culture? And in this article, these problems will be discussed in detail.2. Background information of American immigration culture It has long been a spirited topic of debate as to who got here first. The mosaic palate of peoples and cultures which represents todays America heightens the intensity of such a debate. Discoveries made by various anthropologists of human remains over the past few decades. One common belief is that America was originally peopled by wanderers from Northeast Asia. These wanderers were believed by some to be the founding population (and ancestors) of todays Native Americans. However, not to be lost in this debate is the fact that whether 20,000, 10,000 or 1,000 years ago, most immigrant groups to America came full of hopes and dreams of the Promised Land. Around the year 1000, a small number of Vikings arrived. Five hundred years later, the great European migration began. Many settlers from Europe and Asia came to seek their fortune in a new country which was thought to have unlimited resources. Many people from Africa, however, were bought here against their will to work as forced laborers in the building of a new nation. As early as 1619, slaves from Africa and the Caribbean were brought forcibly to America. 2.1 The immigrant culture of Americanization Immigration to the United States reached its peak from 1880-1920. The so-called OLD IMMIGRATION brought thousands of Irish and German people to the New World.This time, although those groups would continue to come, even greater ethnic diversity would grace Americas populace. Many would come from Southern and Eastern Europe, and some would come from as far away as Asia. New complexions, new languages, and new religions confronted the already diverse American mosaic. There is no reason to think there will be what kind of culture is always so wise healthy, but there seems to be a historical position as the only conclusion as human problems. Whether immigrants maintain their traditions and cultural groups in the extent to which it is bound to integrate into American society, its culture into the American culture. This is the American immigrant culture, Americanization.2.2 Four periods of immigrationAmerican immigration periods can be viewed in 4 periods the colonial period, the mid-19th century, the turn of the 20th century, and post 1965.Each period brought distinct national groups, races and ethnicities to the USA. 1. In the colonial period - the 17th century, Englishmen migrated to colonial America. 2. In the mid-19th century the immigrants came mainly from northern Europe, which is from Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Ireland and the United Kingdom. 3. In the early 20th century the immigrants came mainly from southern and Eastern Europe, these were mainly Italians, Jews and Slavs. 4. After 1965 the immigrants came mainly from Latin America and Asia. In the early years of America there were very few immigrants. Historians suggest that less than one million immigrants crossed the Atlantic Ocean during the 17th and 18th centuries. The death rate on transatlantic voyages was high 1 in 7 travellers died. After 1820 immigration gradually increased. 1836-1914 over 30 million Europeans immigrated to the USA. 1930s there were 250,000 immigrants 1980s there were 7.3 million immigrants. 1990s there were about 10 million immigrants. So you can see how the numbers of immigrants have increased over the years. Since 2000 about one million people per year immigrate to USA. Immigrants to USA now are at their highest levels ever, just over 37 million legal immigrants. It is difficult to estimate how many illegal immigrants there are in America.3. The characteristics of America immigrant cultureOwing to different cultural backgrounds of its people, American society has colorful social cultures and obvious diversities in life styles, religious customs, rural and urban specialties, and so on. The unique characteristic of the formation of its nation leads to the three major characteristics of American immigration culture, in my opinion,that is, tolerance and independence.3.1 ToleranceOne of the most popular descriptions of American identity is“tolerance”. Tolerance is the first and foremost feature worth mentioning. It focuses on cultural diversity, teaching tolerance , and celebrating ethnic variety. The essence of tolerance is recognition and equality, two core concepts which challenge the mainstream cultures hegemony status. Americans developed a high degree of cultural tolerance. They could tolerant different point of view, different customs and different culture. 3.2 IndependenceIndependence is one of the most important characteristics lies in America which stresses the independent motivations, choices and self-reliance, especially for the li