Immigration, an eternal mystery
My sister said on the phone yesterday that she thinks immigration is an awful thing and people should just stay put. She said she never understood what it’s like to be divided between two countries like most immigrants are, but now she does. That’s pretty much what I think too, but I also think that people never value what they have until they leave it (when it’s often too late) and that immigration seems to be intrinsic to humans since they have been constantly moving ever since the beginning of history. Human nature is always searching for something more.
I think that unless you already speak the same language (as in one successful integration case I’ve seen with an Irish immigrant in the US), it’s pretty hard to integrate. There are two ways to look at it, as either having two nationalities and cultures, or not having a country at all. In some idealistic way of course you have the two different experiences and ways of looking at things, but basically if you look at the acceptance level you usually don’t have a particular country. On one hand, an immigrant is always seen as exactly that and a person’s nationality can be surprisingly the main thing that people see in that person. On the other hand, things change in your country of origin. Now you are different and not a part of that culture anymore, or at least not as much, because you’re seen as being somewhere else.
In the US, for example, the immigrant communities are very obvious. In a country with so many immigrants the term has been changed from “melting pot” to “mixed salad” because it’s more politically correct but it's actually true, but not in the wonderful, peaceful way the term was supposed to imply I think. For whatever reason it might be, immigrants form communities within themselves. I see this with all cultures, but have had more direct contact with the Portuguese community in the US which is definitely not integrated or not melted into any pot. It’s even passed on to other generations of young people who form little cultural communities in high schools for example (even though with other generations it is for completely different reasons and a completely different case). Many immigrants feel that it is impossible to make friends if not from their culture and that their home-country society is much more accepting. I heard that in the US, but also hear it here about the Portuguese culture from English immigrants who have closed English communities the same way.
Yet many times immigrants lose their identity in their country of origin. The Portuguese community in the US, for example, is radically different from Portugal today and if anything, resembles life in the Azores fifty years ago with “white-washed” changes. Most immigrants, even direct immigrants (older people) that speak the language well, that try to move back find things completely changed and are immigrants in their own country. In America they are seen as Portuguese while in Portugal they are seen as American.
Immigration is a very complex subject, as is everything in life really, and I could go on about it but I think I’ve said enough.
I think that unless you already speak the same language (as in one successful integration case I’ve seen with an Irish immigrant in the US), it’s pretty hard to integrate. There are two ways to look at it, as either having two nationalities and cultures, or not having a country at all. In some idealistic way of course you have the two different experiences and ways of looking at things, but basically if you look at the acceptance level you usually don’t have a particular country. On one hand, an immigrant is always seen as exactly that and a person’s nationality can be surprisingly the main thing that people see in that person. On the other hand, things change in your country of origin. Now you are different and not a part of that culture anymore, or at least not as much, because you’re seen as being somewhere else.
In the US, for example, the immigrant communities are very obvious. In a country with so many immigrants the term has been changed from “melting pot” to “mixed salad” because it’s more politically correct but it's actually true, but not in the wonderful, peaceful way the term was supposed to imply I think. For whatever reason it might be, immigrants form communities within themselves. I see this with all cultures, but have had more direct contact with the Portuguese community in the US which is definitely not integrated or not melted into any pot. It’s even passed on to other generations of young people who form little cultural communities in high schools for example (even though with other generations it is for completely different reasons and a completely different case). Many immigrants feel that it is impossible to make friends if not from their culture and that their home-country society is much more accepting. I heard that in the US, but also hear it here about the Portuguese culture from English immigrants who have closed English communities the same way.
Yet many times immigrants lose their identity in their country of origin. The Portuguese community in the US, for example, is radically different from Portugal today and if anything, resembles life in the Azores fifty years ago with “white-washed” changes. Most immigrants, even direct immigrants (older people) that speak the language well, that try to move back find things completely changed and are immigrants in their own country. In America they are seen as Portuguese while in Portugal they are seen as American.
Immigration is a very complex subject, as is everything in life really, and I could go on about it but I think I’ve said enough.