Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Anthropology 1010
For the assignment, I chose to do the Mexican culture. The reason I wanted to focus on this
culture is, because it’s had an influence on my life by the friends I have. From what I knew before
the assignment, the Mexican culture has many great traditions and the people are great. I wanted
to know more of why they have the celebrations they do, how they think and feel in today’s society,
and to experience their culture with them. I was excited for the opportunity I was given to under-
Methods
The methods I used to do the research were in my friends home, the school commons area,
at the different event buildings, and in my office room at home. It was all done by using direct
observations, participant observation, mapping, interviews, and fieldwork. It consisted of 22 hrs.
The different visits, and events were 3 times a week.
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Language
While observing the Mexican culture, I’ve learned about the Mexican language. The pre-
dominant Mexican culture speaks Spanish as their language. The Spanish language is a beautiful
language that has lots of rolling R’s and strong S’s. I noticed that the English language has shorter
words, while in Spanish if you say the same thing it’s a longer sentence, because their language
has more to it. From talking to the people I’ve met for this class to interview, I’ve learned more
about the language that sets their culture apart from others. They are so passionate about their
language, because it’s how they communicate and reminds them of their Mexican roots. Some
indigenous Mexican words are now a common part of the English language. Like, the words “choc-
olate” and “avocado” are of the Nahuatl language. There is a mix of indigenous languages which
are, Mayan, Nahuatl, Mixteco, Chipilo, and Zapoteco. The Spanish language is spoken by more
than a third of the world’s population. Often times in movies we see the Mexican characters play-
ing the role of the “sexy one” and I think that has a lot to do with the Spanish language just by how
it sounds gives off a more “sexy” sound. Many of the Spanish songs you hear are more about
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Human Rights
The human rights for the Mexican culture are very violated. They are still wanting more
rights to be equal for them. They feel as though, they are not heard and keep getting forgotten in
this subject. One example brought to my attention was how there isn’t equal pay for Mexicans.
They are paid less even if they have the same job position as a white person. This is frustrating
and makes them feel less important to the society. Their criminal justice system isn’t equal provid-
ing less violence and human right violations. It’s bad for everyone but worse for women, because
they are not only Mexican but a girl, so she’s looked down upon even more. It is much better than
what it was like in the past, but human rights for people of different cultures and especially the
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they still experience a lot of judgements against their race. The racism now is played off as a joke,
which is very insulting to them still. How they are treated is different from white people, because
they are treated as if they are going to steal something or be violent. With having others judge
them of this, it makes Mexican’s feel less valued and can be super annoying to deal with everyday.
Our current president said that the Mexicans are taking over other peoples jobs and that doesn’t
make them feel good about being a different race. People are ruthless and disrespectful when they
aren’t even meaning to be, just because they look or act differently in the Mexican culture. The
problem is people are still doing things today that they might not realize is racist and makes others
feel bad. They want to feel respected and accepted just as much as anyone else. Most people that
I know are proud to be Mexican and are grateful that they aren’t rude and racist like a lot of people
are. They are more aware of the small actions and feelings that occur towards them, so they can
make sure to not make others that aren’t of their race feel welcomed.
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When speaking about gender and sexuality, it wasn’t focused on as much as the other things
I’ve observed from the Mexican culture. Everyone is able to believe in what they want about gen-
der and sexuality. They feel it is not for them to judge. Each person knows their own feelings and
can make their own decisions on gender and sexuality. The big thing that was mentioned and that
is not the best for them, is that they are stereotyped as sexual people. I didn’t observe any of this
but stories were told to me about it. Plus I know this from watching movies and seeing how the
Mexican culture is portrayed. People still expect the Mexicans to be sexy and that they only focus
on being sexual. They are not all like this, that is just a stereotype. They are just like all of us in
this area. There is a widespread problem with unwanted pregnancies, but it’s not only just one
cultures problem. The Mexican culture does feel blamed for lots of issues dealing with control in
sexuality. They feel strongly and I have observed that we should value individuals potential and
opportunities with improving their wellbeing regarding sexuality and reproductive health, instead
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The Mexican culture has passion for family and marriages. They have strong values, tradi-
tions and thoughts on families that I admire. They have each other to lean on and care for that
brings them much joy and love into their lives. Families are the people who really understand you
and that you can trust. Each time there are family events, it is important for everyone to show up
so they can remember who they are and that they have people to strengthen them.
Families can be different as others join in the family by marriage, as people from other
countries are introduced or by gaining friendships. They are just like other families where people
are mixed in but they understand that unity that happens in families, which is really awesome. You
don’t see the traditional Mexican family as much now, where you are married at the church and
baptized children in the catholic church. There were more of the defined roles for mothers, fathers,
and children. It’s evolving more and more to being casual as lifestyles and society changes. Alt-
hough most traditional Mexican families you used to see are changing there are still important
traditions that they have. Some examples would be, religious festivities, Quinceaneras, wedding
traditions, birthdays, and special holidays that are celebrated in Mexico. The Mexican families will
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Class and Inequality
Class and inequality is not very equal for Mexicans. They are judged and that sets limits
on them unless they are able to learn how to make those judgements help them be more driven to
be successful. From interviewing Amy, her dad, and my friend Hamilton from class I learned how
they view themselves regarding class and inequality. They all said they are lower middle class.
Class is something that they felt was hard to talk about, because many of their family members are
lower then them and it’s hard to see them being treated differently. The desire is to be upper middle
class and that’s what each of them are working towards. It’s hard work to be considered upper
middle class, and many people that never have to work their way up don’t understand the struggle
it can be. Amy watches her parents work really hard each day to better the lives of her siblings,
and that is something that inspires Amy, but sadly, that’s such an important thing to the world. My
three friends from the Mexican culture all want equality and understand the effect class has on life.
Their culture is treated with equality, but individually they don’t feel it is equal. Especially in the
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We are to work together in making economy, politics, and power run smoothly in society.
The part that is disturbing to the Mexican culture, based off of the interviews, is that Mexican’s
don’t make it to more powerful positions in politics. There isn’t much power in their hands, which
is unfortunate. From my own observations, I don’t know any Mexican’s that have been in political
positions. Hopefully we start seeing more of a diversity in our politics, and power roles. Each
culture is power hungry, which is why there are wars and contention between one another so much.
It seems that people wanting power will always be an issue, so it’s not something for or against a
specific culture. There are many ways to make a living, and if you work hard enough you can
become what you desire. Family members of whom I interviewed, are doctors, lawyers, and what-
ever else they want to be. It is harder to get those jobs where you get paid the most, because they
feel unwanted in those fields. Money holds power in our society, if you have money you can do
anything. Amy and Hamilton don’t feel they have power now in their lives, because they are
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Religion
In Mexico the dominant religion is Catholic Christianity. Amy and her dad have left their
Mexican roots in religion and joined different churches, because they like what other churches
have to offer. Amy and her dad like that they can have freedom of religion, and go to the churches
they agree with. For Amy she has grown up knowing she can choose what she agrees with most,
and that has been a good thing for her. For Amy’s dad, growing up he was not allowed to go to
any other church besides the Catholic Christian church his whole family went to. It was important
to his parents to keep the same religion for their children. They have since learned that it’s not a
bad thing to experience other religions. They are not against Amy’s dad choosing to be a part of
another religion, but Amy’s dad realizes it’s not always that way for other families. Having differ-
ent religions in a family can sometimes bring disagreements and hard feelings, and especially with
Mexican culture, because they are strongly rooted in their religious beliefs. For my friend Hamil-
ton, he had the same experience with moving away from his family, but they aren’t as accepting
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them. They desire for doctors to know how to help each person in the best ways. Culture can affect
why certain problems are happening, patient communication, and effects of medications. It’s im-
portant that in healthcare doctors are knowledgable in different cultures. Respect for each others
beliefs, values, traditions, language, and backgrounds are to be expected for all cultures when they
are in need of healthcare. From looking at health and illness from Hamilton, and Amy they feel
that, the most successful type of medical care is emergency clinics. Not all family members will
go to a doctor to get medical care, because they feel they aren’t going to be able to help them as
much as their family can help them. Types of treatment patients prefer is different for what people
believe in. When someone gets sick in Amy’s family or Hamilton’s, they administer a blessing
first. The blessing invites God to help them first, but if they are still sick then they take who is sick
to the hospital to see what help they can get. They believe that the ability to first have God heal
who is sick, is the best option, but not always, will God provide miracles in healing. The technol-
ogy that the medical field has now is really good, and can catch things that it couldn’t before, so
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There are many ways to share your culture and art is a fun way that the Mexican culture
loves to share theirs. Art is an expression of themselves. It sets them a part from other cultures. It
reflects Mexico’s country, and history in ways that words can’t explain. They like art to be color-
ful, and bright. Handcrafted pottery, baskets, clothing, masks, and rugs were in homes, and in their
festivities. Understanding art in a culture is something that has been passed down in Amy’s family,
and she knows it will be something she will teach her children too. Hamilton likes art from his
Mexican culture the most, because he can relate to it the most, but he appreciates all art a lot. He
can admire paintings, and depictions of events from the past, so he can learn from them. There are
a lot of family members in Amy’s family, who create paintings of Jesus Christ. Each of the paint-
ings share a great, powerful, and unique story. Art and media are ways to express our differences,
self communication, relieve stress, and to impact society as a whole and individually.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this ethnography experience was positive work for me to be involved in. A
better understanding of human nature, human society, and human culture within the broadest
comparative framework of human activity was gained after I was able to examine the Mexican
culture. It is good for me to now understand how there is a cultural diversity, and I want to con-
tinue to be aware of ethnocentric viewpoints. The methods used were helpful, but having more
maps, and more beneficial interviews would help even more. I would have provided with better
fieldwork.
Bibliographical References:
Camp, Roderic A. Mexico: What Everyone Needs to Know. New York: Oxford University Press,
2017.
This book caught my attention by the title, because I want to know everything about the
Mexican culture. The different chapters are all things that I need to read about, so I can know more
about it.
"Mexico." Countries and Their Cultures. Accessed January 30, 2019. https://www.everycul-
ture.com/Ma-Ni/Mexico.html.
This website has a lot of good information on it. It was also one of the top websites that
came up, so it must be good.
Zimmermann, Kim Ann. "Mexican Culture: Customs & Traditions." LiveScience. July 19, 2017.
Accessed January 30, 2019. https://www.livescience.com/38647-mexican-culture.html.
The reason I selected this website is, because it has videos on it that explain some of the
Mexican culture and traditions. Being able to watch the videos gives visuals of the food, art, music,
clothing, holidays, and more that is helpful to me. This way I’m able to engage and understand the
Mexican culture in every way.
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