Ethnocentrism Essays - Guggenheim Fellows, Literature, Culture

Ethnocentrism Essays - Guggenheim Fellows, Literature, Culture Ethnocentrism Ethnocentrism can be defined as regarding ones own race or culture as supreme to others. Unfortunately, minority groups living in the United States are under the impression they must conform to the American ways in order to succeed. As a result the ramifications of ethnocentrism in the United States have caused minorities to change in order to fit in with society. In Langston Hughes poem Theme For English B, Hughes recalls a time when a professor assigned a page that was to come out of you- / Then it will be true. Hughes, twenty-two, colored and born in Winston-Salem was uncomfortable with the assignment at first, being the only black student in the class. He writes about all the things he likes eat, sleep, drink, and to be in love and how being colored doesnt make him not like the same things other folks like. However, he asks the question So will my page be colored that I write. Hughes is concerned that the white professor will not be able to relate to his paper, Being me it will not be white. Yet Hughes brings up the point that they share a similarity in that the professor and himself are both American. Hughes also writes As I learn from you, / I guess you learn from me describing how ultimately his paper is a part of both himself and the instructor. For what was supposed to be a simple assignment, Hughes tries to discover his own truth in a white society. Similarly the idea of ethnocentrism is discussed in Edite Cunha Pedrosas Talking in the New Land. Pedrosa at the age of seven remembers her family moving from Portugal to the United States. Instantly, Pedrosa was forced to fit in with American culture. On her first day of school, the teacher announced that her name, Maria Edite dos Anjos Cunha would be changed to Mary Edith Cunha. The reason, the teacher explained was in America you only need two or three names. Pedrosa was devastated, I loved my nameand through it I knew exactly who I was. She wanted to say something to the teacher, but you could never argue with the teacher. Unfortunately, Pedrosas father did not understand English so she served as an interpreter for her father. At the young age of eight, Padrosa found herself involved in adult situations trying to interpret and translate conversations between her father and a woman at the Division of Unemployment Security. Pedrosa would get caught in conversations concerning money and property, something a child should not be dealing with. Her father abused her ability to speak English to the point that she hated herself for having learned to speak English. After all, Pedrosa was only nine years old and was forced to conform to American ways in order for her family to survive. Maxine Hong Kingston also writes how she too had to change in order to fit in with American Culture. Kingston, a Chinese immigrant living in Stockton California, was a first generation American in her family. She found herself having to adjust to two distinctly contrasting cultures. In The Language of Silence, Kingston recalls as a young girl how confusing and difficult the situation was. To most Chinese immigrants, American are refereed to as ghosts- pale, threatening, and, at times, comical specters who speak an incomprehensible tongue. Kingston shows how becoming American means adopting new values, defining a new self, and finding a new voice. In the Chinese culture it is believed that a ready tongue is an evil tongue. However, Kingston mother tells her that things are different in this ghost country. When Kingston first entered school she was very silent. It wasnt until I found out that I had to talk that school became a misery, that the silence became a misery. Writes Kingston. Eventually Kingston spoke with the barest whisper only to have the teacher scare the voice away again. She was content with herself though, for the other Chinese girls did not talk either, so I knew the silence had to do with being a Chinese girl. Kingston remembers how all the children would go to the auditorium except the Chinese girls for our voices were too soft or

Gulf of Mexico Habitat and Marine Life

Gulf of Mexico Habitat and Marine Life Gulf of Mexico Facts The Gulf of Mexico covers about 600,000 square miles, making it the 9th largest body of water in the world. It is bordered by the U.S. states of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, the Mexican coast to Cancun, and Cuba. Human Uses of the Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico is an important area for commercial and recreational fishing and wildlife watching. It is also the location of offshore drilling, supporting about 4,000 oil and natural gas platforms. The Gulf of Mexico has been in the news recently because of the explosion of the oil rig Deepwater Horizon. This has affected commercial fishing, recreation and the overall economy of the area, as well as threatening marine life. Types of Habitat The Gulf of Mexico is thought to have formed by subsidence, a slow sinking of the seafloor, about 300 million years ago. The Gulf has a variety of habitats, from shallow coastal areas and coral reefs to deep underwater areas. The Gulfs deepest area is Sigsbee Deep, which is estimated to be about 13,000 feet deep. According to the EPA, about 40% of the Gulf of Mexico are shallow intertidal areas. About 20% are areas over 9,000 feet deep, allowing the Gulf to support deep-diving animals such as sperm and beaked whales. Waters on the continental shelf and continental slope, between 600-9,000 feet deep, comprise about 60% of the Gulf of Mexico. Offshore Platforms as Habitat Although their presence is controversial, offshore oil and natural gas platforms provide habitats in themselves, attracting species as an artificial reef would. Fish, invertebrates and even sea turtles sometimes congregate on and around the platforms, and they provide a stopping point for birds (see this poster from the U.S. Minerals Management Service for more). Marine Life in the Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico supports a wide variety of marine life, including wide-ranging whales and dolphins, coastal-dwelling manatees, fish including tarpon and snapper, and invertebrates such as shellfish, corals, and worms. Reptiles such as sea turtles (Kemps ridley, leatherback, loggerhead, green and hawksbill) and alligators also thrive here. The Gulf of Mexico also provides important habitat for both native and migrating birds. Threats to the Gulf of Mexico Although the number of large oil spills relative to the huge number of drilling rigs is small, spills can be disastrous when they occur, as evidenced by the impact of the BP/Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010 on marine habitat, marine life, fishermen and the overall economy of the Gulf Coast states. Other threats include overfishing, coastal development, discharge of fertilizers and other chemicals into the Gulf (forming a Dead Zone, an area lacking oxygen). Sources: Gulf of Mexico Foundation. Gulf of Mexico: Facts and Threats (Online) Accessed May 21, 2010.Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium. Hypoxia In the Gulf of Mexico (Online) Accessed May 21, 2010.Minerals Management Service Gulf of Mexico Region Environmental Information (Online) Accessed May 21, 2010.US EPA. General Facts About the Gulf of Mexico. (Online) Accessed May 21, 2010.