Resumen Mundos anglófonos en perspectiva histórica y cultural. Los Estados Unidos de América PDF

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ANGLOPHONE WORLDS FROM A HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE: THEUNITED STATES- UNIT 1. THE AMERICAN CONTEXTo Write or give an oral description of the main aspects of the American culture. o Exchange ideas or give opinions on the American National Identity. o Narrate some American social and institu...

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ANGLOPHONE WORLDS FROM A HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE: THE UNITED STATES - UNIT 1. THE AMERICAN CONTEXT o o o

Write or give an oral description of the main aspects of the American culture. Exchange ideas or give opinions on the American National Identity. Narrate some American social and institutional changes.

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Ethnic Culture: First settlers after 1607 were mainly British, sharing America with the Natives communities and other Europeans (French & Spaniards). Until 1776, half of the population were protestant white AngloAmericans. They promoted many of the new nation’s political, social, constitutional and religious institutions. Political principles were based on democracy, grassroots sovereignty, skepticism about government… Social values were conditioned by a belief in individualism, Protestant work ethic, rule of law… Other Europeans integrated on the American mainstream identity. NW Europe supplied 2/3 of the immigration in America after the Colonial and Independence age (1776), also many Asians. At the end of the 19th c. a shift occurred between Northern and Southern Europe immigrants; this varied the social and religious composition of the society. Despite of many restrictive politics in immigration; the US received 60 M. immigrants during the 20th c., Asians, South and Central Americans (Mexicans), Caribbean… The effects of colonial settlements, such as slavery, have been important in numerical and origin terms, making the US a special country in this way, providing a distinct ethnically based identity as a nation of immigrants and their descendants. White people is the group with more population, but in further years this could vary. Afro Americans and Native Americans slaves suffered (and suffers) problems of integration in the US society.

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Religious culture: Religion is a very important issue in American history, based on colonists, slaves and Native Americans. Some early settlers escaped from religious prosecution in their homelands, establishing communities based on their beliefs. This fact makes the moral basis of the new nation. Not all settlers were inspired by religion, some travelled for adventure, freedom, mew experiences, new markets and escape from European oppression. Religiosity rates fluctuated during the ages, however, it’s a defining fact of the actual US, in comparison with other countries. Although religion is a private, personal matter separated from the state, it informs and may condition social, economic and political life. Religion influence in many areas of the American life is a part of education, politics and ethics. Despite a desire to keep religion out of politics by a legislative and constitutional means, some critics question whether it is realistic or necessary to deny religion a full and active part of public life.

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Political-legal culture: This is the third major American culture fact, shaped by: o Central place of law and Constitution in American life. o Restrictions made by constitution upon politics. o Belief if the Americans in minimal government, especially in the federal one. o The perceived need to produce consensual national policies. The Constitution is the centre of this fact, interpreted by the judiciary (the Supreme Court in Wa DC.) determining what’s constitutional or not. These features help to solidify society, widely accepting centralized politics. Racial or ethnic differences, immigration and social diversity affected to national unity, and are still problematic. Americans are aware of corruption, fraud and incompetence in the political and legal systems and that claims to “liberty” and “freedom” are not always respected in reality. Responses to pluralism have often resulted in consensus politics based on political and judicial compromise. US politics are not usually considered to be as oppositional as in other nations, but in the recent years the differences between parties went bigger in a lot of issues, economy, religion, employment… Voters can also register opposition or support to many politics, gay marriage, abortion, death penalty… even when academics register a low rate of votation. This reflects alienation from the political process.

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Economic culture: The fourth major US culture is the economic framework, which is also idealistic/abstract and materialistic/practical. Americans generally have a belief in individualism and a free enterprise system, which is supposed to deliver goods and services demanded. The system can also produce inferior products, bad service, incompetence, corruption and little variety of the real choice of consumers. Americans tend to support small business in front of big ones. Depending on global economy, fluctuation between public and private economic sectors varies.

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Americaness and National identity: Many cultures (Irish, Jewish, Chinese, Italians…) interacted to form the American lifestyle, leaving their influence in education, people, environment and social services. A historical dilemma for the US has been how to balance a need for civic unity against the problems generated by ethnic diversity. An important thing has been the “Americanization”, the assimilation of different groups into an Anglo-American base, the thing known as the “melting pot”. Assimilation implies absolute national unity, whereas “integration” occurs at levels of partial and more “natural” blending or mixing. The fact of nationalism inside the US varied during the years, growing and decreasing.

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It is difficult to represent an American lifestyle integrating all those ethnicities; there are huge differences between the dominant groups and the others, that’s why the US is also known as a “mosaic” or a “salad bowl” in substitution of “melting pot”. The solution to problems is to define national structures, which acknowledge ethnic identity or roots, seeing the differences as valid despite of the reluctance to some groups of integrating in the US society. The US tried to achieve this “Americaness” using several symbols such as the national anthem, the flag, and some documents such as the Declaration of Independence that came from Puritan concepts and the European Enlightment. Americans may stress with individualism, distrust of big government and their desire to be free. But communalism, voluntary activities, charitable organizations and group endeavors are also a feature of the US life, making a highly recognized international culture.

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Social and institutional change: US influence many other countries and vice versa, remaining specific politics for the US attending political, minority and consumer demands. US social organizations or institutions have been constructed since 1607, some particular of the nation, some shared with another countries. All very designed to attend the complex society system, taking different forms and sizes, operating on federal, state, and local levels, and may be public or private in character. The “American way of life” is defined by how citizens function within and respond to local and national institutions and cultures, whether positively or not.

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American attitudes to US society: Social structures and policies affect individuals directly in their daily lives. Despite the difference in origins, Americans have the same concerns and values regarding economy, politics, crime, religion, healthcare… Some polls showed that a 23% of Americans think that the country goes in the right direction whether a 72% thinks the opposite.

- UNIT 2 THE PEOPLE: SETTLEMENT, IMMIGRATION, WOMEN AND MINORITIES. o o o o

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Describe the political context of the Independence of the British Colonies Write or give an oral description of the four immigration waves Read cultural and historical documents with a satisfactory level of comprehension Answer questions about personal ideas and opinions related to attitudes to immigrants

Mother of Exiles: Immigration is a central aspect of US history. Believing the American dream, millions of people immigrated to the US, accepting their values and integrating in the society, being the US a nation of nations. It exists the belief that newcomers should abandon their old lifestyle and accepting the one existing in the US.

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The US provides and provided a more successful life to newcomers who had a deficient situation in their old countries; especially to the second generation of these immigrants. The meeting between newcomers and native-born people also brought tensions (widespread discrimination, economic exploitation, anti-foreign movements…) since Anglo-Americans achieved their dominance over other people such as Natives, African Americans and several waves of immigrants. Some Americans believe in pluralism while others try to keep their traditions over the immigration.

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Early encounters between Europeans and Native Americans: Since the very arrival of Europeans to the new continent, the conflicts between these two groups started. These encounters amounted to a clash of two worlds. The differences between Europe and America evolved into a “new” and “old” world. Europeans and Natives caught diseases from each other. Europeans survived better the first encounter, even when they suffered a lot while adjusting to the new environmental conditions. The Natives fared far worse; the lost a lot of population. Exchange between plans and animals occurred; Europeans received corn, potato and tobacco and Natives horses, donkeys, sheep, pigs and cows. The potato played a key role in this plot; it fed millions of newcomers. The main problem of these encounters was the collision of cultures; Spaniards and English people came from a different world and seemed the Natives as lazy, wasteful people.

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The founders: The people who established the colonies are considered founders rather than immigrants because they created the customs, laws and institutions to which later arrivals had to adjust. Spaniards occupied coastal Florida, California and the SW in the 16th and 17th c. They tried to Christianize the Natives and teach them how to farm and sheepherding. Some Natives resisted and Spaniards had to suffer from several attacks. The English established in their first permanent settlement at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. The king didn’t want to rule such distant colonies, so the Crown legalized enterprises that undertook the colonization of America as private commercial enterprises. Virginia at first tried to succeed in gold and searching for a sea passage to Asian markets, but only thrived when they farmed tobacco and exported it. Because of the lack of workers, in 1619 the First African laborers came as indentured servants (free people who contracted from five to seven years of contract). In the 1630, Lord Baltimore founded Maryland as a haven for Catholics prosecuted in their homeland, and soon started to thrive as Virginia did. Other English aristocrats financed the founding of Georgia and Carolina as investments. Those two colonies succeeded in the harvesting of rice and indigo. Escaping from English religious prosecution, separatist radical Pilgrims founded the first Northern colony in 1620 at Plymouth, Massachusetts. Puritans believed in forming a society based on their own values, and searched for that in America. The population grew very fast in the Mass. Bay spawning Maine and Connecticut. Flourishing from agriculture, forestry and shipping, New England was born.

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N. York, N. Jersey and Pennsylvania (middle colonies) were founded by Swedish and Dutch that traded with furs. New Netherlands and N. Sweden recruited a lot of people to trade with pelts sold by the Natives. N. Sweden lasted until 1638-55 when the Dutch annexed it and N. Netherlands were conquered by the English in 1664. Pennsylvania was founded by Quakers who flocked to the colony when Charles II granted the region to the aristocrat W. Penn in 1681 as a religious “shelter”.

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The first wave: colonial immigration, 1680-1776: The founders came for economic and religious freedom; the only received good to the people who came in the first wave of immigration to integrate in Anglo-American culture and supply needed labor. Founders were largely hostile in N. England but very welcoming of N.York because of the mix of cultures. This first wave happened after the Crown in 1660 opposed emigration from England and Wales but encouraged from other nations. In 1662 Charles II licensed the Royal African Company to supply slaves to the English colonies. The largest group of immigrants was the Scots-Irish. With encouragement of the English, their ancestors left Scotland for N. Ireland in 1500s. Most of them paid their passage as indentured servants; when they finished their contract, they usually took a small sum of money (freedom dues) and settled on the frontier, were the land was cheapest. They always tried to establish at least were they could see the smoke in the chimney of the neighbor. This movement scattered their settlement form N. England to Georgia. Another immigrant important non-English speaking group was the German; they believe their descendants should learn their language and their culture. They stayed also in the frontier but in thick groups, and stayed when the people started to move westwards. They were renowned for their hard work, caution, farming methods, despite of the opinion of the Non-conformists regarding their religion, Lutherans, Catholics … England also sent convicts and poor people as indentured servants to ease problems at home. From Ireland came thousands of male, Catholic single males also as indentured servants A Catholic French enclave survived in S. Carolina, but French Huguenots and Jews settled in port towns. Natives were forced to move inland to the Appalachians or beyond

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The second wave: the “old” immigrants 1820-90: Between 1776 and 1820s the immigration slowed down. The Independence and the born of the nation Americanized diverse peoples, imposing the Anglo-American culture. Dutch and German areas remained strong. Some factors pushed Europeans out of their homelands, religious prosecution (German Jews), political unrest and activism, and especially economic issues were decisive to “old” NW immigrants. Europe’s population doubled between 1750 and 1850. In Ireland and Germany people depended on the crop of potato, a crop very profitable. New technologies encouraged farmers to start large-scale crops using machinery and big land surfaces, avoiding enclosures and smallholdings. With these changes, such a large population could not make a living in the countryside, so they moved into the US.

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Industrial revolution exploded, and trading between England and the US and the continent started, offering shipping and industry works, and emigration rates lowered. Then, people started to make inner migration movements from countryside to cities and Stage migration (countryside, city and foreign countryside). Steamships and trains made easier, cheaper and faster the emigration. The largest groups were Germans, Irish, Britons and Scandinavians, but many others including French Canadians, Chinese, Swiss and Dutch, being the most important factor pulling people to the US the apparent unlimited supply of land. Another factor was the work; the US needed skilled and unskilled workers. Railroad companies and state and territorial governments sent immigrants agents to recruit people in Europe. News of boom times in the US, land giveaways such as the Homestead Act of 1862, and the discovery of gold in California brought huge peaks of immigration.

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Settlement patterns and nativism: While the newcomers settled everywhere, they were most numerous in the manufacturing centers of the NE and in recent farmlands in Midwest and Pacific coast. Immigrants worked as domestic servants, mill and factories, miners, loggers, sailors, fishermen and building workers. Some of them came with funds, but after potato rot, huge number of Irish immigrants arrived in 1840s and 1850s came without money. British immigrants were not considered as such, because they belong to the same group as the AngloAmericans. Scandinavians, because of the difference of languages, had problems to integrate in Anglo-American society. Nativism (dislike of people and things foreign) appeared, and plagued many “old” immigrants, only accepting people looking alike them. Germans were welcomed because their skills, excepting Germans Jews. The Irish suffered many forms of discrimination often stereotyped as dirty, violent drunks. They faced heavy Catholic criticism and violence from bigots, even burning convents in the 1830s. Anti-foreign agitation reached its first peak in 1850s. Along with anti-Catholicism appeared movement claiming that N.England hostile policies with immigrants should be taken to the whole territory. Some groups even tried to make three times longer the time needed to achieve citizenship and restricting immigrants’ voting rights. Internal divisions and the Civil War ended with nativism movements. Another peak arose in the W in the 1860s, achieving their goal, the Chinese Exclusion Act, ending Chinese migration in 1882.

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The third wave: the “new” immigrants 1890-1930: Around 1890 NW Europe immigration declined, while S and E arose. By 1908 4 of 5 newcomers were “new” immigrants. In numerical order “new groups” were Italians, Jews, Poles and Hungarian, but many Mexicans, Russians, Czechs, Greeks, Portuguese, Syrians, Japanese, Filipinos… To most Americans, the change involved the feeling that the typical immigrant had become much less like them, even when they shared a lot of similarities.

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The basic economic push and pull factors had not changed, like the Puritans; E European Jews emigrated because of religious prosecution. Falling prices of steamships and train made possible such immigration, making possible the appearance of people getting rich in a short time and coming back to their home countries (sojourners). In general, new immigrants were younger and single. Also the opportunities changed, land giveaways ended when the US closed their frontiers in 1890, only Japanese people succeeded in agriculture buying the unwanted land in California, and 4/5 of immigrants went to work in the industry of the NE and Mid W in unskilled and poorly paid works.

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A renewed immigration debate and immigration restriction: Due to this immigration, an arise of crime, overcrowding, unsanitary conditions and epidemics caused alarm and reform before the Civil War. Many Americans though that “exotic” immigrants could not integrate or be assimilated into their society. Americans adopted several policies to try to Americanize newcomers; trying to include them into Anglo-American culture for their own good. Nativists were scared of “mongrelization” of the white race and slowly appeared the idea of “cultural pluralism”; the belief of a loyal society composed by a collection of cultures. In Naturalization Acts in 1790 US government allowed foreigners to become Americans if they were white. In 1875, foreigners could become citizens and get the right to vote in five years. In 1891, the federal government took responsibility for regulating immigration and the next year opened Ellis Island. During the 20s Asian immigrant were strongly interrogated before arriving the SF bay. The National Quota Acts (1875) represented the climax of this kind of campaign, when the federal government made a list of banned groups: contract laborers, Chinese, prostitutes, Japanese, mentally ill people… suffered restrictions to enter the country. A combination of the Great War, eugenics (a pseudo-scientific racism trying to prove the superiority of Anglo-Saxons), the Russian Revolution and super-patriotism led to 1921 Emergency Quota Act, drastically reducing the number of newcomers, 1924 Asian exclusion Act, ending Asian immigration and a National Origins Quota Act reducing European nationality quotas.

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