Polinotes - Analysis & Research
Analysis and Research on Border Issues by Martin Paredes
The United States is the second largest Spanish-speaking country in the world, in terms of population. America is constantly told that the Latino vote is rising and yet it bubbles up but never asserts itself. Latinos are present in America, but Latino voices are muted on the national dialog. The reason for this is that Latinos are not one, but several cultural and political identities each pulling in different directions.
One consistent argument about immigration is that immigrants should assimilate. Unfortunately, like everything else having to do with immigration, the assimilation of immigrants is a complex problem because it involves many dynamics. Cultural assimilation is the fusion, or the integration of an ethnic minority into the dominant culture. The argument normally offered is that immigrants are expected to resemble the majority in behavior, values and social mores. Not normally included in the classical definition of sociology is language. However, it is a significant part of the debate about the assimilation of immigrants into America. Ignoring the language factor is, perhaps, because the assimilation of social mores assumes that a common language is part of that requirement. Whether language is part of the sociological definition of assimilation language is central to understanding immigrants in America.
When I first read Octavio Paz’ collection of essays in The Labyrinth of Solitude it awakened in me a need to comprehend my identity as a Mexican. Like most people, I used to spend my days wrapped in the cocoon of experiences and the stimulus of my surroundings, as if the world was the same everywhere. The reality of the Mexican experience is, as Octavio Paz explained is that México is a people of contrasts, as Paz wrote façade of “smoke and mirrors.” Nothing explains this duality better than the Mexican flavor of Catholicism.