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Model Midterm2 answers 2018 Web Highlights Index to Midterm2 Web Highlights |
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Kara DeLaughter
Syncretism and Learning to Blend
My brother-in-law is the son of a Mexican mother and an Italian father, I was
born in California and raised in Texas, I have been to South America and I go to
a largely hispanic church in Pasadena: all this and I have never heard anyone
explain, or talk about, the Virgin of Guadalupe - although, I have seen the
symbol many times. This ignorance towards something that has surrounded me all
my life has made me realize that I have much more to learn than I thought, and
it is with this in mind that I look to my peers to enlighten me further. I will
review their model assignments, try to pick out other things I have been unaware
of until this class, which I suspect will not be hard to find, and finally, I
will compare, contrast and summarize my findings about minorities and immigrant
culture.
Syncretism is fascinating to me. I love that people use religion, and all the
stories, traditions, or symbols that go with it, to bridge cultural and ethnic
gaps. Paul Acevedo did a great job of explaining the concept in his final exam
essay entitled, Immigrant or Minority Culture? The Ambivalence of Mexican
Americans. Paul astutely noted that Juan Diego’s cloth, upon which the
painting of the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared, was made of Spanish and Indian
materials. This may seem irrelevant, but the metaphor is there. If two cultures
interweave, God may use this to create a masterpiece.
The syncretism continues in Ashley Cofer’s article, Puerto Rican Literature
and Nuyoricans. Ashley quotes Wikipedia stating, “The Nuyorican Movement was
a cultural and intellectual movement involving poets, writers, musicians, and
artists who are Puerto Rican or of Puerto Rican descent, who live in or near New
York City.” When I saw this quote I just knew this was the article I wanted to
use for a reference because the Nuyorican Movement captures syncretism on such a
grand scale - blending cultures, ethnicities, ideas, mediums, music and art of
all kind - the ultimate cultural masterpiece, that is not much different than
Juan Diego’s cloth painted by God.
My last article continues the theme of syncretism in a less obvious, and more
somber, way. Mary Anne Kane’s sample, final-exam essay, Native American in an
Anglo World, described the feelings of Zitkala-Sa’s mother mourning what she
knows will be the loss of her daughter in American Indian Stories. Kane
explains, “Her (Zitkala-Sa) mother knows that some education is important, but
does not want her to get too much education because it also means her getting
further away from her roots.” To me, this is simultaneously an example of
syncretism - a blending of cultures - and a resistance to the same culture.
Zitkala-Sa’s mother is showing signs of being an ambivalent minority: so
different from the beautiful blending of the Nuyorican movement, but of course
the historical dynamics are different between Native Americans and America.
Over all, I learned that cultures can be celebrated for their differences by
blending them together like the Nuyorican Movement and the metaphor in The
Virgin of Guadalupe. Conversely, I see that sometimes a lot of the beauty of a
culture is threatened by this same blend; like tertiary colors, muted and lost
in the combination. I believe successfully blended societies must have a balance
of both syncretism and individualism in order to not only survive, but thrive.
