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Midterm2 (2013 midterm2 assignment) Sample Student Midterm Answers 2013 #1: Research Report Starts |
LITR 4333
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Fariha Khalil
November 11, 2013
Turkish Americans
I chose to study Turkish
Americans for my research topic.
I chose this certain group because, to my
knowledge, Turkey is a Muslim country, and I am a Muslim.
I am looking to see if the immigrants from Turkey
had the same experience as my family did when we moved to this new world.
Were they easily accepted in this new society or
were they harassed for who they were, and where they came from?
I understand that not all Turkish Americans are
Muslims, but the ones who are Muslim, were they able to assimilate with the
dominant culture without any problem?
I emphasized Muslim Turkish Americans because, to
my family and I, religion is very important, and that is why even after being an
American, we still stand out from the dominant culture. Was religion very
important to Muslim Turkish Americans as well, or were they willing to put
religion aside and join in with the dominant culture?
According to the newsletter
of the American Turkish Society, “the history of Turkish American immigration to
the United States is not well documented and is generally unknown”.
Just like from other countries, Turkish immigrants
came to the United States to seek religious freedom, opportunities for education
and their “primary motive”, to seek “economic opportunities”.
It is said in this newsletter that the early
Turkish immigrants who came to the United States were illiterate.
According to historian Talat Sait Halman, among
this group of immigrants, the ones who were very well educated, eventually
returned back to Turkey, and the “less-educated” stayed here in the United
States.
These immigrants who stayed, brought their customs and
traditions with them and practiced them, instead of assimilating with the
dominant culture right away. Since the 1970s, the number of Turkish immigrants
has risen to more than 2,000 per year. Members of this most recent immigrant
group vary widely. Many opened small businesses in the United States and created
Turkish American organizations, thus developing Turkish enclaves, particularly
in New York City. Still others came for educational purposes.
From the beginning of Turkish immigration to the
United States, many immigrants have settled in or around large urban centers.
The greatest number have settled in New York City, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Los
Angeles, San Francisco, and Rochester. Other concentrations of Turkish Americans
may be found along the East Coast in Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, and
Virginia, and some have ventured into Minnesota, Indiana, Texas, and Alabama.
Work Cited
Halman, Talat Sait. "Turks,"
Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups.
Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1980.
Quarterly newsletter of the American Turkish Society.
