Cultural Artifact Project Essay Sample

Mexican Culture – One of the Most Stable Cultures In the World

I am a Mexican by birth who was raised in Mexico for a better part of my childhood. I joined my parents in the US at the age of 14 years. My family’s culture is defined by their language, food, lifestyle, and values. Despite having undergone a lot of transformation, the Mexican culture is still one of the most stable cultures in the world with variation depending on the extent of interaction that the Mexican people have had with the other cultures. Cultural appropriation and acculturation are real, but back home the Mexican culture is still considerably unique. I am a mestizo as my parents were Amerindian-Spanish people and the mestizo accounts for the largest percentage of the Mexican people

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Language, religion, and values

The primary language spoken in a significant part of the country is Spanish despite the presence of other indigenous languages such as Mayan, and Nahuatl. On the other hand, most of the Mexican values are defined by their religious values and the church specific values. Some values are determined by the family or the general inclusiveness of the groups. We are Catholics back home in Mexico because most of my grandparents were Catholics, extended family members are Catholics. However, in the recent past, some tinges of pre-Hispanic mestizo element have been incorporated as part of the catholic practice (Gallo, 2010).

Our values back homes is also not entirely different from the values of other cultures because they are all formed around the religious beliefs. For example, we respect hierarchy and value structures in both business and family. In the family hierarchy, we respect parents and elders both in the rural area and in the city. The Mexican family is characterized as extended families as the families are large and relatively conscious of each other's duty and responsibility in the household and to each other. We are also party lovers as we host large family parties and like visitors. In Mexico, the gender roles are still defined because we are a strictly a heteronormative society (Sil, 2012).

Food Diversity

The Mexican food is diverse, and the culinary norms are quite varied depending on the income level and the family’s social class. The working class or high incomes Mexican eat wheat tortillas with rice, beans and the valued tomatoes and chili paper. We also enjoy the pork sausage, which is filled with spices and meat. The rich however consumes meals with a high influence of the American or the European diet prepared in various culinary methods. We drink tequila and soda that is attributed to the country’s climate and beverage industry.

Current cultures to which I belong

In America, I live in a musty culturally diverse community with people of off cultural background living together. In the current place, we have intermarried a lot with other cultures and borrowed other cultural values and practices. The American culture is a mixed culture of almost all the cultures of the world from food, norm, values, and practices. I can say that in America the church and the corporation influence the people to culture a lot (Zimmermann, 2017)

How are these cultures different from those in which you were raised?

The two cultures are different in that in Mexico; we have distinct cultures that are relatively stable and can be identified by the food, clothing, lifestyles, family values, celebration, drinks, and even clothing. On the other hand, in the US we have no distinct cultures as the cultural diversity in the America has completely changed the cultural values of the people living them. We do not go to Catholic Church, but we are Presbyterian Church members, we do not drink tequila or soda anymore due to the healthcare of sugar in those drink. We eat fast food such as hamburgers and pizza instead of pork sausage and other healthy delicacies we enjoy back in Mexico. We put on official suits instead of the traditional clothing. However, the main similarity is that we still love visitors, celebrate, and have parties just like back home.

Conclusion

The tools are used as a ground stone, which we use to process the seeds and the grains during harvest. The seeds are kept to be used in the following season while the grains are processed for consumption. In Mexico, we love the organic foods and thus the need for the grains to be processed for making the great tortillas that require finely ground floor. The women grounded maize treated with Lima and a wide range of other organic materials that could be used in the preparation of the thin, unleavened flat bread.

References

Gallo, R. (2010). Mexican modernity (1st ed.). Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

Sil, J. (2012). Cultural heritage and archaeological issues in materials science (1st ed.). Warrendale, Pa.: Materials Research Society.

Zimmermann, K. (2017). Mexican Culture: Customs and Traditions. Live Science. Retrieved 13 March 2017, from http://www.livescience.com/38647-mexican-culture.html