Cultural Tension and Social Identity

Assimilation into a new culture occurs upon entering a new country. Immigrant groups
are encouraged to adopt the values, norms, cultural practices, and social behaviors of the host
country. The encouragement often takes place through political machinations and sometimes
social and cultural forces. The shift is necessary, especially if the immigrant wishes to adopt full
citizenship of the host country. However, assimilation is associated with certain cultural tensions.
The immigrant group has to shed its cultural practices, laws, values, norms, rituals, and even
language to fit in the new culture. Unlike multiculturalism, assimilation forces the immigrant
group to choose the host country’s culture and cut links with their cultural heritage. In his work,
Leave Your Name at the Border, Manuel Munoz explains how Hispanics were assimilated,
which involved changing their names. Haitians, too, were assimilated into the American culture.
This paper explores cultural tensions associated with assimilation and explores real experiences
as well as literature that explains how immigrant people have had to shed their own cultural
practices in favor of the American culture.
Haitians can trace their ancestry to be enslaved people that had originated from Africa.
They were sourced from many African countries. They moved to America, into a cultural space
that was totally different from theirs. In fact, studies have shown that nearly 100% of Haitians
did not understand English by the time they moved to America (Stepick and Carol 10). Language

is a very important communication tool. It is also an important aspect of a people’s culture.
However, assimilation becomes necessary, especially among children born of immigrants. They
must fit into the new culture even if it conflicts with their own. Today, people in America of
Haitian ancestry speak English well (Stepick and Carol 13). Only about one percent cannot speak
English well. Even this group can still communicate in English, only that their proficiency level
is low.
Munoz captures cultural assimilation and the tension associated with it perfectly well in
his work. The author discusses cultural assimilation and how Hispanics changed their names to
American names. Munoz refers to the cultural tensions as unnecessary. He argues that when a
new group moves into a host country, two different cultures with very different features unite
(Munoz 305). People can then unite the features in their cultures and establish a new set of rules
to govern them. When this happens, a person’s self-definition is not changed. However, their way
of thinking is changed as he or she has to adopt certain cultural elements that differ and
sometimes conflict with their own. Thus, while cultural assimilation mat affects the way in
which a person thinks, it does not necessarily change who they really are as their identity
remains intact. However, cultural tensions arise because the host culture does not want to be
influenced by the new culture. Instead, it wants to influence the new culture, sometimes make
them forget their own culture and adopt theirs.
Cultural tension occurs because while assimilation takes place, the new immigrant does
not totally feel assimilated. They are still attached to their ancestry and cultural practices. Munoz
writes that when Hispanics moved into America, a battle ensued between Spanish and English.
Instead of the two cultures recognizing that people could be fluent in both English and Spanish,
they wanted Hispanics to drop Spanish and must be fluent in English. Thus, Hispanics were

compelled to learn the new language. They also spoke it while in public spaces, and upon
retrieving to their private spaces, they communicated to each other in English (Munoz 309).
Munoz expresses his concerns and fears. He lives in constant fear of losing his own identity and
not associating with the culture that he first learned. His fears are experienced by many other
immigrants.
Haitians went through assimilation upon moving to America. I am of Haitian descent. I
am, however, not in the first or even second generation. I was born when a lot of assimilation
had already taken place—most of the cultural practices that my people identified with when back
in Africa ad been dropped. While I am Haitian by blood and ancestry, culturally, I feel like I am
more American than Haitian. I adopted the cultural practices of my immediate environment. It
seemed like the easiest thing to do. While we have not dropped our names like the Hispanics, we
definitely have had to drop some cultural practices that have been forgotten over the years. I
communicate in English. The English pull is quite strong. As a child, I found myself among
children who only spoke English. It was like the most automatic thing to do, learn the language.
Assimilation takes place in different ways and forms. However, language seems to be the
point where it is stamped. When people, especially young generations, cannot communicate in
their ancestral language, then they are likely to not practice their original norms. They eventually
lose their cultural identity. I never once felt the fear of losing my identity. However, upon
growing up and understanding that my ancestry was different and that I had a cultural identity
that completely differed from that in the mainstream, then I was concerned. While I can
communicate well in the Haitian creole as it is popularly referred to by linguists. The Haiti
people did not all come from common ancestry. They, therefore, had different languages by the
time they arrived in America. They could speak Taino, Portuguese, English, and several

languages are spoken by different communities in West Africa. They created a blend of all these
languages, and this helped them communicate with their masters. This became the Haitian creole
or first language. It is still spoken to date.
Cultural tensions occur because people do not act uniformly when it comes to cultural
assimilation. Some people adopt the new culture in its entirety and drop their own. Some adopt
certain elements of the new culture and mix them with their own. These blends create new
lifestyles, especially for children born during such times. As Munoz states, people lose even their
names which are a constant reminder of their cultural heritage (Munoz 310). In his, work Munoz
explains that he observed people give their children American names. He views this as a
complete loss of cultural identity. According to Munoz, the traditional names that he and people
of his generation were given stood as a constant barrier to total assimilation. He states that the
pronunciations of their traditional names required one to slip into Spanish. This, therefore, was a
constant reminder that although they live in America, they have their roots in Mexico. However,
with children now being given American names, Munoz feels that everything is now lost. The
change of names is an embrace of total assimilation. The new generation will no longer be
reminded of their cultural heritage because there is nothing to show that they are not American.
Names are an important mark of cultural identity. By the mention of a person’s name, it
becomes obvious where they are from or even the culture that they associate with. However, the
main issue about assimilation is not even the loss of names or people changing their names. The
change of name identifies the loss of many other invisible cultural elements. If people can
change their names to fit in, then it means that they no longer uphold cultural rituals associated
with their original language. I come from a family that embraces many religious practices. I do
not know which one exactly is linked to my Haitian culture, but growing up, we attended many

different churches. Maybe many people do not think that the original culture matters anymore.
For instance, Haitians first moved into America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries. Many decades later, they have seen many generations live and die on American soil.
They have also intermarried, and most children are no longer of Haitian descent but of mixed
races. Given such dynamics, many aspects of the people’s cultures have changed. Children born
of these mixed races are better at learning English out of convenience.
Cultural identity means different things to different people. The debate is never-ending,
just like the gun debate. Jillian Weise, in Why I Own a Gun, explains how she differs in her view
of gun ownership from many other people. She owns a gun and even supports the idea of owning
guns for safety purposes (Weise 5). The same way she feels that her gun makes her feel safe is
the same way some people feel about their cultural heritage. It makes them feel safe. People like
Munoz do not want to lose their cultural identity because it gives them a sense of belonging. It
gives them a sense of security because they feel that they belong. The same can be said about
Haitians, that have maintained elements of their original culture. However, just like other people
feel safe without guns, it is the same with culture. People that drop certain elements of their
culture feel safe; they feel they belong even without their cultural names. I think this is what
contributes more to cultural tension. The fact that people have divergent views and opinions
about this and that everyone chooses to maintain their cultural heritage or be immersed fully into
the new culture.
Overall, the loss of cultural identity is a real concern during the process of assimilation.
The issue with assimilation is that it is gradual but steady. Like in Munoz’s case, they first
learned the new language and had to speak it in public. Thus, their Spanish language, which was
a mark of their cultural identity, was hidden and reserved for private spaces. Eventually, people

Surname 6
dropped even Mexican names, and now, other than their blood, they are now totally assimilated.
My experience with cultural assimilation and loss of identity is similar but different. While I do
not belong to the first generation of Haitians, I have seen how different we are in terms of
embracing certain cultural elements. It is certain that the next three generations will even be
more American than we are, and that will mean that the Haitian culture may eventually be lost.

Works Cited

Munoz, Manuel. Leave Your Name at the Border. Southwest Review 102.1 (2017):309.
Stepick, Alex, and Carol Dutton Stepick. “Diverse contexts of reception and feelings of
belonging.” Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research.
Vol. 10. No. 3. 2009.
Weise, Jillian. Why I Own a Gun. Catapult, 2017.