Unit Three Assessment using Gordon’s Seven Stages of Assimilation
Monica Marcela C. is 23 years old and was born in Bucaramanga, Colombia. She lived there all her live until she moved to the United States. Monica was 16 years old when her mother found the love of her life. By the time her mother decided to move to the United States, Monica was still under 18, which is underage in Colombia, so she was forced to move to the United States with her mother and brother. Monica, her brother, and mother had to assimilate to the American culture. This will be explained using Gordon’s seven stages of assimilation.
First of all, cultural assimilation applied when Monica and her family arrived to the United States. They had given up quite a lot of their culture, such as tropical fruits, soccer, their language and more. Secondly, structural assimilation occurs because they gave up church even though they were Catholic. Monica’s brother joined the U.S. Navy, which shows a dedication to the United States. Then they had to assimilate by marriage; they had to give up marrying Colombians to marry others. Monica’s mother had no problem with this because she was about to marry a German. Monica herself had no problems with marrying someone from another culture or country either. The next stage, identificational assimilation, is one of the most difficult ones for most immigrants. This is something Monica could never give up. She says, she could never call herself an American even if she is a US citizen. She is proud of her roots and ancestors, and she will always be Colombian.
In civic assimilation, Monica and her family were allowed to become citizens and were considered naturalized. Monica and her mother are participating in America’s society, and Monica’s brother was allowed to join the U.S. Navy. There are not Colombians with political powers where we know of, but there are people who come from Hispanic nature with political powers; for example, the mayor of Colorado Springs. Attitude receptional assimilation and behavior receptional assimilation apply to Monica’s family because they felt discriminated against by some Americans when they moved to the United States. She said, when she met someone new, all they knew or remember about Colombia was about the cartel and drugs in Colombia, which was two decades ago.
What I’ve learned from using Gordon’s model is that it’s a great way to show if people are assimilating or not, and in my opinion it’s a perfect example to show what people are going through. These seven stages of assimilation are the big major steps that immigrants could go through. It’s not always the immigrant who has to assimilate; also, the host society or country has to change things around to accept the immigrant.
