spaces and exchanges

« Span ish and Mexican i m m ig ran ts w ho sett led there. F rom a geograph ica l poin t of v iew, we can rema rk t ha t t here a re often d i f ferent neighborhoods w i t h a specif ic ethn ic or ig i n, such as t he many Ch i na towns a l l over Amer ica.

Such neighborhoods h igh l igh t t he d iversi ty of t he cu l t u res t ha t compose t he A mer ican “ mel t i ng pot”.

So t he mu l t i-cu l t u r a l aspect of Amer ica def i n i tely dea ls w i t h both space an d exchanges as i t ta kes p lace a l l over t he coun t ry, and consists i n a cu l t u r a lexchange between people f rom va r ious or ig i ns.

To pu t i t i n a n u tscel l even t hough the USA was for long a count ry of i m m ig ra n ts, t he count ry 's pol icy towa r ds i m m ig ra t ion evolved over t i me and became more and mo re rest r ict ive.

I n t he X I X t h and XX th centu r ies, i m m ig ra n ts were carefu l ly checked at E l l is Is la n d, w i t h med ica l i nspect ions.

Rest r ict ive laws made i t ha r der an d ha r der to ma tch t he requ i red p rof i le to enter t he coun t ry lega l ly: t h is is why clandest i ne i m m ig ra t ion rose up, especia l ly w i t h t he Mexican border.

Nowadays, to ga in access to cit izensh ip, one must comply to a set of requ i rements, such as hav i ng know ledge of t he const i t u t ion, being ab le to speak and u nderstand E ng l ish cor rectly.

C i t izensh ip comes w i t h t he “g reen card”, tha t is t he off ic ia l paper accord i ng permanent residence i n t he USA. To my m i n d I found t h is subject pa r t icu la r ly i n terest i ng as I lea r ned a lo t abou t t he h isto ry of i m m ig ra t ion i n t he USA, especia l ly w i t h E l l is Is lan d.

Un derstan d i ng the reasons why Amer ica is seen as such an at t ract ive coun t ry was very enr ich i ng too. Seeing how d iverse t he Amer ican cu l t u re is made me rea l ize tha t t he USA rea l ly is a m u l t i-cu l t u ra l count ry! B u t I was a lso st r uck by t he d i f f icu l t ies w ich cont i n ued to exist l i ke d i f ference of job oppor t u n i t ies between i m m ig ra n ts and na t ives.

T herefore A mer ican d ream is a b i t i dea l ised.. »