Images of America Assignment #1

 The Global Village

If we shrink the earth’s population down to a village of one hundred people but keep all existing human ratios the same, our village would consist of a population as follows:

    80 non-white, 20 white à          60 Asians

                                                      13 Africans

                                                      12 Europeans

                                                      15 from the Western Hemisphere

                                                      (9 Latin Americans, 5 North Americans, and 1 Oceanian)

    67 non-Christian, 33 Christian                        50 male, 50 female

    25 would live in sub-standard housing             17 would be unable to read

    2 would have a college education                     4 would own a computer

    13 would suffer from malnutrition     

    1 would die within the year; 2 would give birth within the year

20 people would earn 89% of the entire world’s wealth           

American Identities: Self / Cultural Portraits

Assignment #1

 Investigate your own identity and ideas of American heritage more generally by answering the following questions. You may brainstorm, consult relatives, or research answers. Typed responses due Tuesday, August 31 (be prepared to discuss your answers in class).

 1.      What is your name? Find the meaning of your name (first and/or last), either by asking relatives or experts, or by searching in the library or on the web.

2.      What is your ethnicity? Again, find out if possible or give an explanation for why you can’t find out.

3.      How long is your family’s heritage in this area and in this country? Explain.

4.      Do you know anything about what happened to your family when they first came to the U.S.? What kinds of jobs did they have, etc.?

5.      What kinds of traditions or foods or beliefs exist in your family that might be traced to a different country or culture? In other words, give an example of cultural heritage in your life.

6.      How do immigrants today compare to any other generation of immigrants, in your opinion (please state whether your answer is based on immigrants you know or on your preconceptions and stereotypes of immigrants).

NOTE: For your final project you may consider using similar questions to interview a member of one of the ethnicities we study in class.