Italians and Colombians in the U.S.
In addition to the Italian colonies or "Little Italy's" that we see, they are distributed across almost our entire country, on both coasts especially. Where as the Colombian and Hispanic population in general is largely centered in our southern states and along our southern borders. This gave many Italians places in this new world that they could go and be with people like them, who share the same culture and values. Although there are limited areas Colombians could experience this type of community, there journeys were often a lot more isolated and individual. These individual journeys are similar to the one we saw in Rocco and his Brothers. The Parondi family depended on each other when the communities in Northern Italy were mean and unwelcoming to keep each other going. This was similar to the experience my aunt described of her own journey. The Americans often treated her and her parents rudely or differently than they would other Americans because they did not speak perfect English. She talked about eating dinner together as a family every night regardless of what was going on that day. This is a huge representation of the familiar connections and culture that stayed with them in their journey and in their new lives, just like the Parondi family. All of the brothers worked at their own jobs and led their own lives but made efforts to support each other and their mother in this new place, as they're all trying to figure out their place in this new society.
My Reflection
I chose this as my project because I have always been interested in the stories of immigrants, since they are so individual and everyone has their own journey. I was especially interested in my aunt's story because she came from Colombia and the events going on during the 80s down there were intertwined with the U.S. culture at the time as well as being unique to that region of the world.
When I conducted the interview I had written several questions but let the conversation flow naturally, which is why the video is almost 40 minutes long. Her answers were very elaborate and genuine and made me really understand what she felt during those time and get a pretty good idea of her overall journey to America. After her interview I began to conduct my research about Colombia at the time that she left and the information I found was very interesting and scary at the same time. As the data shows in my previous pages, the death and kidnapping rates skyrocketed in the years after her family left Colombia and the city they were from was one of the worst at the time as well. Overall, her story and the research that I did was extremely fascinating to learn about and eye opening about that part of world history as well.
This project overall and the whole process really helped reinforce the ideas that we've been exploring in class all semester. Most generally the idea that everyone has a different and unique story that cannot be generalized to fit a stereotype. Another huge idea that was absolutely reinforced throughout this process was the fact that immigration is such a huge part of almost everyone's background, most of the time more so than you originally think. In addition to being more aware of how immigration is so present in everyone's culture, I was able to gain a better understanding for immigrants and the journeys they make and the things they must deal with and overcome along the way.
Works Cited
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Modes of Policing in Medellin, Colombia.” Anthropology & Education Quarterly, Wiley/Blackwell (10.1111), 1 May 2012, anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1555-2934.2012.01180.x.
“Colombia Accepts Role in 1980s Killings of Leftist Politicians.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 16 Sept. 2016, www.reuters.com/article/us-colombia-rebels/colombia-accepts-role-in-1980s-killings-of-leftist-politicians-idUSKCN11M052.
“Colombian Immigrants.” Immigration to the United States, immigrationtounitedstates.org/441-colombian-immigrants.html.
“Kidnapping and Extortion.” Colombia Data | Colombia Reports, Colombia Reports, 24 July 2018, data.colombiareports.com/colombia-kidnapping-extortion-statistics/.
Madalena, Lorenzo. Confetti for Gino. Guernica, 2011.
Medina, et al. “Colombian Immigrants in the United States of America: Education Levels, Job Qualifications and the Decision to Go Back Home.” Revista EIA, Escuela De Ingenieria De Antioquia, www.scielo.org.co/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0120-44832011000200002.
“Pablo Escobar.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 14 Dec. 2017, www.biography.com/people/pablo-escobar-9542497.
Rocco and His Brothers. Visconti, Luchino, Titanus, Les Films Marceau, June 26, 1961, Film.
“The Italian Tribune Looks Back at the 1970s and 1980s.” The Italian Tribune, 2 Aug. 2017, www.italiantribune.com/the-italian-tribune-looks-back-at-the-1970s-and-1980s/.
