Far From Home, an Observation of Physical Distance [INSIGHT]

Meet Jorge. Born in Colombia, he visited the United States almost 25 years ago. Jorge did not come to chase the ‘American Dream.’ He did not come to raise a family. He did not come to find love. A self-confessed travieso, Spanish for troublemaker, Jorge felt he could use a hiatus from the temptations of his hometown Cartagena. He was in his early thirties and needed to grow up. Six months with his more mature younger sister he hoped would do the trick. Jorge never went back to Colombia. Without ever intending do so, he permanently left his home. Yet interesting enough, ‘home’ never left him.

Jorge is now 58 and just celebrated his third wedding. All three wives have been Colombian and first-generation immigrants. He has raised two children, 21 year-old Natalie and 12 year-old Jorge Hernan. He considers both “more here than there,” a reference to their semi-advanced acculturation. Despite his long life in the US, Jorge himself has barely acculturated. He speaks little English, virtually all of his close friends are Hispanic, and at least 75% of the food he cooks is heavily South American.

“Perhaps if I would have moved to Ohio or someplace like that things would have been different,” he explains (in Spanish, of course). Since moving to the US, Jorge has always lived in South Florida where the massive Latino population has allowed him to remain in a bubble of Latin American language, culture and, friendships.

The most logical model for segmenting the Latino population by acculturation level is a bi-dimensional technique which separates Latinos into various degrees of four categories: Latino Dominant, Anglo Dominant, Bicultural (borrowing from both cultures), and New Latino, a characteristic where the collective experience of being a Latino in the US has given birth to a ‘third-culture’ (Korzenny & Korzenny, 2012).  

Jorge clearly falls in the Latino Dominant quadrant, illustrating that length of time in the US is not always a reliable indicator of acculturation level. Many X factors come into play in determining acculturation speed including where an immigrant lives, his ambitions in the US, the friends he first meets…the list goes on.     

It is possible that Jorge was unknowingly affected by a factor very unique to him. Acculturation has slowed down for Hispanics (it sometimes even reverses itself during a process called retro-acculturation.) The key reason for this trend is that “it is now a more positive experience, in general, to be Hispanic in the US” (Korzenny & Korzenny, 2012). Latinos have more reasons to hold on to their original culture due to positive relationships with Anglo Americans, reduced discrimination, seeing aspects of their culture adopted in the US, and an overall increased sense of pride. Much of this pride is the result of a major boom in visible Hispanic role models and celebrities. Latinos in the US now have a multitude of public figures to be proud of and identify with. Even Latino filmmakers have made recent strides. ‘”It was grim 20 years ago,” said film director Robert Rodriguez during his acceptance speech for the Anthony Quinn Award for Industry Excellence [at the ALMA Awards]. “We’ve got a lot to look forward to.”‘ (Fernandez, 2013).

For almost his entire time in the US, Jorge has worked in high profile restaurants in Miami. A busser since day one, his lack of English has prevented him from rising up the culinary ranks. Yet, he is beloved by the owner of the restaurants where he has worked and possesses a gravitas that even the restaurant managers respect. He is also a bit of a local personality. For two decades, Jorge has amassed an impressive collection of plates signed by famous people. He has met heads of state, legendary athletes and movie stars. Many of the biggest stars he has met have been Latino (Miami is the Latino celeb playground). From his humble perch, he has met a constant flow of men and women that have always boosted his pride in being a Latino. His current life was never intended but he is happy with where it is that. What reason does he have to change?

By Art Schwartz – Student at Florida State University

References

Fernandez, I. (2013, October 1). ALMA Awards Highlight Activism Of Latino Entertainers. Retrieved from The Huffington Post.

Korzenny, F., & Korzenny, B. A. (2012). Hispanic Marketing 2nd Edition: Connecting with the New Latino Consumer. London: Routledge.