My Cultures and Microcultures

Claudia Patricia Govea Duran

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who
mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”
Dr. Seuss
Ethnicity
● I was born in raise in Las Vegas,
Nevada. I am a Mexican-American
(Latina) child.
● Both my parents were born in Jaral
Del Progreso, Guanajuato, Mexico.
They are both Hispanic immigrants.
● Most of the culture I was raised as a
child comes from Mexico.
Religion
● As child I grew up in Catholic home. I was baptized, had my holy eucharist at
the age of 8, and my parents had my confirmation under a catholic church. Both
of my parents are Roman Catholics.
● I grew up in a home where religion was important. My mother always taught me
that church was every Sunday and how important it was to attend.
● As of right now I still consider myself a Roman Catholic, but I am indeed more
open to explore and respect other religions. I follow the aspects my mom taught
me, but I do not agree with all the points of view of the religion. My mother
does not agree with my decision to be more open minded when it comes to
religion.
● She was raised in a home where Catholicism was important. She believes in
marriage before living together. She does not agree with my decisions in not
following the same steps she was raised in, ,but religion will always be dispute
among my family.
Geographic Region
● Growing up my neighborhood consisted of lower class immigrants.
My neighborhood consisted of Hispanic families that lived all
together. My parents and my neighbors came into the country as
illegally. I remember the long hours my parents would work and we
will not see them.
● As of right now my family is a working family that still lives in a
neighborhood where high crime still exist and there is still hard
working immigrants.
● My sisters, my mom, and I still work long hours in order for us to
live in a better lower class family.
● Mentioned before I was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada. The
city really doesn’t provide a lot of jobs for immigrants many work
in construction, and housekeeping jobs. My mom does
housekeeping and the pay is really low.
Education/Linguistic
● For school I attended a public school. A school that had a variety of student from children
in poverty to children in the upper class. When I started my schooling I struggled with
my language. I grew up in a home where my first language was Spanish. When I started
school I struggled with my English. Through my school years my parents were not able to
help me with homework because they did not understand. At school I was put into a
bilingual classroom in order for teachers to work with me.
● During high school I still took spanish classes in order to not forget my first language and
be able to be a bilingual speaker. Being a bilingual speaker has helped me a lot has had
me succeed in life.
Family Structure
● My family consists of my mother, father, my two sisters,
and I. When I was younger I grew up with a father that most
of my life was in and out of jail. In the year of 2008 my
father was deported to Mexico. That even was tragic in my
life seeing my father deported.
● When my father was deported my mom became a single
mother and had to work. She is an undocumented
immigrant and the only job she was able to find was
housekeeping. She worked long hours.
● As of today, my home consists of my two sister, my mom,
and I.
Cultural Heritage
● There are many traditions my family has but, the most important
ones are the music, food, and religious beliefs.
● In our family cooking for the whole family is one of the things. The
delicious tasty food of the Mexican food. The family recipes are all
special but, the most favorite one we all love is the tamales. It is a
food we make every holiday during the cold winter.
● Music is another big symbol we love having the environment in
harmony and beautiful. Music to us expresses a lot of culture. My
family has the tradition to attending folkloric shows. The dance in
each show expresses every region.
● Religious beliefs the most grateful tradition that I was passed on
was every December 12th we celebrate our Saint Virgen de
Guadalupe. Each year for all Latin/Hispanic Catholic person it's the
most important day.