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Edwin Linares

Professor Encinias

CAS 115

October 23, 2023

The Struggles of Transnationalism as an Immigrant

"We are what we are because we have been what we have been." -Sigmund Frued.

Central American immigrants face many obstacles when immigrating to the United States for

better opportunities to grow and give their children a better life with more opportunities. There

are many different ways we identify ourselves but only we know who we are and what we have

been through to make us who we are. There are many issues involving Central American

immigrants with transnationalism and identity when moving to another country whether it's

languages, culture, beliefs, and values they have to adapt to a new environment and learn

everything from scratch with little to no resources. But what is transnationalism?

Transnationalism is international migration from one's homeland and another country. Then there

is identity, identity is what we are and who we are whether it's our ethnicity, culture, language,

and more there are many things that identify who we are. Here are the main topics that Central

American immigrants have to face when moving to a foreign country: sexuality, culture,

traditions, and education. These are the main topics that Central Americans have to struggle with

and why it is important to know about when it comes to the topic of transnationalism and

identity. Immigrants have to overcome these challenges with their identity and values they put

aside to live this so-called “American Dream life”.

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Central American immigrants have a hard time adapting their traditions and culture to a

whole new country and are more likely to stop some traditions and not continue to practice their

culture. One of the sources used to explain more about culture and traditions is from a lecture by

a woman from Guatemala Ana Toledo. In a presentation speech by Ana Toledo, she presented to

the class about culture and traditions in Guatemala and mostly about medicinal plants they have

and use in Guatemala which are traditions that have been passed on from generation to

generation. In the presentation, Ana explains how plants in Guatemala are not very well known

in the US and are very common to communities in Guatemala and how they play a significant

role in the lives of Guatemalans. There are various plants and these plants have been used to help

many people, especially from people of a lower class or communities that don't have access to

hospitals or clinics. These plants are known as medicinal plants that help cure headaches,

stomach aches, infections, and much more. How this ties back to identity and transnationalism is

the traditions and cultural practices left behind in one's homeland. These practices and traditions

can be left behind because when moving to the US they now see that they do not have the same

plants they do in their country and have access to many hospitals or clinics to help when they

need it. Speaking about traditions and culture being left behind another example from the article

“Expressions of Maya Identity and Culture in Los Angeles'' by Giovanni Batz states that

“Children of immigrants of all backgrounds are a growing population in the United States who

face difficulties in preserving their parental language, culture, identity, and transnational ties to

the home country.” Reading this article brings out the challenges of identity and culture Central

Americans face in Los Angeles, whether it's the children growing up with a diverse lifestyle,

languages, cultural celebrations, and traditions being preserved. But why stop traditions and

cultural values you might ask Based on the article “Expressions of Maya Identity and Culture in
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Los Angeles'' states on page 47 “In conclusion, within the last 500 years, the Maya have suffered

colonization, migration, displacement, genocide, exclusion, discrimination, and racism.” which

shows exactly why Mayans had put their traditions and culture aside while living in the US.

Although many Central American immigrants that immigrated to a new country face

many challenges when trying to live in a foreign country many would think moving to the US is

easy to get a job and the money starts coming in but it's not always easy to get the job one

wants.. The Video “Maid in America '' is a great example of the struggles of being an immigrant

trying to find work to provide for themselves and their families. This video was made to inform

the audience of domestic workers in the US and how Central American immigrants living in

another country have changed their lives and their families' lives but have many obstacles they

have to overcome. The video “Maid in America” was about how transnationalism comes into

play in the lives of immigrants trying to start a new life in a new country. One example from the

video is that of a woman named Eva who studied to be a public accountant in her home country

Mexico and she immigrated to the US. Eva could not get the job she wanted because she studied

in Mexico and not in the US so she had to study again but she had minimum resources to pay for

college and attend so she was a house cleaner. This is one of the few obstacles immigrants have

to face because education from their homeland does not often get recognized by another country.

After all, the individual studied back in their home country and not in the United States. This

shows how hard it is to start a new life in a new country working in a domestic environment

because they are from another country. Education is very important in the United States and

immigrants from Central America have a disadvantage to Americans because they might not be

documented to study and have to work minimum wage jobs to provide money to their families in

America or back home where they are from. A similarity that also ties up to the topic of
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education is how teachers can be educated to teach students about cultural diversity in schools.

The reason we want to educate others about this is so that there is no misidentification and

assumptions about where Latinos or Hispanics are from. The article “Visibility Hidden:

Language, Culture, and Identity of Central Americans in Los Angeles” has some examples of

how there is some confusion about where people come from. An example from the source is

when it states that on page 23 “Teaching and learning are inter- related and additive processes

which should incorporate the funds of knowledge of the participants through which teachers

become students of students” which is an example of educating about identity and

transnationalism. “The student becomes the teacher” is a good way of putting it. Teachers need

to understand the diversity of the children coming from different backgrounds.

Finally, when it comes to sexuality and identity there are many different views on how

Central Americans feel about these topics. The book High-Risk Homosexual is a memoir by

Edgar Gomez. He is from Nicaragua and he speaks about his views of self-identity and his

sexuality. He also talks about experiences he had faced finding his identity through experiences

he faced throughout his life. The book High-Risk Homosexual shows examples like when he

states how his uncles brought him out to Nicaragua to do “manly” activities like taking him to a

bar and cockfights. Throughout the Memoir Edgar Gomez also emphasizes his view of what a

boy is and how they are supposed to act he states “Spanish speakers call that inheritance

machismo, defined as a strong or aggressive masculine pride, though male chauvinism is hardly

a Latin American invention. Beyond the cliché that men must marry, spawn children, and head

their households, machismo extends to having a fiercely unapologetic outlook.” Gomez 5-6.

What this means is that many traditional people think men are supposed to act a certain way and

have the same kind of traits to identify as a man. Edgar wants to put out that being a man is not
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only about stereotypes about being a man but is how we identify ourselves for who we believe

we are. When Edgar Gomez talks about his sexuality and how he came out to his mom or when

he realized he was gay. An example in the book is when Edgar explains how his uncle Cesar was

trying to get him to sleep with a girl based on what I read it states “It hit me: This wasn’t just

about me losing my virginity, which is what I’d guessed back at the bar. He knew. They knew. I

was meant to lose something else entirely.” Gomez 24-25. He exclaims that he was meant to lose

something else entirely which we can assume is his sexuality to change, but this cannot happen.

It is not Edgar's fault that he is a homosexual and it is not right to try to change someone's

sexuality because it's not something a man should be.

Overall the struggles and obstacles Central American immigrants face when moving to a

new country to live the “Dream” we all wish for and finding our identity in a safe welcomed

environment.. The obstacles of the main arguments Central Americans face are their traditions,

culture, education, and sexuality. These arguments and sources clearly show how Central

Americans have a hard time adapting to a new culture and their challenges of finding their

identity. We are all human beings and we all are different in our ways, which is the best thing

about us. We should always be considerate of others' identities and respect one another no matter

what.
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Work Cited Page

Batz, Giovanni. “Expressions of Maya Identity and Culture in Los Angeles: Challenges

and Success among Maya Youth.” TexasScholarWorks, Teresa Lozano Long Institute of

Latin American Studies, May 2010, repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/61984.

Gomez, Edgar. “Malcriado.” High-Risk Homosexual: A Memoir, Soft Skull Press, New

York, NY, 2022, pp. 24–25.

Gomez, Edgar. “Mama’s Boy.” High-Risk Homosexual: A Memoir, Soft Skull Press, New

York, NY, 2022, pp. 82–83.

Gomez, Edgar. “What Is A Boy?” High-Risk Homosexual: A Memoir, Soft Skull Press,

New York, NY, NY, 2022, pp. 5–6.

Lavadenz, Magaly. “Visibly Hidden: Language, Culture and Identity of Central Americans

In ...” Digital Commons, Loyola Marymount University, 2008,

digitalcommons.lmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1071&context=education_fac.

“Maid In America.” Impacto Films, 2004, Accessed 27 Oct. 2023.

Toledo, Ana. “Guatemala Medicinal Plants.” Indigenous Day. Indigenous Day, 12 Oct.

2023, Northridge, Jerome Hall.