Throughout our lives we make and are exposed to social judgments of all kinds. Stereotypes abound in our every-day lives, both through personal experience and via media exposure. As a result, Guadalupe in New York, by Alyshia Galvez, is an interesting breath of fresh air for the reader. I was completely unaware of the various associations established by the Mexican community of New York in order to preserve its heritage while making the integration process into American society easier. Comites Guadalupenos and the Asociacion Tepeyac provide a framework through which Mexican immigrants can express their rights as well as show their devotion to the virgin Guadalupe. It seems like these associations are successful in preserving the Mexican identity of new immigrants while giving them a voice to stand up for themselves.
I believe that many immigrants lose the connection to their origins, including homeland, heritage and religion, over time. While this is a generalization that is not 100% true, it seems that many immigrants, and certainly their children, lose the connection to their heritage when they begin new lives in their new surroundings. They are eager to adapt and assimilate into American society and lose the stigma attached to being an immigrant. Perhaps future generations, feeling robbed of a connection to their roots, seek opportunities to reconnect with the heritage, as noted by Foner in From Ellis Island to JFK. She observes that the grandchildren of immigrants tend to return to their roots while the children of the immigrants do not.
In the case of members of the Mexican community, it seems like there is a concerted effort to remain in touch with Mexico, their religion and their heritage. As Galvez states, this is done through religion and special events like the bi-national torch run, a relay race that runs from the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City to Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in New York. Galvez notes that through religious practice and events, Mexican immigrants manage to remain a tight-knit community and do not lose their sense of origin or religion, in spite of their new surroundings. Galvez states, “It is not safe to assume that as immigrants become more deeply embedded in the receiving country and are distanced in time and space from ‘home’ that the role of religiosity in life will wane.” She contends, in fact, that devotion to the Virgin of Guadalupe, is the force that allows Mexican immigrants to fight for respect and rights, including citizenship, in the United States.
Personally, I think it would be interesting to study the role of religious practice and immigrant associations in the Jewish immigrant community of the early 1900’s, as compared with the world of Mexican immigrants as described and studied by Alyshia Galvez.
