WRIT340 Book 1 Post 2: Ongoing reflection on America Ferreira's "American Like Me"

 WRIT340 Book 1 Post 2

Through my ongoing reading of America Ferreira’s American Like Me, I’ve continued to learn about and re-evaluate the “American experience.” Not only have I learned about the different unique stories of other people who live this experience, but I have also had the opportunity to reflect upon my own experience. It’s interesting to read these independent stories, and not only learn from them, but also see how they weave together to capture a broader immigrant experience. For today’s post, I would like to highlight one of these stories, which I personally find inspiring and thought provoking. 

Padma Lakshmi’s chapter describes her experience attending a predominantly Catholic school as an Indian-American with immigrant parents. Lakshmi’s story stands out to me not only because of her valuable insights, but also because I personally connect with and relate to her experience. 

We first witness Lakshmi compare her own Hindu religion to the seemingly more “straightforward” Catholic religion taught in her school. She compares the complex rituals and “difficult” spiritual culture of Hinduism with the seemingly “simple” Catholicism. While Catholicism had only one book, Hinduism had many. While the bible was written in one language, the sanskrit languages in Hinduism included various languages. Lakshmi’s subconscious rejection of Hinduism and her native culture stems from the pressure and desire to assimilate into our surroundings. It is human nature to want to belong to a community. For immigrants, joining these new communities means pressure to assimilate to the pre-existing cultural and social norms. Often, this pressure doesn’t come explicitly, but rather through implicit normative pressures. For example, in Lakshmi’s predominately white and Catholic school, a lack of representation makes Lakshmi feel isolated in her “Siberia” corner at the back of the church. This consequent feeling of isolation snowballs into Lakshmi’s desire to assimilate to the “easier” American culture and Catholic faith.

Some may view Lakshmi’s story as a rare and unusual scenario. However, for many immigrants and children of immigrants, the story is all too familiar. Of course, not everyone attends Catholic school or enters a community that is predominantly white. Nonetheless, expats and first-generation Americans alike often feel this sense of isolation due to the overarching issue of poor representation and a lack of diversity. Being thrown into these new communities which lack adequate representation and cultural understanding pushes many immigrants to sacrifice their own culture and heritage to find belonging in these foreign environments. 

Some question why immigrants are willing to give up their own culture and heritage just to feel acceptance from others. Shouldn’t an immigrant’s own culture and identity matter more than the meaningless approval of others? Unfortunately, human psychology is more complicated than most people like to assume. According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, a sense of “love and belonging” is the most important category for human beings after physiological and safety needs. In understanding how innately important “love and belonging” is to human beings, we can see why immigrants subconsciously choose to assimilate to new norms and sacrifice their own culture.

Reflecting on my own life, I see many parallels between my “American Experience” and Padma Lakshmi’s story. Growing up in a small coastal town in Southern California, my classrooms were predominately white and Christian. Likewise, most of my teammates and fellow Boy Scouts fell into these same categories. Growing up in a bilingual Persian-American household, I was fully aware of the differences between and many of my classmates. Fortunately, the town I grew up in was growing to be increasingly multicultural and diverse by the time I entered the school system. Despite this rise in diversity, and relatively large Persian-American population, I still felt an intrinsic pressure and desire to assimilate. It felt “easier” and more “straightforward” to simply be American, rather than Persian-American. Not only did I have the same commitments as my American classmates to school, soccer, baseball, Boy Scouts, basketball, and more, I also had additional commitments that came from my Persian heritage which my classmates did not have. It felt overwhelming to balance the expectations that came from being an American student, with expectations that come from immigrant parents. In addition to my aforementioned obligations, I had to attend Persian writing classes, piano lessons, violin lessons, Persian history classes, and much more. For a long time, I felt resentful that I had such a busy schedule at a young age. I found myself overwhelmed and thus eager to conform to the stereotypical American culture, which came with so many fewer expectations. 

Thus, while my experience is not identical to Lakshmi’s story, I find many parallels. Hearing Lakshmi describe her desire to assimilate to the more “straightforward” American cultural and social norms is incredibly relatable and thought-provoking in regard to my own experience. I find it incredible that despite having such different stories, I feel a connection to Lakshmi through our shared immigrant experience.