Fitting in: A saga of one family

This story is illustrated and explained by the spelling and pronounciation of the names of the women in the family. It tells how the different generations assimilated. Very interesting. DP

Assimilation pattern has changed for immigrants
By Gina Kim and Erika Chavez -- Bee Staff Writers

Sacbee.com : As immigration reform continues to dominate dinner table conversations across the country and activists gear up for a planned national boycott Monday, a common refrain has emerged from some critics: Why won't Mexican immigrants assimilate?

The complaints are similar: They won't learn English. They wave Mexican flags. They don't consider themselves American.

But assimilation is more complex than the simple act of learning English and waving the Stars and Stripes, experts say. For immigrants, it's the often delicate balancing act of adapting and adjusting to new cultural norms and values while retaining their original identity.

"For many people, assimilation is the idea that people can come to this country and their culture, like their clothes, is something they can take off to put on a new one," said Leo Chavez, a professor of anthropology and immigration expert at the University of California, Irvine. "That never happens. Immigrants change and adapt, but they also retain things they value while contributing new things to the society they move into."

For immigrants to America, the experience of assimilation has evolved over the last century, and continues to change for their descendants.

That evolution can be illustrated by something as seemingly simple as a name.

Be sure to read the rest of this story! This is only a small part of it.