The Interview
The person selected for this project is a neighbor and a close family friend named Susana Alejandra González Del Río, who is a Mexican American. She just turned 71 years old in January. She has been our neighbor for more than 15 years now, which has played a key role in building a close connection with her and her family. The interview was conducted on a Monday afternoon in her kitchen, as the environment would make her feel much more comfortable; thus, advancing her ability to talk about her life experiences. During the interview, her husband, Eugenio, was present to help her answer some of the questions considering that they have been married for close to 51 years now. They got married immediately she came to the United States in the year 1969. The idea was trying to get as much information from the interview as possible, with the focus being on expanding the understanding of her life history both in Mexico and in the United States.
Susana was born on January 22, 1949, in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, where she spent all her childhood. She was born as the second born in a family of 12 children, seven girls, and five boys. Her mother, who was a Mexican, worked as a casual laborer for a local company that involved in the production of sugar. On the other hand, her father was a Spanish immigrant, who had relocated to Mexico in the 1920s, worked as a steel factory in Ciudad Juárez. Susana indicates that she schooled at a local Catholic-funded school attaining her primary and high school diplomas. However, her parents did not have money to take her to college due to financial challenges that the family was facing. She indicates that on some nights, she was forced to sleep hungry due to lack of enough food that would be adequate for her and her siblings.
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While growing up, her parents spoke both English and Spanish, as they believed that their children would have an opportunity of coming to the United States where they would live the American dream. She indicates that her mother would always encourage her to write and speak in English, believing that this would be the gateway to her survival in the United States. Due to the family’s financial status, Susana was forced to join her mother working as a casual laborer immediately after she had completed high school. However, she notes that her mother would always encourage her, saying that life would be better. Based on the relationship that she had with her mother, Susana considers herself more of a Mexican than an American, as this believes that this is part of her cultural identity. She denotes the fact that she can never forget about her cultural background and always links up with Mexican Americans in the United States to get a feel of their culture.
What Susana remembers most about her community is the empathy that the people had towards others, irrespective of the challenges that they faced as a community. She notes that members of her community were always willing to help others regardless of their own challenges. She would always be sent to borrow salt and sugar, which neighbors would offer willingly irrespective of the fact that they, too, were facing hardships and financial challenges. The one regrets that she holds in her life is the fact that she never got her parents out of poverty till their death. During the interview, she noted that although she struggled to get her parents out of poverty, it was somewhat of an uphill task for her even after she moved to the United States, as she was forced to work minimum-wage jobs while paying for her studies.
Susana indicates that she has experienced significant instances of discrimination in her life, especially on matters associated with employment, housing, and access to health care. She recalls one particular case where she was turned away from a health facility. The health workers at the facility refused to treat her solely because she was Mexican. She notes that she always felt uncomfortable in school and her workplace due to issues of discrimination. However, she indicates that she has had positive interactions with other persons from different cultural backgrounds, which has given her a broad perspective and understanding of life. Susana celebrates both Mexican and American celebrations, as she holds an identity inclined towards these two cultural backgrounds. She says that she had learnt a lot about the United States and its people in the 51 years that she had lived and worked in different states.
Historical Background
Susana’s decision to move to the United States was influenced by the internal conflicts that were going on in Mexico, under the presidencies of Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, Luis Echeverría, and José López Portillo. Mexico experienced a dirty war in the 1960s and 1970s between the Mexican PRI-ruled government and left-wing student and guerrilla groups. During this time, the government is accused of propagating systematic tortures and extrajudicial killings. Susana notes that this was a historical event that led to her decision to flee Mexico and move to the United States. The relationship between Mexico and the United States was somewhat strained, considering that the government supported the Mexican government in the war while it faced criticism from left-wing proponents. Susana notes that she was forced to walk for a long distance to the border, where she spent more than 48 hours before she was allowed into the United States.
Susana indicates that the immigration policies that the United States had put in place were somewhat favorable compared to those that are currently in place today. The 1970s was a period when the United States experienced a surge in the number of Mexican immigrants attributed to the immigration policy that allowed Mexican immigrants without any challenges or issues. Susana says that her entry into the United States was not, in any way, challenging considering that they were accepted as asylum seekers. Susana also takes note of the fact that Mexico was facing one of the worst droughts that it had experienced, which meant that food was scarce, and a lot of people died as a result. Most members of her family died as a direct result of the drought even as she struggled to come and create a life for herself in the United States.
One of the notable political events that she believed may have shaped her smooth transition to the United States was the signing of the Boundary Treaty in 1970. The treaty was viewed as a milestone in defining the relationship between Mexico and the United States. The Boundary Treaty of 1970 was a treaty signed between Mexico and the United States intended to resolve all boundary disputes, as well as uncertainties related to a disputed area, Rio Grande (Río Bravo del Norte). The signing meant that the United States would accept immigrants from Mexico, which was one of the critical aspects of the treaty. Susana also takes note of the fact that the United States had the most developed economies in the 1970s, which meant that it was in a position to offer employment to the high number of immigrants that were coming into the country.
Susana vividly remembers some of the key historical events that shaped both Mexico and the United States but highlighted the fact that she experienced some of the key effects associated with some of the issues between the two countries. She remembers the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994. NAFTA was an agreement signed between the United States, Canada, and Mexico, which sought to introduce a free trade corridor between the three countries as a way of encouraging a partnership. Personally, Susana did not believe that Mexico would be included as part of the agreement until it was signed. She thought that the United States was, in a way, sidelining Mexico. She notes that the signing of the deal was one of the key contributors to the expansion of the Mexican market, considering that it meant that Mexicans would sell their products and wares in the United States and Canada without any restrictions.
Susana also recalls the signing of Proposition 187, which she indicates was one of the most significant hurdles that she and other Mexicans faced. Proposition 187, which was signed in 1994, established a screening system that sought to prohibit undocumented immigrants from access to non-emergency care and public education, among others. According to Susana, the signing of the proposition locked out a significant number of Mexican immigrants that had come into the United States seeking employment. Although she had become a United States citizen, she was equally exposed to substantial issues of discrimination, especially when seeking health care services. The challenge was that it was somewhat challenging for her to pull herself from her cultural identity, which is that she is Mexican. Instead, Susana indicates that she learnt to live with the discrimination irrespective of the challenges that she faced.
Final Analysis
An analysis of Susana’s life experiences exposes several vital aspects, which are important to understand as they relate to her responses during the interview. When focusing on class, which is one of the C’s in the six C’s model, it is clear that Susana lived a life in the lower-class category, especially during her time in Mexico. She continuously points out that her family faced a wide array of struggles attributed to the fact that her parents worked menial jobs. Additionally, this was also propagated by the size of her family, which created a struggle for her parents in trying to provide basic needs for her and her siblings. However, this did not impact her ambition towards coming to the United States and building a life for herself. In the second C, which is culture, Susana indicates that she has worked harder towards maintaining a sense of cultural identity regardless of her living in the United States for 51 years.
During her interview, she indicates that she engages with some of the Mexican Americans living around, as well as celebrates Mexican celebrations without fail. That shows that, indeed, Susana has embraced a sense of cultural connection towards the Mexican culture attributed to her ability to maintain her cultural identity. In the third C, which is color, Susana has experienced discrimination on the sole basis of her race, representative of her color. She often finds herself being treated differently when compared to those around her attributed to her race. In the fourth C, which is contact, Susana takes note of the fact that she has maintained close contact with her community in Mexico regardless of her being in the United States. She believes that the contact she maintains is significantly essential in giving her a sense of cultural and emotional belonging.
In the fifth C, which is conflict, Susana faces a fundamental conflict with regard to her identity, considering that it has become hard for her to determine whether she considers herself as being a Mexican or American. When asked this question, she indicated that she finds herself as being both taking into account that she does not believe in one being any more superior when compared to the other. That serves an indication of an existing conflict within herself, resulting from her inability to let go of her Mexican cultural identity and fully embracing her American identity. In the last C, which is change, it can be seen that Susana readily conforms to change attributed to the fact that she has been able to adjust to life in the United States. Her acceptance of change can be attributed to the fact that she views change as an important aspect in any person’s life.
Meta-Analysis
The larger purpose of the assignment was to try and understand how one’s life experiences influence the kind of life that one lives. The aim of the interview was seeking to establish a connection with Susana’s experiences while growing up and her move to the United States, which has had a significant influence on her life as an adult and older person today. The main challenge experienced during the interview was the fact that Susana had to pause several times, indicating that some of the questions reminded her of her family. However, the interview went on smoothly without any notable issues. The limitation of this assignment was that it did not delve deeper into trying to understand some of the underlying cultural issues associated with Susana’s life experiences. Instead, most of the questions were only framed to get a close connection with her while ignoring some of the deeper cultural issues. The importance of this assignment was that it helped build an understanding of what would be expected when examining cultural influences from an anthropologist’s perspective.
Timeline:
January 22, 1949 Birth
September 1968 Beginning of Mexican dirty war
August 1969 Moved to the United States
December 1969 Got married to Eugenio Del Río
September 1970 Daughter is born
November 23, 1970 Signing of the Boundary Treaty of 1970
March 1971 Beginning of the Mexican mass migration
June 1973 Twin sons are born
January 1, 1994 Signing of NAFTA
November 8, 1994 Signing of Proposition 187
March 24, 2020 Present
