Puerto Rican Beliefs and Practices - Essay Example

? PUERTO RICAN BELIEFS AND PRACTICES Introduction The Puerto Rican history is distinct in the United s immigration history, just as it occupies a unique and mostly confusing position in the civic fabric of US. Puerto Rico has been possessed by the United States over a century now, but the group has never formed a state. In their migration to the United State, Puerto Ricans left their own homeland with a unique culture and traditions, and their transition involved various cultural crises and emotional adjustments faced by most immigrants. Their migration experience is evident as internal immigration – as an experience of immigrants within their own territory, but their new settlements lie outside their emotional homeland. Discussion Initially, few Puerto Ricans migrated to the United States at all. Even though the United States attempted to enhance Puerto Rico as a splendid visitor destination center during the twentieth century, the land experienced adverse economic challenges. Poverty was enormous, and few Puerto Ricans could afford boat travels to the homeland (Melton & Baumann, 2010). By 1910, less than two thousand Puerto Ricans lived in the United States, mostly marginal groups in the NY City and about 20 years later, the population shot up to more than forty thousand people. Following the termination of World War II, however, the movement of the Puerto Rican population exploded. For instance, in 1945, about thirteen thousand Puerto Ricans lived in the City of New York, and by 1967, the population was over fifty thousand people. In the following decades, about twenty five thousand Puerto Ricans would migrate to the United States annually, peaking in 1954, when over sixty nine thousand immigrants came, compared to previous years. In 1956, almost seven hundred thousand Puerto Ricans settled in the United State, and by 1960s over million people had settled (Dietz, 2006). Currently, the Puerto Rican migration trends are changing, and more people are migrating to and out of the United States to other destinations. Various reasons promoted the sudden population influx in US. For instance, the constant Puerto Rico depression created a desire for a new start, and factory owners and agencies of employment in the United States had started heavy recruitment of Puerto Ricans. The main crucial cause was the availability of cheap air travel after many years of boat travel. In addition, Puerto Rican militants (men) were recruited to the US military to participate in war – some participated and perished in the battlefield. Some people migrated to offer cheap labor since the US had minimized the percentage of migrants’ entry in the country. Cultural Information About Puerto Rico Based on the Six Cultural Phenomena Puerto Rico has colorful culture and the society represents a combination of diverse races, traditions, dialects and religions. Their culture plays a crucial role in environmental control and exploitation of natural resources. Puerto Rican land forest is an integration of natural and native plants (Galvan, 2009). Additionally, the composition of mosaic forest presents management problems that need vision and comprehension of the culture. Their cultural practices and plans show how people identify and preserve their ecosystem and landscapes. Cultural subsistence practices such as agriculture identify threats to the environment and health ecosystems, and tailor strategies that eliminate such threats. Traditional cultural practices and rituals related to the environment provide mechanisms to conserve and promote environmental quality and quantity. They also improve the quality of air, preserve energy sources, safeguard, secure and promote wildlife and aquatic habitats and connect humans to tree and land and enroll them in environmental conservation practices. Biological variation of the Puerto Rican group is crucial in determining their health and survival mechanisms. Biological variations or diversities are various manifestation of normalcy that occurs among groups based on the structure of the body, color of skin and other physical features such as genetic variations, disease susceptibility, nutritional differences and preferences and psychological aspects. The Puerto Rican population comprises various races, both whites and blacks. Some black Puerto Rican people are increasingly susceptible to some diseases such as sickle cell anemia whereas white people are increasingly susceptible to phenylketonuria because of their body structure and skin color (Pico, 2006). Environmental and social organization of the group exposes some increased landslide challenges because of their geographic location and cultural practices. Traditionally, the group is highly organized in tribes and comprehensive social and ethnic groups. For instance, Spanish, Latino and African American cultures have affected the family structure of Puerto Rican groups. Similarly, economic transformations related to migration to the United States immensely affected the structure of the family. Puerto Ricans are organized in strong family units and have bold family morals that reflect their traditions. Many tribes believe in extended and large families and encourage their women to marry young and have a large number of children. The increased rate of female-headed families and joblessness of men are a norm in many Puerto Rican families. Puerto Ricans have strong emotional bonds to their families, friends and relatives and tend to socialize them well. Puerto Rican culture guarantees liberty for all ethnic groups and religions and Christianity is the main faith in the land. People also practice other faiths and beliefs that include traditional belief systems, Judaism and Islam. Some practice Santeria and Afro-Caribbean faith from Cuba. Puerto Ricans are both multilingual and bilingual communities extensively influenced by other languages such as Spanish, English, Indian dialects and African dialects. The English language is mostly for official activities such as school communication, government and public use and trade. Language is part of their culture and some cultural symbols are expressed through non-verbal communication (Roman, 2009). For instance, physical surrounding and appearance are crucial and offer visual cues to tonal communication and status. For instance, dressing in dark or black clothes signifies mourning. Puerto Rican people are welcoming and warm and hold visitors with warm character. They are increasingly just and honest and practice peaceful life. Personal space is perceived differently from other American tribes, for instance touching and kissing is common among close friends, family and relatives. Additionally, embracing, kissing, shaking of hands, patting and hand holdings are popular greeting forms even to strangers and in public places, in Puerto Rico. Preventing close and straight eye contact indicates respect (Melton & Baumann, 2010). Similarly, physical and personal space is not an issue. For instance, one will stand close when conversing with other irrespective of age, gender and status. Similarly, maintaining a distance when conversing shows rudeness and is subject to punishment. Puerto Ricans are increasingly formal and time conscious. They name and identity their past events and occasions with seasons. They honor appointments and keep time in attending events and occasions. They predict their future through events such as rainmakers, environmental changes and specialists. They use watches and other chronometers to indicate and mark their time. Puerto Ricans are affiliated with diverse religions – some are Roman Catholics while others hold onto traditional beliefs. Some Catholics exercise some spiritual practices together with their medical practices. Puerto Ricans have certain ways of addressing health and illness issues in their religious and cultural context (Pico, 2006). Their folk health practices are scientifically combined with various aspects of their physical, cultural and spiritual world. For instance, ill health and diseases are explained in religious and spiritual terms such as emanating from ignorant spirits that cause mental illness. Traditional Puerto Rican believers and pagans refuse from blood transfusion, organ transplant procedures and surgery, arguing that the practices are against their beliefs. People experiencing illnesses resulting in a reduced blood flow in the body are thought to be under spiritual influence that can result in physical disturbances such as headache, bleeding and other key illnesses such as paralysis. Certain herbs given by specialists and traditional medical experts (yierveras) are believed to cure all diseases, therefore reducing the need for modern medicine. Puerto Rican folk medicine practices are a crucial aspect of their culture and play an essential role in maintaining, protecting and enhancing health and preventing diseases. The challenge of poor health and illness among Puerto Rico tribes in the modern world are attributable to their cultural beliefs and practices. Various Puerto Ricans mostly depend on folk medicines and practices to maintain health and cure diseases. For instance, recent studies reveal that compared with New York City ethnic tribes, Puerto Rican groups are increasingly suspicious of modern scientific medicine (Roman, 2009). Consequently, Puerto Ricans tend to utilize modern healthcare services less and have increasingly limited healthcare issues than United States groups. Similarly, their cultural and religious beliefs and practices hinder them from using modern healthcare services. Together with the poor health practices originating from folk medicine knowledge, Puerto Rican spiritualism and other cultural phenomena perform a crucial function in retarding the Puerto Rican health status (Dietz, 2006). Some who perceive ill health as the evil spirit possession will seek health care from a medium or a medical specialist (curandero) instead of visiting a physician. Similarly, the hot and cold disease hypothesis has an extensive effect on the health status of Puerto Ricans. In an effort to attain a balance, people always reject advice by a physician that does not agree with the idea. Similarly, machismo, the male superiority and dominance concept, results in promiscuity, increased population, venereal conditions, family disintegration, early marriages and various other health challenges. Statistics indicate that most Puerto Rican groups rarely use US healthcare systems mainly because of their traditional religious belief barriers that disregard systems, social and cultural conservativeness or inaccessibility of the services. The Puerto Rican population mainly lives in poverty and violence conditions and, thus, is unable to access and afford modern healthcare services. Similarly, US healthcare expenditures are high (Galvan, 2009). The increase can be attributed to high disease prevalence, increased prices, costly healthcare technologies such as medical machines, drugs and treatments, insufficient healthcare insurance system structures and detrimental treatments including overtreatment, unnecessary malpractice costs, defensive medications and fraud. Statistics shows that 2 out of 15 Puerto Rican people lack care due to increased costs, and the percentage of underinsured or uninsured Puerto Rican nationals rose to over 80 million in the recent past (Melton & Baumann, 2010). Similarly, an increasing healthcare expenditure has an extensive impact on public budget of the Puerto Rican government. Medical care expenditure also affects family budget, enhancing more and potentially affecting related social projected items of budget such as infrastructure and education. Conclusion Puerto Rico is an independent state with its own culture, tradition and health care practices. Puerto Rican tribes are highly conservative about their land, culture, religion and healthcare practices. Although some of their practices are detrimental to their health and well-being, their culture has had profound impact on their existence and survival. Therefore, wining their support and conformity into the modern United State healthcare systems and practices will include promoting them from the poverty situation and integrating some of their cultural practices into the modern practice. References Dietz, J. L. (2006). Economic history of Puerto Rico: Institutional change and capitalist development. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press. Galva?n, J. A. (2009). Culture and customs of Puerto Rico. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. Melton, J. G., & Baumann, M. (2010). Religions of the world: A comprehensive encyclopedia of beliefs and practices. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO. Morales, C. A., Babi?n, M. T., & American Association for State and Local History. (1983). Puerto Rico, a political and cultural history. New York: W.W. Norton Pico?, F. (2006). History of Puerto Rico: A panorama of its people. Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener Publishers. Roma?n, R. L. (2008). Governing spirits: Religion, miracles, and spectacles in Cuba and Puerto Rico, 1898-1956. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. Read More