Introduction
Since the beginning, humans have been moving from one region of the world to another for better survival. If a person or a group of people face hardships like severe climate, low employment rate, political instability, underdevelopment, etc then they try to move to a city or country that is free from such problems. If they move to a new city or country permanently then this is called Immigration. If they move to a new city or country temporarily then this is called Migration.
A developed country is combination of diverse cultures, races and ethnic backgrounds because in its past a lot of people belonging to different areas of the world had migrated to this country and so had influenced it in one way or another. Migrants belong to different cultural backgrounds and when they reside in a new country they try to establish their culture which affects the local population. The multiculturalism caused by immigrants in a country is depicted through buildings, artifacts, fashion, cuisines, etc.
There are positive as well as negative impacts of migration or immigration on a country’s culture. The biggest positive impact is the growth of economy. Immigrants help in boosting the economy of the country through their talents, professionalism and experience. They bring in new business ventures or enhance the profitability to the old ones. Immigrants are always ready to do low paid jobs which most of locals refuse to do. Immigrants belonging to different ethnicity cook different cuisines that are loved by local people as they are always looking for continental food because they are bored with the local food and want something different and delicious to eat. Lastly, a country having diverse immigrants is considered a highly developed, steady and rich country in front of foreigners. However, there are some negative impacts of migration or immigration on culture as well. If a country allows too much migration from other countries then that country becomes over-populated. Over-population may result in increased crimes, breaking of laws and political instability. Due to this, a country might get bad reputation in the eyes of the world and may reconsider its immigration policies.
Germany is a type of country that has been receiving immigrants for around four decades. Now it has made its immigration policies friendlier for the foreigners because in the long run it is going to benefit them a lot economically. Due to so much immigration, Germany consist of diverse cultures, traditions and religions.
Most immigrants stick to their religion and join groups of individuals who share similar religious practices. They form religious institutions to preserve their cultural and traditional heritage. They also try to impress others with their religious practices so that others do not treat them as aliens.
Although all the immigrants are granted the right to profess their religious practices by the government; however, certain religious communities are given privileges than others. Only those religious communities that are big, united and strong have the higher say in the system of Germany.
Every society follows a religion that helps them in becoming civilized, peaceful and harmonious. Religion helps people in a society to understand the cause and effect relationship. It also helps them in forming duties that will give them the highest level of satisfaction from their lives. In Germany, a single religion is not followed by the entire population; it varies in different regions. The main cause of this diversity is the changing attitudes of people towards religion over time. Christianity has been the oldest dominating religion in Germany; however they are divided into Catholics (29.9%) and Protestants (62.8%). This happened due to the Thirty Years’ Wars (1618-1648) that took place in the Central Europe including Germany. This war is the longest war in history of Europe, which arose due to the conflicts between Catholics and Protestants. The law of Germany says that every citizen has the right to follow whichever religion they want. Right now, the second largest religion in Germany is Islam (5.2%) because of the increasing number of Turkish immigrants starting to live permanently over there. A major chunk of Germans do not follow any religion. Moreover, they are against foreign immigrations and religious groupings prevailing in their society because they fear that it will destroy their rich cultural heritage. Almost 43-44% Germans said this same line when they were asked if they support pluralism of religions. They abhorred the public policy made for immigrants.
Ethical Make up of Germany
Germans are popular around the world for their good intermingling skills. The population of Germany does not only include Germans but various other immigrants as well. In the South and West of Germany you will find the Celtics (who are the members of Indo-European). In the East, you will find Slavics (Mostly Belarusians, Russians, Hungarians, Czechs, Poles and Ukrainians). In the 16th century, French Huguenots came over here. At the end of 19th century, Polish mine workers came. In the 20th century, White Russians came over here. Due to the Holocaust, there were no Jews in the 20th century. Some Danish people also migrated to Germany. During 1950s, the largest immigration was made by the Turkish people who scattered around different regions. Afterwards, immigrants from Vietnam and Sri Lanka seeking for asylum also came over here. Jews also started to come in Germany to seek job opportunities and religious tolerance.
Now in Germany, 91.5% people are German, 2.4% people are Turkish and others are 6.1% (Italian, Greek, Spanish, Russian, Serbo-Croatian and Polish).
Minority’s issues in Germany
During the 1990s, around sixty thousand gypsies were found in Germany. They had two groups: Sinti and Roma (who came from Romania). Sinti are living in Germany for hundreds of years and that is why they have completely blended with the German society. However, the Roma came over here in 1989 during the Nicolae Ceausescu regime. Their habits and lifestyle is different from the local Germans and that is why there were lots of clashes between them. Finally just recently, the government of Germany made an agreement with Romania to provide repatriation for tons of Roma by exchanging cash that could be used for job training or housing.
Earlier there used to be a lot of racism and conflicts among the immigrants and the minorities of Germany. The minority groups feared that the immigrants will violate their rights and occupy their space. Leaders of different groups solved their problems. With the passage of time, there was no racism left among the different immigrant that resided in Germany. In fact, they are given a lot of freedom and rights so they move freely in the society.
Role of Women in Germany and how they have impacted immigration, migration or emigration
Prior to the 19th century, there were huge restrictions on women in Germany and they were not given an equal status as men. They were born and raised in their father’s home. They had to strictly follow the rules and regulations made by their fathers until they get married. After marriage, they were in control of their husbands. In those times, tough dowry system existed. Women were not encouraged to get education and so they did not get equal rights. However, in the 20th century women started to progress gradually. During 1919, they were granted the right to vote in the elections. During 1950s, the women of East Germany were still not given many rights, they liked to stay at home and be wives and mothers. But in West Germany women liked to get education and work alongside with men. Their participation in the government, military and economy increased. During 1970s, women rallied for more rights like able to work or file for divorce without husbands permission, able to get advance education, etc. During 1980, National Office for Women Affairs was established in West Germany and so German women were able to contribute towards the development of their country without any restrictions. Some famous names are Rita Sussmuth, Marion von Donhoff, Birgit Breuel, Elizabeth Noelle- Neumann, etc who gave their contributions in the field of Politics, Education and Economy of Germany. Although women suffered lots of hardships in Germany but still managed to fight for their rights and become prominent in their country just like men.
Germany is known for low death rate and low birth rate. The average life expectancy of a German man is up to 77.93 years and for German woman it is 82.58 years. The fertility rate in Germany was 1.41 children per woman during 2002. In west of Germany, most educated German women have no children. This has adversely affected the economic condition of this country and that is why they rely on immigrants to make their economic conditions better. The government has made friendly public policies for the immigrants so that they come over to their country and flourish their financial position. A scheme called ‘educated mother scheme’ ran for a long time in Germany to encourage the educated women to have first births.
how history of a country manifests itself in its culture
History plays a very prominent role in forming the culture of a country. If you find a country having diverse cultures, it means that it had rich history. Various immigrants must have migrated to this land and influenced the surroundings in their own unique way. The meals mostly cooked, the public policies formed, how the citizens conduct business activities, the way architecture looks, the lifestyles and behavior of people etc all depicts the historical culture of the country. The way that the ancestors used to live in the past becomes engrained in the minds of their descendants. Although there are many other factors that affect culture but history forms the roots of the culture.
immigrants' paradox: the need to identify with one's home culture while attempting to assimilate that of one's adoptive country
When people migrate or immigrate to a new country. They face huge problems, for some of them these problems are so big that they are unable to solve them and go back to their native land. However, others face these problems for a really long time but solve them in the end. The problems are climate, social, financial, political and cultural complexities. The immigrants become confused as to whether they should adopt Cultural assimilation or Pluralism. Cultural assimilation occurs when groups of people come together and mingle with each other willingly. They find mutual cultures within themselves and try to become even. On the other hand, Pluralism occurs when groups of immigrants like to keep their unique identity. They are unable to mingle easily with others. Pluralism creates lots of social differences in a society. These are the two most prominent group relations in a developed country. Cultural assimilation and pluralism are not always contradictory; sometimes these processes do occur together at different situations in a society.
When immigrants come to the land they are not native to, they face prejudice in every way they can. They came as minorities and then after going through all the possible steps of the cultural assimilation and pluralism they form a society or mostly become part of an already existing society that abhorred them earlier.
Human right’s issue in Cameroon
The African country, Cameroon is an under developed country. Child labor and prostitution is common in this country. However, the brave women of Cameron are rallying for their rights and one of them is Kah Walla. She has started a business in collaboration with vital voices and is now very successful. She is struggling very hard to give economic stability to the women of Cameroon. Not only is she working for business but she is working for the welfare of the society as well. She wants her country to prosper and she knows that women play an important part in this scenario.
References
Assimilation and Pluralism. An introduction to the study of minority groups in the United States. Retrieved from http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/43865_2.pdf
Bhugra, D., & Becker, M. A. (2005). Migration, cultural bereavement and cultural identity. World Psychiatry, 4(1), 18.
Kah Walla- Cameroon. VitalVoices. Retrieved from http://stories.vitalvoices.org/#/detail/kah_walla
Lewis J. J. (1995). Germany-Status of Women, Women’s history. Retrieved from http://womenshistory.about.com/library/ency/blwh_germany_women.htm
Phinney, J. S., Ong, A., & Madden, T. (2000). Cultural values and intergenerational value discrepancies in immigrant and non‐immigrant families.Child Development, 71(2), 528-539.
