Notion Espace Et échange

I’m going to talk about the notion of spaces and exchanges. This notion deals with the geographical and symbolic areas that all societies occupy and the interactions between men and different societies. Our world is built on the exploration and conquest of new spaces. The different cultural, economic, sociological and language interactions have shaped and characterised our modern-day world.

I would like to illustrate this notion through the theme of immigration, and mainly in the United States.

I wondered, why did people immigrate to the USA ?

First, I would like to talk about these people who become immigrants.

Secondly I will talk about the American attitude toward these phenomenon and as a conclusion I will give you my point of view.

When America was discovered, millions of Europeans left their countries of origin to start a new-life in the other side of Atlantic. However, even today, United States is a country which continues to attract the people. How not to be attracted by the American culture which is present everywhere, by the American lifestyle and by its consumer society when you come from a country where there is a huge poverty. That’s why average number of immigrants keeps rising with most of them coming from South America, they have mainly Mexican roots. In 1900 there were about 500,000 immigrants. Their number is now 43 millions with 17% of them are undocumented and 40% are foreign-born. In fact in their country they have few opportunity, they know that their children will not have a better future because they can’t afford to send them to school. They dream to leave their country to break the cycle of poverty. Either they hide in the back of trucks or they walk across the desert. Once they reach the other side, they have to find jobs. Most of them find work in fields or as cleaners.

In class, we saw a text, extract from a novel, called « The other side of the coin », which illustrate this situation perfectly : The novel tells the story of Candido and America, a Mexican couple who crossed the border illegally and who are homeless. We are told how America was given an address for a job which would have been an opportunity for her to make some money and maybe found a roaf for both of them. She had to walk a long away only to find out that the address was fake. When she discovered an horrible landscape, she understands that she won’t get a job. When she turned back, she got lost and was panic. She realized that she was an alien in this country and she could feel the hostile stare Americans driving past her. She knew that she was not welcome in the country and that she would have to hide away from the police. She saw Candido lying in the dirt like an old pile of laundry, and she understood that they were going to be in trouble. We can understand how difficult it is for immigrants to survive in the US.

Though some immigrants are poor and illiterate, called the brain drain, in some science universities over 50% of students are foreigners. Many of them choose to stay in the United States after their studies to work in high tech industries.

United States have a paradoxical attitude toward these immigrants. On the one hand they try to prevent them from coming, even by building a fence along the border, and we can

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