Puerto Rican Beliefs and Practices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Puerto Rican Beliefs and Practices - Essay Example 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 R ico 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 wildlif e 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