In this exercise you will compose an essay based on your family’s history of migration, starting from the ancestral origin of our species in Africa in a process described by de Blij and Muller (2010) as the first round of globalization: Africanization. Your essay must also describe the background of both of your parents’ families. Regardless of your ethnic background or family origin, all people living in the Americas (North, Middle, and/or South America) are descendants of migrants or are recent migrants. Even the ancestors of Native American populations came to the Americas crossing the Behring Land bridge (today’s Behring Strait) more than 14,000 years- before-present. It is interesting to note that in Canada, these groups are known as “First Nations.”
In this essay you must include references of your family’s [or your own] migration to the United States or to South Florida, and the push or pull factors that may have influenced or contributed to their/your migration. You may describe your family’s originating country and culture, and how living in the United States has influenced or changed various tenets within that culture.
