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ETHNIC AND MINORITY CULTURES IN AMERICA

Explore the key concepts and terms related to ethnic and minority cultures in America, including immigration, discrimination, stereotypes, assimilation, and cultural projection. Gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and experiences faced by different ethnic groups in the United States throughout history.

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ETHNIC AND MINORITY CULTURES IN AMERICA

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  1. ETHNIC AND MINORITY CULTURES IN AMERICA Lecture Basic terms and concepts

  2. Oscar Handlin: The Uprooted • Immigration: an individualact, immigrant: man atthecrossroads • Resourcefulness, persistence • Kraut, Alan M. The HuddledMasses:thenewcomerswouldsinktheirrootsthroughcrackedpavement and beginthefinalstage of theodysseyofthetransformationfromalienstoAmericans • Psychologicaland physicaluprooting GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

  3. Thomas Sowell: EthnicAmericans • 45 millionimmigrants, • immigration, a greatdramainhistory • Representation of peoplesoftheworld More people of IrishancestrythaninIreland, more Jewsthanin Israel • St. Patrick’s Parade, Chowmein, Afrohairstylealloriginatedfrom American soil • FirstPresident of Ireland, Eamon de Valerawasbornin Brooklyn, Golda Meir, PrimeMinister of Israel wasborninMilwaukee GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

  4. White Anglo-SaxonProtestant—thehistoricalmajority • Ethnicity: a geographyorculture-definedconcept (Americans, Hungarians, French, etc) • Race: biologicallydefined, baseduponskincolor, bonestructure, hairtexture • Prejudice: preformulatedjudgmentabout an ethnicgrouporindividual—theoreticallevel DEFINITION OF CRUCIAL TERMS

  5. Definition of culture: Fernando Coroníl: The production of Self and the Other • Self: subject, power of expression, agency, dominant • Other: object, muted, dominated, lack of agency, objectified • A continuous shift between Self and Other DEFINITION OF CRUCIAL TERMS

  6. Discrimination: practicallevel, distinctionbasedonprejudice • Stereotype: a distorted image, a simplificationordistortion of human featuresformanipulativepurposes • A lensethroughwhichweconceivetheOther • Good stereotypes: guaranteeculturalcontinuity: helpintheinterpretation of certainculturalproducts-goodknowledge • Badstereotypes: promotebadknowledge DEFINITION OF CRUCIAL TERMS

  7. Prejudiced and discriminatory: bigot, openracist • Non-prejudiced and discriminatory: institutionaldiscrimination: non-intentional, school has highadmissionfees • Prejudiced and non-discriminatory: most people, persondoesnotallowhisprejudicesinfluencehisactions • Non-prejudiced and non-discriminatory: fullintegrationist MERTON’S SCALE OF DISCRIMINATION AND PREJUDICE

  8. Constant shifting of Self and Other via cultural projection • Defined by Richard Merelman as: the conscious or unconscious effort by a social group and its allies to place new images of itself before other social groups and the general public • Via cultural production a given minority group struggles against stereotyping CULTURAL PROJECTION

  9. Hegemonical : the dominant group describes the dominated one • Counterhegemonical: the dominated describes itself to the dominant • Syncretization: the combination of both elements in the description of a given minority culture • Polarization: rejection of the presented image on both sides TYPES OF CULTURAL PROJECTION

  10. Basic question: what happens to ethnic groups, how do they interact, function in the industrial, technological society? • Major force behind immigration process: industrialization • What did the industrial world offer: free enterprise, appreciation of individual effort, competition, private property THEORIES OF IMMIGRATION

  11. From mid 19th centuryon: changefromwind-drivenshipstosteam-poweredships (broughtimmigrantsfromsouthern and Eastern Europe) • Previouslyimmigrationwasonlypossiblefromareaswhichmaintainedstrongcommercial relations withtheU.S. • Triptooklonger, onlywealthiergroupscouldaffordit, steamshipsenabled less well-to-dotoimmigrate MEANS OF IMMIGRATION

  12. Circumstances, conditionsthat drive theindividualawayfromhisorherhome country: • Poverty (Irish, potatofamine) • Repression of individual, politicalrights (post 1956 HungarianimmigrationtoNorthAmerica) • Religiouspersecution (Pilgrims, Jews) • Lack of opportunities—most immigration is economicallymotivated PUSH FACTORS

  13. Economic prosperity • Political freedom • Religious tolerance • Personal advancement PULL FACTORS

  14. R. Burchell and Eric Homberger: The Immigrant Experience • cultural distance to be travelled • existence of common histories, traditions • economic similarities between old and new homes • date of arrival (1840s, 1850s American society was hostile to immigrants) internal strife, lack of stability FACTORS SHAPING THE IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE

  15. Robert Park: Immigrants come in contact with new society, enter assimilation cycle • Progress from contact to accommodation or fusion—least resistance • Progress from contact to conflict and competition– more resistance • Amalgamation: conformity to a dominant group ASSIMILATION-ACCULTURATION

  16. Milton Gordon: Assimilationin American Life, 1964 • Assimilation is a combination of severalsubprocesses • Culturalassimilation: incominggroupacceptsdress, language of hostsciety • Structuralassimilation: theextent of whichimmigrants enter thesocialinstitutions of thehost country (politics, schools, and thedegree of theiracceptance) • Marital assimilation: largescaleintermarriagewithhostsociety MODIFIED ASSIMILATION

  17. Attitudinalassimilation: absence of prejudicefromhostsociety, lackofnativism • Behaviorreceptionalassimilation: absence of discrimination • Civicassimilation: absence of value and powerconflict MODIFIED ASSIMILATION

  18. Total identifiers: immigrants staying with the original community • Partial identifiers: in between two cultures • Disaffiliates: liminality, rejected by old community, not fully accepted by the new • Hybrids: fully integrated MANN’S THEORIES ON ACCULTURATION

  19. John Higham: oppositiontoaliens, theirinstitutions, ideas, a rejection of an internalminoritybasedonitsforeignconnections • Three main currents: • -anti-Catholicism 1830-1850s • -fear of foreignradicals (post World WarOne Red Scare) • -racialnativism (basedonAnglo-Saxonsuperiority) NATIVISM

  20. Indian resistance to settlers • William Bradford-mixed multitude • Benjamin Franklin -”Why should the Palatine Boors be suffered to swarm into our Settlements?” -”we have so fair an opportunity of increasing the lovely white” (Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind) • Know-Nothings (American Party) EXAMPLES OF NATIVISM

  21. ”men of thesturdystocksofthenorthof Europe made upthe main force of immigrants, butnow ‘multitudesofmenofthelowestclassfromthesouthofItaly and men of themeaner sort out of Hungary and Polandwho had neitherskillnorenergynor an initiative of quickintelligencewerecoming.” (Woodrow Wilson 1901) • ”wideopen and unguarded stand ourgates, and throughthempresses a wild, amotleythrong, whobringwiththemunknowngods and rites.” (Thomas BaileyAldrich 1892) NATIVIST VOICES

  22. LECTURE TWO: THE FORMATION OF THE MULTICULTURAL SOCIETY

  23. The merging or intermingling of cultures was not fully realized • Multicultural pluralism: Distinct groups live side by side in relatively harmonious co-existence • Horace Kallen: Culture and Democracy in the U.S. (1924) MODIFIED PLURALISM

  24. Fourwaves of immigration • 1607-1787: ColonialPeriod: WASP, slaves • 1820-1860: Old Immigration, still WASP dominated • 1880-1924: New Immigration: Non-Wasp, Southern, South Eastern Europe • 1945:-present: Major source: Latin America, South EastAsia FORMATION OF MULTICULTURAL AMERICA

  25. 1492: Columbus’ landfall • 1519-1521: Cortez conquers the Aztecs in present day Mexico • Main goals of the colonization process : finding gold, spreading Christianity • Other explorers: Hernan de Soto, Francisco de Coronado SPANISH COLONIZATION

  26. Army and clergyworkstogetherforcolonization • NuevaEspananotassuccessfulas English colonization • Why? Tansplantingfeudalinstitutionsintothe New World: encomienda,Spanishcommandergavelandtoveteransoldiers, Indiansowedforced labor tolandowner—similarto European serfdom SPANISH COLONIZATION

  27. 1524: Giovanni da Verrazano • 1534: Jacques Cartier establishes Montreal • New France: Territory of Canada, Midwest, (from Great Lakes to Gulf of Mexico) • Early 17th century: Samuel de Champlain expands Southward, clash with Iroquois FRENCH COLONIZATION

  28. Main goal:. Fur trade and religiousconversions • Jesuitsparticipateinboth, convertingtheHurons • Jesuit Relations: Collection of OfficialReportssubmittedtoProvincials • Lack of religioustolerance, settlementsareCatholic • 1643: Captivity of Father Isaac Jogues, captured, torturedbyMohawk, freedbythehelp of Dutch FRENCH COLONIZATION

  29. 1584: Roanoke • Cause of settlement: religious persecution, population explosion • 1497: John Cabot: New Foundland • Puritans: followers of Calvin ENGLISH COLONIZATION

  30. Sense of nationhood • Mission concept • Chosenness • Common law PURITAN HERITAGE

  31. 1607: Jamestown • 1620: Plymouth • 1630: Massachussetts • 1681: Pennsylvania • Most successful colonization, business venture • Contiguous settlement • Friendly terrain FORMATION OF COLONIES

  32. AngloConformity: Immigrantsshouldconforminanywaypossibletohostsociety • 1850: KnowNothings • 1890’s American ProtectionAssociation • 1915: Revival of theKuKluxKlan • Meltingpot:Crevecoeur, Emerson, Turner • Culturalpluralism VIEWS ON IMMIGRANTS

  33. A nation of nations • Society of Immigrants • A nation of people with a fresh memory of old traditions, who dare to explore new frontiers DESCRIPTIONS OF AMERICA

  34. Meltingpot: loss of originalculture • Saladbowl: ethnicenclaveslivesidebyside • Symphony: : polivocality • Rainbow: : Manycolors • Kaleidoscope: constantchange METAPHORS APPLICABLE TO AMERICAN CULTURE

  35. BASIC PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES OF AMERICAN CULTURE AND IMMIGRATION

  36. What is the difference between race and ethnicity? • What are the different levels of assimilation? • What is the difference between the melting pot and the salad bowl? • How does the stage of New Immigration differ from the previous one? REVIEW QUESTIONS

  37. Identifypushfactors and potentialpullfactorsinthe text below: • In a bloody feud between the Chang family and the OoShak village we lost our two steady workmen. Eighteen villagers were hired by OoShak to fight against the huge Chang family, and in the battle two men lost their lives protecting our pine forests. Our village, Wong Jook Long, had a few resident Changs. After the bloodshed, we were called for our men’s lives, and the greedy, impoverished villagers grabbed fields, forest, food and everything, including newborn pigs, for payment. We were left with nothing, and in disillusion we went to Hong Kong to sell ourselves as contract laborers. Source   “Leaves from the Life History of a Chinese Immigrant,” Social Process in Hawaii, 2 (1936), 39-42. REVIEW QUESTIONS

  38. 1795  Naturalization Act restricts citizenship to "free white persons" who reside in the United States for five years and renounce their allegiance to their former country.  • 1798  The Alien and Sedition Acts permit the President to deport any foreigner deemed to be dangerous. • 1808 The importation of slaves into the United States is prohibited MAJOR MILESTONES IN IMMIGRATION HISTORY

  39. 1840s  Irish Potato Famine; crop failures in Germany; the onset of industrialization; and failed European revolutions begin a period of mass immigration.  • 1848  Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, concluding the Mexican War, extends citizenship to approximately 80,000 Mexican residents of the Southwest.  • 1849  California Gold Rush spurs immigration from China.  • 1850s  Know Nothing political party unsuccessfully seeks to increase restrictions on naturalization MAJOR MILESTONES IN IMMIGRATION HISTORY

  40. 1882  Chinese Exclusion Act restricts Chinese immigration.    Immigration Act levies a tax of 50 cents per immigrant and makes several categories of immigrants ineligible to enter the United States, including "lunatics" and people likely to become public charges. • 1892  Ellis Island opens; serves as processing center for 12 million immigrants over the next 30 years.  • 1924  The Johnson-Reed Act limits annual European immigration to 2 percent of the percentage of thegivennationality in the United States asshownin thecensus of 1890.  MAJOR MILESTONES IN IMMIGRATION HISTORY

  41. 1965  Immigration and Nationality Act repeals the national origins quota system and gives priority to family reunification.  • 1986  The Immigration Reform and Control Act gives amnesty to approximately three million undocumented residents and provides punishments for employers who hire undocumented workers. • 1996   The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act strengthens border enforcement and makes it more difficult to gain asylum. The law establishes income requirements for sponsors of legal immigrants.   MAJOR MILESTONES IN IMMIGRATION HISTORY

  42. Only a very few Chinese could find houses in American districts, for most house owners do not want Chinese tenants. They are forced to live in close quarters. The buildings are…dark and gloomy, with no bath rooms and no privacy. Source   Esther Wong, “ The History and Problem of Angel Island,” Survey of Race Relations, Stanford University, Hoover Institution Archives, 1924. • Whattype of discrimination is described here? EXAMPLES OF DISCRIMINATION

  43.   San Francisco did not establish a segregated school for Chinese pupils until 1885. Mary Tape protests the refusal of San Francisco to admit her daughter Mamie to a school nearer her home. •   To the Board of Education—Dear Sirs: I see that you are going to make all sorts of excuses to keep my child out off the Public schools. Dear sirs, Will you please to tell me! Is it a disgrace to be Born a Chinese? Didn’t God make us all!!! What right have you to bar my children out of the schools because she is a Chinese Descend…. Do you call that a Christian act to compel my little children to go so far to a school that is made in purpose for them. My children don’t dress like the other Chinese…. Her playmates is all Caucasians ever since she could toddle around. If she is good enough to play with them! Then is she not good enough to be in the same room and studie with them?… It seems no matter how a Chinese may live and dress so long as you know they Chinese. Then they are hated as one. There is not any right or justice for them. Source   Alta, April 16, 1885 EXAMPLES OF DISCRIMINATION

  44. I used to go to Marysville [California] every Saturday…. One day a drunk ghora (white man) came out of a bar and motioned to me saying, “Come here, slave!” I said was no slave man. He told me that his race ruled India and America, too. All we were slaves. He came close to me and I hit him and got away fast. Source   Bruce La Brack, “The Sikhs of Northern California (Ph.D. diss., Syracuse University, 1980), 130. RESPONSE TO PREJUDICE

  45. Julian Ilar, a Filipino student at the University of Chicago, describes the prejudice that he and others faced.   Try as we will we cannot become Americans. We may go to the farthest extreme in our effort to identify ourselves with the ways of the Americans, straightening our noses, dressing like the American in the latest fashion, pasting our faces with bleaching cream, and our hair with stacomb---but nevertheless we are not able to shake off that tenacious psychology. Always we remain sensitive, always we retain at least a subconscious fear that we are being slighted because we are Filipinos. Always there lurks over us a suspicion that perhaps after all, we do not “belong.” Source   Julian Ilar “Who Is the Filipino?,” Filipino Nation, November 1930, 13. WHICH CATEGORY DOES THE FOLLOWING REPRESENT?

  46. Separation • Self-doubt • Reaffirmation • A three phase evolutionary process DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN CULTURE

  47. THE MACROCULTURAL CONTEXT

  48. What is thedefinition of cultureaccordingtoCoroníl? • Definecultural projection • Whattypes of cultural projection arethere? • Identifythefollowingmilestonesinimmigrationhistory: • 1798 • 1808 • 1849 • 1882 • 1986 REVIEW QUESTIONS

  49. American culture consists of a primary and secondary core (Virágos) • Primary core: tangible, and intangible elements • Tangible elements: manifestations of an unmistakably American culture—sacred documents, artistic output, iconography • Intangible elements: four layers • Icon: culture specific image PRIMARY CORE OF AMERICAN CULTURE

  50. PhilosophicalAmericanism: acceptance of the American ideology, reverence of thesacreddocuments • AffectiveAmericanism: Emotionalidentificationwiththe American past • VolitionalAmericanism: a nationalcommitmenttopluralisticmulticulturalism • MythologicalAmericanism: IdeologicalexplanationsforAmerica’sdomestic and globalrole—American exceptionalism, chosennation PRIMARY CORE

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