Sun, 12 Aug 2007

Knowkedge of their culture . . .

Having Google ads on the site leads to some interesting things. I recently had one come up on the blog which stated, "Stimulate a childs imagination and knowledge of their culture". The site was for African Americans with CD's for sale with stories related to the history of that group in the U.S.

It got me to thinking about the importance of culture to our identity. I don't identify with any particular culture although my mother was a first-generation Sweedish-American. Therefore, I have some mixed feelings about all this. My mother never pushed the Sweedish ancestry. We did observe some traditions around the holidays -- primarily Christmas. But, these typically involved food traditions. I always wonder when I see something like this why people don't identify with the U.S.

As I have said before, I'm an old white guy, and therefore, I guess not entitled to a "culture". OK, I guess I could qualify for the Sweedish-American club like a person of Italian ancestry might belong to the U.S. Bocce Federation. But, as for basing my identity on a particular culture -- I don't. I suppose you could say that my culture is American -- whatever that is.

It seems that there are some groups which seem to need that cultural identity -- African Americans, Orientals, Italians, etc. Some of the strong cultural identity seems to come from the fact that some groups appear to have never left their country. Rather, they appear to have brought their country with them. Take for example, the "China Towns", "Little Vietnams" and other ethnic areas which are a fixture of many urban areas. You are transported to a place where the business signs are in their language and the place seems more like that country than the U.S.

The ghetto (1) has been a refuge for immigrants, new to the U.S. with no English skills and, perhaps no one to help them. People tend to group together for mutual support and little communities form. Here is the U.S. -- perhaps because we are a large country -- some of these communities have resulted in little assimilation into a U.S. culture for these groups. There are people who have been here for 20 years or more who still cannot speak English. Their cultural identity is little different from what it was in their own country.

The U.S. has always been accepting of this type of thing. We are, after all, a nation built by immigrants. Technically, I guess, all countries were built by immigrants except those portions of Africa where human beings first evolved. But, the difference is we have done it over the last hundreds of years, not milenia as in Europe or Asia.

So what part does culture play in your identity? How much of it is personal perception and how much of it is shared cultural experience? What, for example, is an Italian-American? What shared experiences do upper class orientals share with poorer members of their race here in the U.S.?

Historic events such as slavery for the African-Americans or the experiences of the Native Americans here in the U.S. certainly constitute a cultural heritage. These historical shared heritage are certainly part of a person's identity. Of course, some would say that these two groups are experiencing current fall out from these elements of their culture.

Some cultural identity is apparent through shared on-going experience such as Cuban-Americans, many of whom seem to be waiting for the time when they will return to their island. Miami is more cuba in many parts than it is the U.S. Many Mexican-Americans who are in the U.S. because of economic opportunity would probably have never left their country if they could have found a decent job there. Other immigrants were driven out of their countries because of conflict or other strife. I really wonder how many of these hyphenated Americans would return to their countries if the conditions were different? This could be one reason why they bring their culture with them, they never wanted to leave in the first place and would prefer to return if possible.

This has been a rather rambling set of thoughts about culture as a part of what we are. I'm not certain what I want to actually say about culture as a part of our identity. I wonder if, in the future, someone in another country will identify themselves as an "American- . . ." and just what cultural elements they will bring with them to their new home.

1 Here I am using the term ghetto in its sense as "an area where people from a specific racial or ethnic background live as a group in seclusion." (see Wikipedia).

posted 07:25 [/WhatAreYou] permanent link