The Cultural One or the Racial Many by Evandro Camara

Author:Evandro Camara [Camara, Evandro]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, General
ISBN: 9780429749704
Google: OAGaDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2019-05-23T04:54:57+00:00

The totalizing power of racial identity

The bifurcation of identity in U.S. society has been shown to be a function of the racial dichotomization of intergroup life. The latter, as might be gathered, has a distinctly totalizing effect on how individuals apprehend social reality. In this connection, it should be important to consider here that, at the most fundamental level - the level, shall we say, of phenomenological apprehension, the non-reflective, non-theoretical, emotional level of understanding - people in American society resist the idea that the essence of "American life" could (or ought to) be expressed through something like Walt Whitman's suggestive image of a "teeming Nation of nations," a collection of many diverse and intertwining ethnic, racial, and cultural strains that have melded to produce this cohesive and unique model of collective existence, however much this image may have been inculcated in them through their formal socialization experience. The majority population in the U.S. has historically reacted with considerable ambiguity towards the international hordes streaming into the country from various regions, over the past couple of centuries. By and large, people have not always known, do not always know, what to make of this constantly increasing ethnic diversity in their midst. Despite declarations in more formal vehicles, such as in the following excerpt from the popular press, hailing America as "the endless and fascinating profusion of peoples, cultures, languages, and attitudes that make up the great national pool," (Time, Special Issue, Fall 1993, p.3), in their heart of hearts a majority of Americans may still find it difficult to imagine the idea of authentic Americanhood as flowing from, and being represented by, such a hybridizing intermixture, particularly when the implications of "nonwhite" cultures forming an integral part of this mixture are taken into account. Naturally, it has been widely understood, for a long time, that the national population includes a number of different ethnic groups that stand out for their nonwhiteness and cultural diversity, but these people are "the other America," they are not the real America. For all the new influx of "nonwhite" contingents (Asians, Middle-Easterners, Hispanics) into the society over the past decade, individuals from these groups still have varying degrees of difficulty in truly fitting in, and, even after having been here for two or three generations, they are still regarded (though no longer formally so) by the majority population as "quasi-Americans," For example, a second- or third-generation American of Asian descent, who has become thoroughly acculturated into the dominant mode of life, linguistically and otherwise, and far removed from his/her ancestral cultural tradition other than through the memories of older relatives, but who still bears distinguishing physical characteristics associated with "Orientals," may reasonably expect questions about whether or not she/he has an interest in her/his Asian heritage, or about where she/he is from ("Los Angeles," "No, really?", or "Yes, but where are you from!, as in "What is really your country of origin?"), whereas an American citizen of Swedish or German descent will not get such a query.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.