American Multiculturalism

M.K. Bhavnagar University

Department of English

name :- Parmar Milankumar

Roll no. 14

Batch year:- 2014-15

Enrollment no.:- 14101026

Course:- Cultural studies

Topic :- American Multiculturalism

Preface:-

America is the country of immigrants, people from different countries and continents lived together with their own cultural, religious, national identity. In America people from different countries and cultures come not only with their economy but also brought their culture with them. In America today we find Indians, Mexicans, Africans, European, Japanese, Korean, and many more.

In the field of the cultural studies, it uses cultural artefacts to study the contemporary state of any culture. By using literature as cultural artefacts we come to know about the other cultures as represented in the literature in literature there we find multiplicity of cultures. Thus we can say America is multicultural state, nation and country. There are five chief types of cultural studies

                             i.            British multiculturalism

                           ii.            New historicism

                        iii.            American multiculturalism

                         iv.            Postmodernism and popular culture

                            v.            Post-colonial studies

The state of multiculturalism in America came to known in world by some incident. These incidents drew worldwide attention these incidents are as below.

1)      Watts race riots 1965

2)      Civil rights act passed in 1964

3)      Voting rights act was signed by president Lyndon Johnson

4)      The foundation of The Black panther party

5)      James Meredith the first African American student to enroll at university of Mississippi, wounded by a white segregationist

The Problem of Race:- “race is the critical feature of American life full of contradictions and ambiguities, it is at once the greatest source of social conflict and the richest source of cultural development in America”. Today race are mixed in way that it become difficult to recognize one’s original racial identity.

The literature of Americas divided in four types, they are

a)     African American writer

b)     Latina/o. writer

c)      Indian American writer

d)     Asian American writer

African American literature:- they were the people who brought to America by the Europeans for slavery and work purpose, they were treated like animals. But in the late twentieth century they got education and they started writing about their painful past. Bernard Bell reviews some primary features of African American writing and compares value system.

“Traditional white American values emanate from a providential vision of history and of Euro-Americans as a chosen people, a vision that sanctions their individual and collective freedom in the pursuit of property, profit, and happiness. Radical Protestantism, constitutional democracy, and industrial capitalism are the white American trinity of values. In contrast black American values emanates from a cyclical, Judeo-Christen vision of history and of African Americans as a disinherited, colonized people, a vision that sanctions their reliance of spirit and pursuit of social justice”

“African American literature can be divided into several major periods, colonial, antebellum, reconstruction, pre- world war 1, Harlem renaissance, naturalism and modernism, and contemporary.”

Harriet E. Wilson’s our Nig: or sketches from the life of free black, in a two–story was the first novel published by African American.

The Harlem Renaissance 1918- 1937 it had tremendous upsurge in black culture, with special interest in primitive art.

Richards wright attacked on American white in his novels Native son 1938, and Black Boy 1945.

Ralph Elison was influenced by Naturalism but even more by African American traditions such as the trickster, jazz, blues signifying and political activism. His novel Invisible Man1949 is compared with Odyssey.

          

Latina/o. Mexican, Spanish :-

This literature is the result of the mixture of two countries America and Mexico. ”The new Mestiza” by Gloria Anzaladua. “This work demonstrates how Latins live between two nations, between two culture, between two language. These things she also described in her poem ‘To Live in borderlands means you.”

She also calls her own liminal or border space, a challenge to live “on borders and in margins, where keeping intact one’s shifting and multiple identity and integrity is like trying to swim in a new element, an alien element”

The Chicano movement of the 1960 and 21970s meant renewed Mexican American political awareness sand artistic production. The World war2 had greatly accelerated the process of Mexican American acculturation

Rudolf Anaya’s “bless me, ultima” best known Latino novel, focuses on the impact of world war2 on a a small community in new Mexico.

Oscar zeta Acosta’s “Revolt of the cockroach people” 1973

Josephina’s 1945 novel “Mexican village” was the first novel to reach at American audience.

In their work generally we found three archetypes they are…

1.       Milinche :- is name given to Aztec woman is the symbol of betrayed and her son was the first mestizo, thus she was the mother of new mestizo race.

2.       The virgin of Guandalupe:- she was the patron saint of the Mexico, appearing everywhere from church to taxicab mirror. She took role of brown mother, goddess, mother, protector, and nurturer. She is another mother of mestizo race. she symbolizes the essence of virtue, self-sacrifice and humility before god.

3.       La Llorona:- originates in Indian folklore she said to have murdered his son, and betrayed by her husband, she condemned to an eternal penance and sorrow. She stands for combination of the extremes of purity and guilt.

American Indian literature:-

The American Indian literature was predominantly oral cultures, storytelling passes on religious beliefs, moral values, political codes and practical lesson of everyday life. For American Indians stories are a source of strength in the face of centuries of silencing by euro-Americans. American Indians is the preferred by Indian over native American.

There are two types of literature we come across they are

Traditional Indian literature:- it includes tales, songs and oratory that that have existed on the north American continent for centuries, composed in tribal language and performed for tribal audience such as trickster cycles. Indians do not separate literature from everyday life. A tribes myth and stories are designed to perpetuate their heritage and instruct the young, cure illness, ensure victory in battle, or secure fertile fields, it is literature that is practical.   

Mainstream Indian Literature:- it refers to works written by Indians in English in the traditional genre of fiction, poetry, and autobiography. The earlier mainstream writer is believed to be Samson Occom he published first in 1772. Later writers of nineteenth century dealt with native rights, the duplicity of US, and government and morality leaders, racial ambivalence, creation, myth, trickster humor and tribal constancy in the face of repeated assaults.

Gertrude Bonnin/ Dakata Sioux she compiled trickster tales

M. Scott Momday’s “house of dawn-1968 won Pulitzer prize.

Erdrich’s “Love medicine 1984,” “The Beet queen 1986,” “Tracks1988”

Asian American writers:- it is written by people of Asian descend in united states, addressing their experience of living in society that views them as alien. Asian immigrants were denied citizenship as late as 1950s. Asian American writer includes chines, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Vietnamese, Polynesian, the subcontinents of India and the pacific. This culture presets bewildering arrays of languages, religions, social structures and skin colors, and, the category is broader than other.

Asian American literature begun in the twentieth century with autobiography like “Paperson” and “confession”, confession later took shape of picture bride.

Chinese women make up largest and most influential group of Asian American writers. Two women Edith and Winfred Eton, were first to become known in west. Edith published stories of realistic chines people in Mr. Spring Fragrance-1912. Winfred was Japanese author her novels are highly sentimentalized nature, full of moonlit, bamboo groves, cherry bosom and doll like heroines in delicate kimonos.

Second famous sisters become popular just before 2^nd world war were Adet, Anor and Meimei lin, whose best work was their reminiscence  of Chuckling Dawn 1942.

Jade snow – Fifth daughter

Amy Ton – Joy Luck Club 1989.

Conclusion:- by taking literature as artefacts we derives variety of results. we can study Americas culture in many other ways and result also will be varied. By above all these we can conclude that America is the place where it is very difficult to find ones ethnic identity, it becomes melting pot of cultures. It is the place open for everybody and it is the reason of its multiculturalism.