Canada has made it a policy to promote multiculturalism (MC), to create a cultural mosaic, a “community of communities”. The idea being that newcomers to the country should be encourage to hold onto the culture of their country of origin and to pass along that culture to their children, building a community culture embedded in to the nation’s mosaic. In short many cultures, many ethnic groups.
The USA, on the other hand seems to have adopted a multiethnic (ME) approach. The idea being that a dominate culture should exist and newcomers must adapt to it. The incoming cultural biases, beliefs etc are to be diluted through absorption into the dominate culture. In short 1 culture, many ethnic groups.
My question is which is more effective in building a nation? The MC approach makes the newcomers feel more comfortable initially, yet seems designed to develop multiple groups of “us” or “them”. The ME approach gives a national culture to adapt to but make the initial settling difficult.
It would be very dificult to have a country that is a conglomeration of ethnicities and nationalities where there is no common language, customs or herritage.
By the same token, it is equally unreasonable to expect immigrants from every nation and race to adopt to local customs overnight.
There is not even one “American” (I can’t speak for Canadians) culture among Americans. Is the culture of Southie (Boston) the same as the culture of the Upper West Side (New York) or western Pennsylvania? Let alone going to states in other regions like Colorodo, Texas, Seatle and so on.
IMHO, the best approach is to let people do what they want. They will pick and choose what parts of their new homes culture they want to adopt.
There is not even one “American” (I can’t speak for Canadians) culture among Americans. Is the culture of Southie (Boston) the same as the culture of the Upper West Side (New York) or western Pennsylvania? Let alone going to states in other regions like Colorodo, Texas, Seatle and so on.
It depends on how you define “American culture”. I would say that Colorado and, say, Louisiana are much more alike than England and Spain. The United States is one country wit many parts. There are some things that are common to all of us, and a lot of things that make us different, that is, diverse.
IMHO, the best approach is to let people do what they want. They will pick and choose what parts of their new homes culture they want to adopt.
Couldn’t have said it better myself. That’s what we’ve been doing for the past two hundred-odd years, anyway…
On the one hand, there’s the “salad”: many different cultures mashed together, not affecting each other very much or even at all. On the other hand, there’s the “soup”: many different cultures coming together, mixing their characteristics, but ultimately losing their identities. The middle ground, which I think that the US has developed, is the “stew”: many diverse cultures blending together, affecting each other to a large extent, not so much that they lose their identity, but enough that it becomes part of a larger one.