Beyond the Melting Pot

Daniel Patrick Moynihan - before he was a US Senator - wrote Beyond the Melting Pot in the mid 1960s. I'm not sure when the term "melting pot" was invented to explain uniquely American immigration patterns over the past couple of hundred years but Moynihan rejected the idea that immigrant groups soon adopt the culturally majoritarian "American" way (if that even exists).

Instead, he wrote about "cultural pluralism": that immigrants and even their children and grandchildren hold onto parts of the pre-immigration customs and culture, sometimes out of pride, sometimes for other good reasons. His theory goes a long way towards explaining why we have parades celebrating nearly every major ethnic group in New York City. Every group tries to show the rest of us how their subculture (holidays, food, etc.) differs from others and that it is a source of pride to celebrate those differences.

There are times when Moynihan's premise is so obviously correct. My sister's recent marriage to her husband is one off the best examples. Leah's husband was born in the US but he spent a great deal of time in India, his parents' birthplace. Leah's roots on her mother's side go back to pre-revolutionary America and to the turn of the 20th century when her father's Italian great grandparents came here. Courtesy of her mother-in-law, the rehearsal dinner was meant to honor and celebrate Ajay's cultural roots, including traditional dress, regional Indian food and traditions. The wedding itself was mostly Western, but it was pretty clear that Mom loved the henna painting on her hands.

Many of us do this all the time without even thinking about it. We are thrilled to get a gift of stuffed cabbage from our Polish-American friends. Even if we didn't hail from Sicily, we love the food. Even if it's not the "real stuff" Mexican food is very popular across all subcultures. Although I have used food as an example, it's much deeper than that.

Whenever I hear about calls for immigrant "assimilation", I bristle. To me, the truth is that American "culture" encompasses so many traditions that no one can claim a truly specific cultural standard. Americans, for the most part, are very cafeteria-style in their daily lives. It's a gift that very few countries can even comprehend. I think we're pretty lucky.