Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2001 12:14:48 -0800 (PST) From: Silvia Fernandez <sfernafelists-AT-yahoo.com> Subject: Re: of racism and multiculturalism Obviously, I don't agree with you. I don't think that Takaki's book deals with how well different groups have "assimilated" into the US, but it tries to explain the diversity of the country. Education, in my opinion, is the only way of ending racism. The book tries to "educate" people: by understanding the origins we will be able to escape racism. Secondly, yes, it deals with American multiculturalism... but I don't think Maldoror refered to any especial kind of multiculturalism, or that s/he said that s/he was NOT interested in THIS multiculturalism... "A Different Mirror" is just a study in which s/he will find a "global" vision of what constitutes multiculturalism in the US... Maybe you can provide her/im with other works in which s/he can find a "global" vision of multiculturalism in other countries... > you seem to fall into the > close-mindedness of American > multiculturalists...America is not the only > multicultural country...(read history of > Africa,Mesopotamia, India, Egypt, etc....). Well, it happens to be that I took a course last year on the history of Australia too, but I don't know any work that Maldoror can go to to study that kind of multiculturalism, and I DO know of this, because I finished it two weeks ago, so I thought it wouldn't harm him/er to have that reference at hand. And by the way, I'm Spanish, not American... although my major is English, so maybe that puts me in the "close-mindedness of American multiculturalists", as you say... > Thirdly, Takaki discuss only the groups that > influenced the American culture and politics. he put > groups into categories ...isn't that racist? No, it's not... in any case it's "ethnicist", but not racist... Racism, to me, is the belief in the superiority and inferiority of a certain group of people by virtue of their race (where race is believed to be biological). I don't think that definition fits Takaki at all. And yes, he puts them into groups. He deals with African-Americans, Japanese-Americans, Chinese-Americans, Mexican-Americans, Native-Americans, Irish-Americans... and he compares what they have in common, the experiences they have shared... I don't see a problem with that, and I'm sorry if you do, because I think you're getting the wrong side of it. How do you suggest that he talk about those groups, if it's not in the terms he does? Sorry about this defence of myself... You know... I'm tired of American nationalism. I've been here since August 21st and have been through the events of September 11th, so you can imagine HOW TIRED I am of patriotic feelings... but I'm also tired of those people who hold "prejudices" against the US... The US is so diverse a country, that there is no way that you can generalize about it... It has a lot of flaws, but I refuse to forget all of the incredible ideas and theories that have come out of its intellectuals. Silvia __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! GeoCities - quick and easy web site hosting, just $8.95/month. http://geocities.yahoo.com/ps/info1 --- from list postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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