This blog is more of an open-ended question considering what we talked about in Tuesday's Class.
What do you think should be some of the factors of a common culture, if we were to have one in America? I'm pretty skeptical of the notion, as you heard me ranting about in class, so I'll spare you most of the argument. Basically, I'm just concerned that having a common culture will lead to the erosion of cultural practices of other groups. As a person who values language, religious identity and expression, and above all food, this worries me.
If something is taken from one culture and incorporated into the unified, then it loses its meaning for that culture. I'm just scared that people will lend things to the idea of a common culture that we'll never get back.
However, what benefits might this have overall?
With a common culture, we will be unified and feel more connected with one another. However, this limits our chances of interacting and discovering a new culture by just talking to our neighbor. If we were to have a common culture in America I think every factor of the culture would have to be the same if we are all going to be on the same page including food and clothes etc. Since America is this huge mixing bowl, I don't see us ever having a common culture. Our common culture is not having a common culture, if that even makes sense.
ReplyDeleteIt is easy to imagine a core of shared stories that everyone knows, for example, without this in any way limiting the variety of different things that different people know. We're not talking about having everything the same, which would be horrible and unhealthy.
DeleteI asked a similar question on my blog, and have been thinking a lot about this topic as well. I think that, as a nation, it is essential that we feel patriotic and unified, which is what a common culture does.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Cecilia: America is a melting pot of all cultures, and the thing that we all have in common is that we are from different places. But I do think it is inevitable that as we live in America, we lose some traditions and adopt others.
I liked Cecilia's mixing bowl analogy more than the cliched melting pot image (in which I imagine the ones on the bottom get burned and the scum rises to the top!).
DeleteI think a great question of American “culture” is how to create a unified society of multiple ethnicity, religion, and tradition while avoiding homogenization. Is American identity enveloped in this idea that we have to water down everything before we assimilate it into popular culture? Is American culture defined as pop culture?
ReplyDeleteI like it -- unified multiplicity without homogenization. And I certainly hope that popular culture is not all we are.
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