You are right to correct me on "melting pot". I understand, and very much appreciate, that you all prioritize being a quilt :-D
I should have taken care to be more truthful and respectful, and talked about how the colonial and multi-cultural history of Canada (and other countries) and the social kierarchy have led to the formation of macro "ethnicities", people who identify primarily as white, for example, and don't necessarily know of the ethnic heritage of their forefathers.
It is my personal experience that Americans, (I wouldn't know about Canadians), have a real hard time distinguishing ethnic facial features, and most white multi-generational Americans I know and have talked to about this identify as "Heinz 57". People of color have been even harder hit by this, not only by voluntarily intermarrying between ethnicities, but also forced by white perception into an ethnic monolith.
So it would be wrong to say that Americans or Canadians as nations have or aim to have melting pot cultures, (though some individuals do work to achieve this,) but I think it's fair to say that the U.S. and Canada have become "stew" nations. (A kind of cannibalistic metaphor, but I still like it.)
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Re: Here from metafandom - don't have openID
Date: 2009-12-19 04:48 pm (UTC)You are right to correct me on "melting pot". I understand, and very much appreciate, that you all prioritize being a quilt :-D
I should have taken care to be more truthful and respectful, and talked about how the colonial and multi-cultural history of Canada (and other countries) and the social kierarchy have led to the formation of macro "ethnicities", people who identify primarily as white, for example, and don't necessarily know of the ethnic heritage of their forefathers.
It is my personal experience that Americans, (I wouldn't know about Canadians), have a real hard time distinguishing ethnic facial features, and most white multi-generational Americans I know and have talked to about this identify as "Heinz 57". People of color have been even harder hit by this, not only by voluntarily intermarrying between ethnicities, but also forced by white perception into an ethnic monolith.
So it would be wrong to say that Americans or Canadians as nations have or aim to have melting pot cultures, (though some individuals do work to achieve this,) but I think it's fair to say that the U.S. and Canada have become "stew" nations. (A kind of cannibalistic metaphor, but I still like it.)