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-   -   How do you define the term "melting pot"? (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/showthread.php?t=747988)

  • May 8, 2013, 12:02 PM
    catlady23
    How do you define the term "melting pot"?
    Any opinions on this term would be quite helpful.

    "melting pot"

    In the sense of applying to our society, our culture.
  • May 9, 2013, 04:00 AM
    tickle
    'Melting Pot' would apply to different cultures diverging on the same area and intermarrying, IMO.
  • May 9, 2013, 05:02 AM
    joypulv
    Although a country like the US could be called a melting pot, the term is mostly limited to densely populated cities that have diverse cultures. New York City has been called a melting pot for many generations, what with Ellis Island being the entry port for most immigrants.
  • May 9, 2013, 07:15 AM
    catlady23
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by joypulv View Post
    Although a country like the US could be called a melting pot, the term is mostly limited to densely populated cities that have diverse cultures. New York City has been called a melting pot for many generations, what with Ellis Island being the entry port for most immigrants.

    Wow, I hadn't thought about it in that particular sense. I was stumped at writing a paper on proposing the argument that America is a melting pot. To an extent, it is. But to another extent, it isn't.
    This was helpful, thank you.
  • May 9, 2013, 07:35 AM
    Wondergirl
    Large U.S. cities are melting pots. That's where the inexpensive housing and the jobs are. Those cities have "ghettos" (neighborhoods) of various cultures -- Greek, Chinese, German, Polish, Italian, Jewish, etc. -- each with its own shops and restaurants and bakeries and grocery stores and factories and churches and support systems, with everyone speaking the home country's language as they also learn English (often through their children who attend U.S. schools that may be outside the neighborhood).
  • May 9, 2013, 07:41 AM
    catlady23
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Wondergirl View Post
    Large U.S. cities are melting pots. That's where the inexpensive housing and the jobs are. Those cities have "ghettos" (neighborhoods) of various cultures -- Greek, Chinese, German, Polish, Italian, Jewish, etc. -- each with its own shops and restaurants and bakeries and grocery stores and factories and churches and support systems, with everyone speaking the home country's language as they also learn English (often through their children who attend U.S. schools that may be outside the neighborhood).


    Would you say that given that large U.S cities are melting pots, America is a melting pot? It seems rather broad, but historically aren't all American-born citizens derived from either Indian, European, or African decent?
  • May 9, 2013, 08:22 AM
    Wondergirl
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by catlady23 View Post
    Would you say that given that large U.S cities are melting pots, America is a melting pot? It seems rather broad, but historically aren't all American-born citizens derived from either Indian, European, or African decent?

    Only Native Americans were here when the first immigrants came over from Europe, so if you aren't a Native American, you are a descendant of an immigrant. And even the Native Americans probably came from somewhere else.

    I grew up in small German community in western NY. It was not a melting pot (only one black family, no Asians, no Hispanics), but all but the black family were descendants of Germans who had come to the area during the mid-1800s to farm and be shopkeepers.

    Yes, America (meaning the U.S.) is a melting pot if you give it that broad definition.
  • May 9, 2013, 08:33 AM
    catlady23
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Wondergirl View Post
    Only Native Americans were here when the first immigrants came over from Europe, so if you aren't a Native American, you are a descendant of an immigrant. And even the Native Americans probably came from somewhere else.

    I grew up in small German community in western NY. It was not a melting pot (only one black family, no Asians, no Hispanics), but all but the black family were descendants of Germans who had come to the area during the mid-1800s to farm and be shopkeepers.

    Yes, America (meaning the U.S.) is a melting pot if you give it that broad definition.


    I guess that's where I am caught in an inner conflict. Whether the term "melting pot" applies to the multiple roots dwelling in America or rather it applies to different cultures subsisting in an area. I rather think it means that all races become "Americanized"... by language, dress, culture, etc.
  • May 9, 2013, 08:56 AM
    Wondergirl
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by catlady23 View Post
    I guess that's where I am caught in an inner conflict. Whether the term "melting pot" applies to the multiple roots dwelling in America or rather it applies to different cultures subsisting in an area. I rather think it means that all races become "Americanized"....by language, dress, culture, etc.

    So that means your first order of business is to define the term the way you understand it and the way you want your reader to understand it so that your paper will reflect and support your definition.
  • May 9, 2013, 09:07 AM
    tickle
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Wondergirl View Post
    Only Native Americans were here when the first immigrants came over from Europe, so if you aren't a Native American, you are a descendant of an immigrant. And even the Native Americans probably came from somewhere else.

    I grew up in small German community in western NY. It was not a melting pot (only one black family, no Asians, no Hispanics), but all but the black family were descendants of Germans who had come to the area during the mid-1800s to farm and be shopkeepers.

    Yes, America (meaning the U.S.) is a melting pot if you give it that broad definition.

    Amerinds is the term commonly used now. Native 'Indians" being coined by Columbus because he thought he had
    Landed in India and the people he encountered were Indians.
  • May 9, 2013, 09:08 AM
    Wondergirl
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by tickle View Post
    Amerinds is the term commonly used now. Native 'Indians" being coined by Columbus because he thought he had
    landed in India and the people he encountered were Indians.

    Thanks, Joy. I was harking back to what I had learned in elementary school a thousand years ago.
  • May 9, 2013, 09:17 AM
    tickle
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Wondergirl View Post
    Thanks, Joy. I was harking back to what I had learned in elementary school a thousand years ago.

    Wasn't joy it was tick's reply
  • May 9, 2013, 09:31 AM
    Wondergirl
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by tickle View Post
    Wasn't joy it was tick's reply

    Heavenly days!! And I had even had my first cup of coffee already today! I'm so sorry, tick!
  • May 9, 2013, 12:18 PM
    joypulv
    "Would you say that given that large U.S cities are melting pots, America is a melting pot?"
    I wouldn't myself, but you could make an argument for it. To look down from a satellite and see thousands of miles between clusters of groups doesn't sound like a pot where anything is melting, but over time, our diverse cultures certainly do blend. It's just not as visible in one place, or as immediate. I'd invent a new term.

    "It seems rather broad, but historically aren't all American-born citizens derived from either Indian, European, or African decent?"
    Do you mean 'weren't' they derived, long ago, certainly not recently? How do you define 'historically?' Going back how many years? For instance, the Chinese did most of the dangerous blasting on the first railroads and clustered in very early Chinatowns. People from outside of Europe, such as Russia, managed to get here through Europe. Original peoples from Mexico and SA don't consider themselves to be the same as the original people north of the Rio Grande. And of course there are countless groups within those groups, even in the borders of the US.
  • May 10, 2013, 09:14 AM
    catlady23
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by joypulv View Post
    "Would you say that given that large U.S cities are melting pots, America is a melting pot?"
    I wouldn't myself, but you could make an argument for it. To look down from a satellite and see thousands of miles between clusters of groups doesn't sound like a pot where anything is melting, but over time, our diverse cultures certainly do blend. It's just not as visible in one place, or as immediate. I'd invent a new term.

    "It seems rather broad, but historically aren't all American-born citizens derived from either Indian, European, or African decent?"
    Do you mean 'weren't' they derived, long ago, certainly not recently? How do you define 'historically?' Going back how many years? For instance, the Chinese did most of the dangerous blasting on the first railroads and clustered in very early Chinatowns. People from outside of Europe, such as Russia, managed to get here through Europe. Original peoples from Mexico and SA don't consider themselves to be the same as the original people north of the Rio Grande. And of course there are countless groups within those groups, even in the borders of the US.

    Well, the satellite visual was great. However, to dissect that statement; Aren't there gaps between groups on earth, because there is an Ocean which parts our land? -- just a thought.
    In all seriousness, I do believe their still are minorities, racists, etc. However, we don't live in a perfect world, so those flaws naturally come with life. But our roots. Our cultural roots are multiple. They have, over time, been melted into what we are now. By"historically,"I mean all things pertaining to America's history.
  • May 10, 2013, 12:31 PM
    tickle
    Wherever people landed, from the start of colonizing, either Canada or the US, groups congregated in that one area. Don't forget, when colonies started they were always near bodies of water where fishing was plentiful; Cape Cod, Boston area and there you would have seen first German, English, Dutch and then perhaps French. This would have created a veritable melting pot' of ethnic groups inter-marrying and creating their own little pockets of culture.

    Now in Canada, colonization was firstly french as they moved from the mouth of the St. Lawrence westerly to Quebec and stayed put until the British came.

    In this case, there was more inter-marriage with Amerinds, more so then south of the border.

    You aren't thinking outside the box of the US. There were always pockets of Amerinds in the southwest US who never intermingled with any other culture and remained, for the most part, pure.

    Catlady, you have opened up a very good subject.

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