Introductory, I want to mention that in my opinion it’s not wise to discuss this issue, because we’re living in a globalized world where we can’t choose which kind of ethnic diversity we’d like to have in a country.
Nevertheless, let’s have a look at the diverse definitions and detect some of their qualities.
The theory of a country as “melting pot” surmises that the various racial and ethnic groups have been combined into one culture, which means that you can’t identify the different cultures anymore. A new culture emerges from different ones.
Based on the “salad bowl” theory, the various racial and ethnic groups have been remained somewhat distinct and different from one another, creating a richly diverse culture. People live together peacefully and respect the culture of one another with still maintaining original traditions, customs and their mother tongue. Each multicultural individual only assimilates himself to a certain extent.
The “mosaic” theory defines a country as a picture made up of many tiny pieces of different colors. If one looks closely at the nation, the individuals of different colors and ethnic groups are still distinct and identifiable, but together they create a picture that is unique for a country. This theory seems to me relatively equal to the “salad bowl” theory, whereupon to my mind the “mosaic” theory assumes different groups to act more segregate and irrespectively.
Pertaining to the different theories mentioned above and provided that you could choose the country’s conditions, I would prefer to live in a country characterized as a “salad bowl”. The reason for that is that a “salad bowl” still represents the different cultures living together without creating a completely new culture. People don’t have to confirm their strain to live together with other cultures. Population in such a country includes a large variety of ethnic groups without bias and discrimination coming from many races, nationalities, and religions.
I figure that it is important for every human being to accept one another and not to dream about what could have been if. Overall, I am happy to live in a globalized world, because each of us can learn so much from different perspectives linked to the cultural background.
Finally, let's think about the following two proverbs, which from my point of view represent a good thought-provoking impulse to this topic and may help to act in a more open-minded way with different cultures.
"Who does well, will receive good!"
"What one individual does is a drop in the sea, but if it didn't do it this drop would miss forever."
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I appreciate and agree with your points that individual attitude can make a big difference when navigating these difficult issues. I also think that it is quite easy to talk about being accepting and then quite another to actually live it out. We need other people to help us get "accurate" vision. Nonetheless, every country seems to be experiencing more diversity in many areas, so we all are more or less in this learning curve together.
ReplyDeletei like the last two sentences
ReplyDeleteI didn't write an article about the same topic as yours, but your topic is interesting to me. This is because I am from Japan. More than 90% of the population is Japanese. Although there are different unique tradition which is from Okinawa(south of Japan) and Hokkaido(north of Japan), Japan basically has one big culture which is known also abroad. Japanese society is not a "salad bowl", "mosaic" or "melting pot". We are surrounded by the ocean, don't have any neighbors connected on the land, so people are not used to communicate with foreigners. It could be a bd aspect, but it is why Japan has its unique culture for a long time. So I don't have a solid answer yet for the question if Japan should be a society which is called to be "mosaic" or"salad bowl"...Anyway, I strongly agree with you that "it is important for every human being to accept one another."
ReplyDeleteThe world itself is becoming a salad bowl
ReplyDelete