A study based on a survey of the Melbourne Jewish community conducted by Medding in 1961-62 in part fulfillment of the requirements for an M.A. degree at Melbourne University. Ch. 3 (p. 55-75), "The Politics of Representation, " discuss the actions of the Victorian Jewish Board of Deputies to combat antisemitism which, however, was a minor phenomenon. It was confined mainly to manifestations of verbal prejudice, social exclusion, and the dissemination of antisemitic literature. Pp. 220-234 deal with Soviet antisemitism and actions undertaken by the Board to combat it.
Peter D. Salins, a child of immigrants and a scholar of urban affairs, makes the case that at a time when the immigrant population of the United States is growing larger and more diverse, the nation must rededicate itself to its historic mission of assimilating immigrants of all ethnic backgrounds. He recounts how successive immigrant populations have become Americanized, despite being considered “alien” in their time and how assimilation continues to work among Hispanics and Asians today. America’s vitality as a nation, Salins argues, depends on its being as successful in assimilating its newest immigrants as it was in integrating earlier immigrant groups. “Peter D. Salins... anticipates a multicultural America, but the prospect causes him great distress. In his view, the old assimilationist formula served both immigrants and the nation extremely well.... Salins maintains... that the multiculturalist effort to renegotiate America’s traditional assimilationist contract — English as the national language, liberal democratic principles and the Protestant work ethic — is at the root of much contemporary anxiety over immigration.” — Peter Skerry, The New York Times “Peter Salins’s book... is a labor of love as much as of scholarship... Salins’s whole effort here is to defend the American model of high immigration levels accompanied by unforced but almost irresistible assimilation... [His] diagnosis is powerful and persuasive, and surely the first step is the one he takes: to understand how and why the American model worked so well, and how it is now being threatened.” — Elliot Abrams, The Public Interest “A thorough and convincing examination of assimilation in America: how it worked in the past, why it is necessary for the survival of the nation, and what to do about the recent and ominous assault on it... The author is superb in defining what constitutes assimilation... He also deftly explodes several myths about immigration. Past waves of immigrants, for instance, never surrendered their heritage and continued to speak their native tongue in their neighborhoods. Assimilation, he argues, is a gradual process and doesn’t necessitate abandoning one’s ethnic identity at the door... his book is pragmatic and solid, and should convince many of the value and continuing importance of assimilation.” — Kirkus “[A]n enlightening... book.” — Wall Street Journal “Salins... seeks a middle way between radical multiculturalism and resurgent nativism. That middle way is the ‘immigration contract’ that has long existed between American society and its newcomers. Its terms are a commitment to English as the national language, an acceptance of American values and ideals, and a dedication to the Protestant work ethic. Immigrants who accept these terms are welcomed and allowed to maintain certain elements of their culture, such as food, dress, and holidays. This arrangement, Salins argues, promotes a vibrant ethnicity while protecting against balkanizing ethnocentrism.” — Stephen J. Rockwell, Wilson Quarterly
"What does it mean to be Black in a white, middle-class community? Is it the ultimate symbol of success? Or will one pay in isolation, alienation, rootlessness? What price must one pay for paradise? Is the price too high? Beverly Daniel Tatum, a renowned authority on the psychology of racism, interviewed Black families in depth to identify the sacrifices and achievements necessary to survive and prosper in a white community. For the Black citizens of 'Sun Beach, ' dual-income households, religious affiliation, and extended families help maintain stability. But with assimilation comes an insidious 'hidden racism, ' subtly communicated when Black children aren't called on in class and revealed more fully in incidents of racial name-calling. By listening to the individual voices of these children and their parents, Dr. Tatum skillfully probes the complex questions of identity that arise for a visible people rendered invisible by their surroundings"--Publisher description.
This ground-breaking work develops theories and methods of analyzing the United States' domination of Native Americans through a study of the Lakota society known as the Sioux Nation of Indians. Two centuries of struggle between nations and cultures during the U.S. expansion over North America are described utilizing policy (BIA) and cross-cultural (US-Lakota) history, with insightful additions to understanding the Tetonwan-Sioux. Contributing new forms of analysis to the study of attempted domination and destruction of Native American societies, the author explores the concept of culturicide in relation to theories of genocide and cultural domination. He links resistance by traditionalists and activists to cultural survival in charts of U.S. and Lakota policies and counter-policies. The study provides maps to identify struggles over land, and shows how social institutions have been used to attack Lakota culture. The author provides documented recent events to illustrate contemporary Lakota social life, often from an insider's point of view. The work provides a framework for understanding similar conflicts for other Native Nations. Also includes maps. James Fenelon is Dakota/Lakota, and is Assistant Professor of Sociology at John Carroll University. Bibliography. Index.
Immigration is one of the critical issues of our time. In Citizens, Strangers, and In-Betweens, an integrated series of fourteen essays, Yale professor Peter Schuck analyzes the complex social forces that have been unleashed by unprecedented legal and illegal migration to the United States, forces that are reshaping American society in countless ways. Schuck first presents the demographic, political, economic, legal, and cultural contexts in which these transformations are occurring. He then shows how the courts, Congress, and the states are responding to the tensions created by recent immigration. Next, he explores the nature of American citizenship, challenging traditional ways of defining the national community and analyzing the controversial topics of citizenship for illegal alien children, the devaluation and revaluation of American citizenship, and plural citizenship. In a concluding section, Schuck focuses on four vital and explosive policy issues: immigration's effects on the civil rights movement, the cultural differences among various American ethnic groups as revealed in their experiences as immigrants throughout the world, the protection of refugees fleeing persecution, and immigration's effects on American society in recent years.
