Multiculturalism

Multiculturalism Human beings live in what for them is a Multicultural world, in which they are aware of different sets of others to whom different cultural attributions must be made, and of different cultures of which they are aware and expected to operate. W.H. Woodenough. The term Multiculturalism has recently come into usage to describe a society characterized by a diversity of cultures. Religion, language, customs, traditions, and values are some of the components of a culture, but more importantly culture is the lens through which one perceives and interprets the world. When shared culture forms the basis for a "sense of peoplehood", based on consciousness of a common past, we can speak of a group possessing an Ethnicity. Ethnicity is not transmitted genetically from generation to generation; nor is it unchanging over time. Rather ethnicity is invented or constructed in response to particular historical circumstances and changes as circumstances change. In this essay, ethnicity will be used to identify groups or communities that are differentiated by religious, racial, or cultural characteristics and that possess a sense of people-hood. The "Multicultural America" is the product of the mingling of many different peoples over the hundred years in what is now the family, indians, indian, million, american, united, states, children, cultural, society, role, percent, america, values, new, immigrants, group, generation, asian, traditional, over, india, immigration, immigrant, culture, cultures, through, three, second, religion, primary, parents, one, high, first, both