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The Serbian Slava
| Article
# : |
16161 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
6 / 1989 |
4,250 Words |
| Author
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Andrei Simic
Andrei Simic, professor of anthropology at the University of
Southern California, is a specialist in Mediterranean and East
European cultures, Euro-American ethnic groups, social
gerontology, peasant societies, and visual anthropology. He
served for several years as a consultant to the Portuguese
Ethnic Studies Project of Alameda County. |
American attitudes regarding ethnicity and cultural pluralism have undergone a significant shift in recent years. The new viewpoint is far more positive; it conceives of ethnic identity as a valuable resource for both the individual and the society as a whole. One explanation for this trend is the growing discomfort with what is perceived as an increasingly impersonal and uniform mass society. Many are finding in their immigrant roots and ancestral traditions a perfect counterbalance to the seemingly pervasive influence of distinct, large-scale institutions which, by their very remoteness and vicariousness, tend to create feelings of isolation and alienation. America's legacy of ethnic diversity can be regarded as a source of enrichment for personal lives as well as a means to imbue society with kind of cultural hybrid vigor.
Despite a plethoric presence of ethnic groups, many Americans remain curiously unaware of the kaleidoscopic cultural diversity around them. In part, this can be explained by the fact that ethnicity in America is, to a great extent, a private rather than a public concern; and, in part, by the tenacity of the obsolete yet venerable theory of the melting pot. While this is not to deny the historical reality of the assimilation process by which generations of immigrants and their children have been absorbed into American life, it would be misleading to ignore the persistence of ethnic subcultures in this country. For evidence, one need only take note of the innumerable ethnically based voluntary associations, religious institutions, and cultural activities that abound in our society.
In many ways, the Serbian-Americans personify the nurturing of ethnic identity in America. They are among the smaller Euramerican
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