1/I'm thinking about the end of Apu in the context of the national debates on immigration and diversity.https://twitter.com/NME/status/1055902086796316672 …
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5/Simpsons character don't change. But real people, and real communities, do. So a character who once represented the diversity that immigrants brought to American towns now represents a stereotype of Indian-Americans as "permanent foreigners".
6/As the children and grandchildren of each wave of immigrants become fully incorporated into American society, being conflated with their immigrant ancestors can lead to persistent racial divisions...which is probably why the character began to upset people as the years went on.
7/ At the same time, the advent of Trumpism, and the capture of the GOP by anti-immigrant, anti-diversity forces, will significantly curtail the immigration that defined the America I grew up in.
8/Whether this will speed the integration/assimilation of the descendants of recent immigrants, or lead to permanent racial divisions, remains to be seen.
9/But both the Trumpians and the opponents of permanent-foreigner stereotypes seem to agree on one thing: the America of the 1990s and 2000s must end.
10/The end of Apu symbolizes the end of that ephemeral, transitory, beautiful, immigrant-defined America. Where we go from now - toward full and equal incorporation of the descendants of immigrants, or toward exclusionary white supremacy - remains to be seen. (end)
Stanford professor Robert Sapolsy on Language http://bit.ly/2OUuupx He's a rock star, you'll enjoy this.
He was a professor of mine in undergrad.
I watched the videos of his biology of human behavior and came to understand very quickly why Stanford has the reputation it enjoys.
Very interesting analysis. What does assimilation mean exactly in this context and where does acculturation (as opposed to assimilation in the sense it is generally understood) fit in this dialogue?
Read Tomas Jimenez books!!
Thanks, I definitely will. I was curious about your take on it.
The first generation, older one speaks in his/her birth tongue while the sencond generation replies in American English. Both understand one another, yet this is how the conversation is conducted. I've seen this.
Right. The educated Indian classes understand English perfectly, but dislike speaking it, because it is very divergent from Indian languages. Vice versa for me and Hindi (about as dissimilar from English as Russian is).
The instance I watched one generation speaking English to his grandmother peaking in her birth tongue was in Greek. I suspect history makes a difference here.
But the kids (2nd gen) still have echoes of immigrant experience that are palpable. I wonder if a 2nd gen Apu would speak to this demographic.
You'll note the kids don't even retain the accented English they experienced in their homes & I don't know if you've seen it, but conversations in immigrant households often go like this . . .
This will not be the experience of all immigrant groups. Consider Hispanics and Indians for example. America can absorb Hispanic cultural influences more easily than Indian ones. Larger numbers, same religion, and overall cultural background that is different but not very alien.
Consider cuisine for example. Tacos and burritos are American staple, Indian food remains niche, even non-vegetarian Indian fare, forget about the vegetarian fare that most elite Indian immigrants prefer.
And such divergent experiences are going to breed resentments and one outcome will be hyper sensitivity to *any* representation in media.
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