History of Multiculturalism in UK and US

1.

History of Multiculturalism in
UK and US

2.

The British Empire
• Explorations 16th c.
• Early settelements and colonies 17th and 18th c.
• Slave trade
• The British Empire at its peak 1921

3.

4.

Cultural
Imperialism
• “imposition by one usually
politically or economically
dominant community of
various aspects of its own
culture onto another
nondominant community”
• Connected with military
conquests and colonialism

5.

Creating Britishness?
• British Empire
• Religion
• Language
• Shared values
• Common cultural heritage
• Class
• The Monarchy

6.

The United States: a brief history 1
• The ”New World”
• Had been inhabited
at least 20,000
years before
• The first settlements
16th-17th century

7.

The United States: a brief history 2
• 13 colonies
• Declaration of Independence 1776
• The American Revolutionary War (1775-1783)

8.

Post-civil war
• American Civil War 1861-65
• Reconstruction
• 1865 13th amendment: abolition of slavery
• 1868 14th amendment: citizenship
• 1870 15th amendment: right to vote
• Post-reconstruction Jim Crow laws
• “Separate But Equal” 1896

9.

Civil rights movement
• NAACP 1909
• 1954 segration illegal in public schools
• Rosa Parks 1955
• 1963 March on Washington
• 1964 The Civil Rights Act
• 1967 interracial marriage
• 1968 Civil Rights Act
• Black Power Movement

10.

• Declaration of Independence:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. “
• 1963, Martin Luther King Jr:
“When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of
Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a
promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. “

11.

Other minorities in the US
• Hispanic
• Asian American
• Middle-eastern
• Jewish American
• Native American
• Irish American
• Currently, one-third of the American people do
not trace their ancestries to Europe; in
California, minorities have become the
majority.

12.

Cultural stereotypes

13.

”Americaness”? I
• Historian Philip Gleason: “To be or to become an American, a person did not have to be any particular
national, linguistic, religious, or ethnic background. All he had to do was to commit himself to the political
ideology centered on the abstract ideals of liberty, equality, and republicanism. Thus the universalist
ideological character of American nationality meant that it was open to anyone who willed to become an
American”
BUT
• Ronald Takaki suggest that there is a the master narrative of American history: “According to this powerful
and popular but inaccurate story, our country was settled by European immigrants, and Americans are
white.“
• “Race,” observed Toni Morrison, has functioned as a “metaphor” necessary to the “construction of
Americanness” : in the creation of our national identity, “American” has been defined as “white.”

14.

”Americaness”? II
Contradicting views (2018 Grinnell College National Poll):
• Equality
• Responsibility for one’s actions
• Accepting racial and religious diversity
• Christian
• Native-born
• English-speaking

15.

But what does everyone agree on?

16.

However, people might interpret these in different ways…

17.

Benedict Anderson: “The Nation And The
Origins Of National Consciousness”
• three paradoxes about nations:
• nationalism is a modern phenomenon even though many people think of their nations as ancient and eternal
• it is universal (everyone has a nation), even though each nation is supposedly utterly distinctive
• and it is powerful (so much so that people will die for their countries), even though on close inspection it is hard to define
• Nations are imagined political communities
• convergence of capitalism, printing, and the diversity of vernacular languages led to the birth of national
consciousness

18.

Sources
Baofu, Peter. The Future of Post-human Migration.
Richard T. Ashcroft and Mark Bevir. Multiculturalism in the British
Commonwealth
https://sites.google.com/site/decolonization102/africandecolonization
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z9h9ycw/revision/
https://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/b/british_culture.asp
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zf7fr82/revision/
https://www.biography.com/writer/william-shakespeare
Pics:
https://intriguing-history.com/historic-themes-2/impact-of-empireand-colonialism/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire
https://childrenliteratureclassics.wordpress.com/2015/04/26/thewhite-mans-burden-kiplings-hymn-to-u-s-imperialism/
https://hilla84.wixsite.com/missrichonne/world-history
https://www.oasiscenter.eu/en/great-britain-the-debate-on-shariacouncils
https://www.buzzfeed.com/tomchivers/as-long-as-you-obey-the-law

19.

SOURCES:
Pics:
https://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/c/colonization.asp
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/ushistory1os/chapter/english-settlements-in-america/
Takaki, Ronald. A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America.
https://www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jimcrow/mammies/homepage.htm
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/when-and-how-did-the-first-americansarrive--its-complicated-
https://www.history.com/.image/t_share/MTU3ODc5MDgyOTM4NDEwNzE5/american-revolution-hero.jpg
https://cartoonmovement.com/cartoon/american-freedom
https://ostrava.educanet.cz/www/anglictina/index30583058.html?option=com_content&view=article&id=301&Item
id=705
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/topics/european-colonization-northamerica/?q=&page=1&per_page=25
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/freedom-riders-jim-crow-laws/
https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-changed-after-europeans-killed-indigenousamericans-2019-2
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rosa-Parks
www.history.com
www.Britannica.com
https://www.thoughtco.com/desegregation-in-the-united-states-721609
https://scholars.org/brief/roots-multicultural-diversity-revolutionary-america
https://minorityrights.org/country/united-states-of-america/
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/15/world/asia/benedict-anderson-scholar-who-saw-nationsas-imagined-dies-at-79.html
https://library.law.howard.edu/civilrightshistory/blackrights/jimcrow
https://www.npr.org/2010/01/18/122701268/i-have-a-dream-speech-in-its-entirety?t=1616328133036
https://theconversation.com/i-am-not-your-nice-mammy-how-racist-stereotypes-still-impact-women-111028
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereotypes_of_African_Americans
https://theconversation.com/asians-are-good-at-math-why-dressing-up-racism-as-a-compliment-just-doesnt-addup-128731
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20171027-the-simpsons-apu-a-stereotype-hiding-in-plain-sight