For this week's readings, I was most interested in Bourne's, "Trans-national America." I thought Bourne was excellent in defending immigrants in the fact that the pressure for them to become Americanized, made them able to find a balance between keeping their culuture while assimilating into American society. Here Bourne explains the situation well: "Assimilation, in other words, instead of washing out memories of Europe, made them more and more intensely real. Just as these clusters became more and more objectively American, did they become more and more German or Scandanavian or Bohemian or Polish." No one has applauded immigrants for maintaining their sense of identity while trying to take on another, and I think they deserve that.
So I guess my question would be, what do you think it meant to these immigrants when being forced to become Americanized? Looking at generations years (and years) after, do you think losing that bit of culture was worth it to them to become what society defined as "American"?
I think it may depend on the individual, actually. I certainly don't think it was a good thing that people were pressured/forced to Americanize and disregard their heritage, but I think some people may have _wanted_ to start a new life completely. (I'm just saying it's possible!)
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