Cultural Ghosts?

On Halloween night, I saw a pint-sized ghost trot down the street.  A few steps behind was her mother, East Indian, uncomfortably carrying a plastic sword.  I don't think it was hers.  The day before, I read a full page spread in the local paper featuring the various costume plans and treats-of-choice of school grade children.  I delighted in the ethnic diversity of the names in the feature.  Only one child declared he wasn't celebrating Halloween and he did not have a particularly ethnic name.

Sometimes I feel so much attention is given to ways immigrants set themselves apart from the rest of society that we fail to see the swath of ways in which immigrants take on local norms and customs.  In Europe, where many people fear "Eurabia" (the idea that Europe is being taken over by Muslims), statistics show that birth rates within immigrant populations tend to fall to local norms within a single generation.  (for a couple good articles on Eurabia, read: [1] Walker, Martin, “Europe’s Mosque Hysteria”, Wilson Quarterly, Spring 2006. and  [2] Carr, Matt, “You are Now Entering Eurabia,” Race Class, Vol. 48, No. 1, 2006.)

We also tend to forget how our culture has been enriched through exposure to other cultures.  In the course of my lifetime, curry has become a staple meal on my table, some of the best dancing I've found is in clubs featuring salsa to live bands, almost every drummer I know owns a djembe, and many of Canada's acclaimed novelists were not born in Canada (think "English Patient" by Michael Ondaatje or "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel).  Canadians rightfully debate whether our multiculturalism extends beyond cultural shows and food fairs.  My experience tells me yes.

One of the beauties of a multicultural society is that we, citizens old and new, have the opportunity to try on the masks of different cultures.  It may not be our culture, and we may decide it is not for us, but we might still discover something new, valuable or good.  We might even gain a new perspective.

Stella McCartney display, 2010