Multiculturalism In African American Culture

The historical lineage between the African and Asian diasporas present a reciprocal relationship of influence and experience. Throughout the passage of time, these bodies of people have been both opposing forces and allies; in response to the racial tensions surrounding their respective groups, in their corresponding environments. Interactions between Africans and Asians created a dynamic that whites often felt threatened by but also used to wield power and institute dissension among the groups. By utilizing facets of colorblindness, multiculturalism, primordialism, polyculturalism, and Afro-orientalism, racial formation will examined as it exists within the Afro-Asian dynamic. American meritocracy presents a front that states that individuals may succeed and attain power on a basis of exclusively ability and talent, regardless of other factors such as race and

Culture is easily influenced and is constantly shifting as it passes through various racial and ethnic interactions and exchanges. “With your liberal minds, you patronize our culture, scanning the surface like vultures, with your tourist mentality, we’re still the natives. You’re multicultural, but we’re anti-racist. We ain’t ethnic, exotic or eclectic” (Prashad, 56). This refers to when cultures are commodified and picked apart without taking both the negatives with the perceived positives. In relation to colorblindness, further propagates the institution of racism and does not provide enough push, to topple the status quo and this alludes to its privilege. To address multiculturalism, “There can be no history of Gujarati peoples, as we saw in the previous chapter, without consideration of Zanzibar, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Muscat.” (Prashad, 46). Cultures are not solely their own but are a combination of several others and are curated as a result of many encounters and interactions with a multitude of