Reflections on Takaki Reading, pp. 153-353

Cultures placed together, or nested within each other, invariably cause tension, particularly between the generations of ethnic minorities. It struck me that many things that may be strengths in one culture become points of conflict when that culture is transplanted into a new context and becomes a minority. This came up most clearly with the account of Italian immigrants—the rigid, disciplined, family-oriented culture of the old country conflicted with the dominant culture in America. In many ways we can admire the Italian culture: Joanna Dorio notes how her father was the family “godfather,” which, while patriarchal, also displays a marked devotion to the larger family. The family together took care of each other, including the single aunt and the financially failed brother. In some ways this was only possible because of the patriarchal/disciplinarian culture of the home that caused tension between Joanna and her father.

While I react to the chauvinism of the culture, there is something in the Italian culture that I respect in the way the family feels responsible for taking care of each other. My wife and I were discussing several of the readings from this section together. Bethany noted that just as an individuals greatest strength can also contribute to ones greatest weakness, particular cultures are often strong and weak in the same area, both admirable and questionable. For example, compare determined/stubborn in an individual to collectivist/authoritarian in a culture.

To what extent is the chauvinism of Italian culture problematic in its own right? In the old country the traditional method of family life would work without hitches beyond those that any family anywhere at any time experience; it seems that it is only in conjunction with American individualism and the culture of the nuclear family/atomist individual that the tensions arise in this family. It seems to me, though I may well be wrong, that the Italian culture, as described by Joanna, while patriarchal is not patriarchal in the same sense as described by Shanti, the immigrant from India. Is there something more problematic about traditional Indian culture and its treatment of women? Is traditional Italian culture less problematic, until it comes into conflict with enlightenment liberalism?