iNterAcculturAtioN.

Traditional theorists imagined America as a melting pot; a place where all cultures mixed and merged into one, homogenized society. But what these early theorists didn’t count on was that many people not only fight to keep aspects of their original culture, they also pass these aspects down from generation to generation and even across from culture to culture.

America is culturally complex and the way it changes is fluid and constant. Cultural barriers are breached as immigrants flow into the country. The resultant inter-mixing of customs and values transforms the landscape.

Take a pot of chicken soup and add some cilantro to it. Not only does the herb absorb the broth, but it also adds flavor to the soup. The more cilantro you add, the more fragrant the final dish. And that’s exactly what interacculturation is – a sort of cultural stew. Interacculturation assumes that when a new culture is introduced into a host culture, each will affect and influence the other. Each will acculturate the other. The result is a symbiotic society, with interconnecting cultures living and breathing together.

Interacculturation is a social phenomenon that has occurred throughout US history. In many cases, the results of this process have become so mainstream that they are taken for granted as simply American.

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