Introduction
In fact Chinese have landed to the US already in 1848. The main reason behind their resettlement in American soil was golden mines that have lured thousands of Chinese people to the States. Yet, as soon as the economy in the States declined Chinese workers were seen as a significant issue for the majority of Americas’ working population. As a result, a severe law was adopted to hold back the Chinese and forced them to move to the shelter that later turn into one of the most popular tourist attractions for the visitors of San-Francisco (Chinatown Resource Guide).
This paper will focus on the categorization of first components out of five of mass migration, namely: ethnoscapes; as for the four components, they will not be discusses in this paper, since ethnoscapes represents the focal point when it comes to mass migration and globalization (Hannigan).
According to Appadurai, Ethnoscapes emerge as a result of numerous waves of resettlement of different groups from local areas to of other places overseas. Due to a regular moving, these groups seldom manage to establish some sort of imaginary identities (Robinson).
Appadurai further looks into the complexities of the "majority's driven" policy against minorities resulting in the opposition and violence. He notes that even though minorities in the essence are small and vulnerable, yet, the majority feels unrest and anger when it comes to them. Appadurai explains this strong opposition as a result of majority's common narrative that unites the majority around common values and it may get attacked by the existence of the permanent minority who don't necessarily fit the story; moreover, the common story is what sustains and legitimizes the dominance of the majority over the minorities; therefore, there is no wonder what frequently is happening around the world, when two internal forces named majority and minority end up in conflict, that is usually followed by discriminative and derogatory legislature exercised by the majority over minorities.
One can easily draw a parallel the way Chinese were treated in the America once they become prosperous and rich and allegedly posed a threat to the jobs for Americans. One further easily may notice through the photos of the Chinese Americans in San Francisco and their daily routine. Six pictures demonstrating Chinese in different locations, starting from people playing poker ending with the photo of the street in Chinatown.
Conclusion
Artworks underline the result Chinese Americans have gone through since their arrival to the United States of America and the summary of their status of as members of the American society but with little "but" since they created and sustained their small Chinatown in the US. They retained their trademark language and the cuisine, their markets and their architecture. There is no one may leave it unnoticed it as their unique culture within fairly different American culture, indeed drew much attention at the time of arrival and later on, once Chinese became quite well off and finally now when Chinatown in San Francisco is deemed to be one of the major attractions for the tourists. Indeed, Chinese minority’s different culture from majority’s culture that once was perceived as the threat turned into a valuable asset to the American culture. Indeed, Chinatown has added its own value to the Majority’s culture and fit it very organically, although one shall remember at what cost Chinese Americans managed to do it. The positive trademark the US nowadays in known for is a tolerance, yet not always Americans and its policies were as tolerant.
Works cited
Hannigan, John. ”Culture, Globalization, and Social Cohesion: Towards a De-territorialized, Global Fluids Model”. University of Toronto. 2002. Web. Accessed 06 August 2016 at <http://www.cjc-online.ca/index.php/journal/article/view/1301/1333>
Chinatown Resource Guide. “The History of Chinatown”.Web. Accessed 06 August 2016 at <http://www.pbs.org/kqed/chinatown/resourceguide/story.html>
Robinson, Andrew. “An A-Z of theory Arjun Appadurai”. 2011. Web. Accessed 06 August 2016 at < https://ceasefiremagazine.co.uk/in-theory-appadurai/>
