The Bicultural Paradigm

Bi-culturism is a unique paradigm brought up by Victor Villanueva and is the condition where two cultures coexist in a society where one culture usually has less political and socioeconomic strength then another.  This concept is not a practical reflection of American society because there are far more than two cultures in America and so the multicultural model is more appropriate.  The bi-cultural model is reasonable if I choose to look at only two cultures but it still misses the influences that ignored cultures have on these two.  Some people imagine a model where two cultures can coexist peacefully and can have an equal share of power.  I agree with Villanuela in his book "Bootstraps: From an American Academy of Color" where he argues that that there will be tensions between the cultures (p. 39).  I agree with him because cultures have different norms, and different ways of living public life, and so will clash in public life.

In the assignments coming up I will be analyzing different media content and organizations and see how they represent different sexes, genders, races, and people with disability.  The idea of bi-culturalism will help me analyze this information and will help me see how the dominant culture represents another. For example, many advertising companies are dominated by rich and middle class white males and so they will use their power to interpret less dominant cultures according to the norms of their own culture.

I will now be making up practice questions for ENG 475 in WSU Tri-Cities.  I found that the article "Race: The Power of an Illusion" was a very powerful source of information that attacks racism on every level.

 According to the PBS article "Race: The Power of an Illusion" what percent of the total human diversity exists in any local population? (C)

a.   5%
b.   95%
c.   55%
d.   85%

According to the PBS article "Race: The Power of an Illusion" the genes for skin color affect other genes in the body such as hair texture, eye shape, blood type, musical ability, or athletic ability. (F)

bibliography:

Villanueva, Victor.  Bootstraps: From an American Academy of Color. Urbana, IL: NCTE. 34-50.

Adelman, Larry. "RACE - The Power of an Illusion | PBS." Weblog post. PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. PBS. Web. 28 Oct. 2010. <http://www.pbs.org/race/000_General/000_00-Home.htm>.