T 1290.pdf - Pondicherry University DSpace Portal

themselves through a single stock. HenceIn adlustlng to therr adopted country they, andlater thelr progeny, fashioned ties of belongingappropriate to thelr changing conditions. Theprocess is likely to go on, for where boundaries areloose there 1s freedom to choose". (Luedtke 1987.79)If for no other reason, their acculturlsation demandsattentlon for the llght lt sheds on the character of the UnitedStates. At lssue IS what is meant to be an Amerlcan in a nationwhere hlstory has denled its people the bond of a commonpaternity.Vlewing it closely and subscrlblng to the propositionthat expatrlatlon 1s a baslc human rlght, the Unlted States ofAmerlca fulfilled its needs as the world's leading recelver ofImmigrants. It also opened up a llberatlng Idea for manklnd-theIdea that natlonalitres are changeable rather than irrevocable.Added to lt, the terms for becomlng a naturallsed citizen didnot require lmmlgrants to glve up their rellglons, languages,memories, customs, muslc, food or whatever else they cared topreserve In the folk culture. The process of acculturatlon.therefore, left room for different antecedents and ethnlcafflllations whlle upholding the values of a common civicculture. As Arthur Mann observes: "Llke Israel Zangwlll, whopopularlsed the metaphor of the meltlng pot, Kallen clalmed too