We talked about the raised profile of the coming of age celebration called Quinceañera for Hispanic girls already a few months ago, now Rob Walker in his NY Times column looks at the concept (in a magazine who’s main article was about border control and the restriction of illegal immigrants from Mexico and Latin America to the US!). In the article he wonders if ‘ethnic’ celebrations are just part of what it is to be American today:
That observation is consistent with a broader reawakening of cultural identities in America explored by the scholar Marilyn Halter in her 2000 book, “Shopping for Identity.” She traces a shift over many decades, from immigrants who literally discarded material effects from the “old country” as part of the process of assimilation to the contemporary “romance of ethnicity” that celebrates connections to any roots, be they Irish or Cajun. “Immigrants no longer simply become Americans,” she writes. “They become ethnic Americans.”
The Princess Buy – New York Times
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