Friday,
October 31st, 2014
Post
by Kim
A
few days ago, Adam and I had an interesting discussion about the population of
the UAE. It’s not just simply a tossed
salad.
For
those of you who may not be familiar with the idea of a “tossed salad”, here’s
a little preface. For many people, the
United States of America is considered a “melting pot”; that is, a place where
people come from all parts of the world and assimilate into American
culture. The goal for the immigrant from
abroad is to come out the same as an “average American”.
While
growing up in Montreal, I remember Canadians describing their society as a “tossed salad”, where newcomers aim to integrate into the majority culture, as
opposed to assimilating into society. This allows immigrants to retain more of the cultural values
and practices from their homeland. By
keeping your traditions, you get a population that is more of a “mosaic” or
“tossed salad” than a well-blended melting pot.
I
think that some may disagree on whether the USA and Canada are melting pots
versus tossed salads. However, Adam and
I are certain that the UAE is a tossed salad.
As I’ve mentioned before in my blog, this country is made up of people
from all around the world: Emiratis,
Filipinos, Indians, Pakistanis, Tunisians, Omanis, Americans, Canadians, Irish,
Australians, etc. And certainly, there
is no pressure to conform to a “majority culture”, because there isn’t really
one. Though this country’s official
religion is Islam, certainly the Emiratis do not expect expats to convert to
and practice their religion. (All they
want us to do is respect some of their views, such as appropriate clothing for
women). Everyone is free to attend their
place of worship.
The
UAE's version of the “tossed
salad” is quite different, though, from Canada's. As I’ve mentioned before in my
blog, the vast majority of people in the UAE here are expats (e.g., from South
and Southeast Asian and from the Western World), not citizens of the UAE. People are here only if they are tourists, if
they have a job here, or if they are related to someone with a job here. Citizenship cannot easily be obtained unless you are
already an Emirati by birth. This means
that, if you quit or if your work contract is up, you have to leave the
country. So, there is a high turn around
here in the UAE. Expats cannot come here
and settle permanently, unlike newcomers in Canada or in the USA.
So,
essentially, the UAE is an EVERCHANGING tossed salad. Beside the Emirati citizens, no one truly remains
here.
So interesting! I always thought of Canada as a "melting pot"; however, you are right - it is more correctly described as a "tossed salad". I've not heard of that term before. As I read your posts, the UAE culture just continues to amaze me! I am more curious and fascinated by it now than afraid of it.
ReplyDeleteHey Hanh! Yeah, I wonder sometimes whether Canada is truly a "tossed salad". Growing up there, I often envied the Caucasian kids -- wanted to eat PB and J like them, for example. As an adult now, I still think and act more like a Western/Caucasian Canadian than an Asian/Vietnamese. So I don't really know whether Canada is as much of a "tossed salad" as people say it is. On the other hand, I don't really think that the USA is as much of a melting pot as people say it is. It's a little more complicated than that. Like I said in my post, though, the UAE definitely feels like different groups from different backgrounds, all tossed together.
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