Marching to a Different Drummer – NYC’s Steuben Day Parade
27 Oct 2011 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: German Americans, German culture, NYC, Steuben Day Parade
Two lovely girls in their traditional outfits on the day of the parade - picture from New York Daily New's coverage of the parade.
Watching NYC’s Steuben Day Parade lead me to disturbing speculations on the impact of the American melting pot upon cultural pluralism. If we are all equal as Americans does that mean we are all the same? Will the cultural idiosyncrasies of small groups of German citizens as reflected in their manner of dress, language, cuisine, dance and music lose their savor and fade away into the American cultural hodgepodge? Is the parade merely a pale reflection of the glory of German culture now many times generationally removed?
Moreover, will the American cultural juggernaut and forces of globalization encourage a world-wide cultural landscape where difference is minimized and pluralism reduced? I can imagine a worldwide cultural landscape where the nail that sticks up is hammered down, differences homogenized and creativity stifled. What a tragedy! It would be a sad and insipid world indeed without the glories of the dirndl, lederhosen, and Schuhplattler, the flavors of bratwurst, sauerkraut, potatoes and beer.
German marching band - hope they didn't drink too much beer before the parade! From NYDailyNews.com
According to Michael Kimmelman of The New York Times, we have little to fear from American cultural imperialism and the forces of globalization.
“Nationalism, regionalism and tribalism are all on the rise. Societies are splitting even as they share more common goods and attributes than ever before. Culture is increasingly an instrument to divide and differentiate communities. And the leveling pressures of globalization have at the same time provided more and more people with the technological resources to decide for themselves, culturally speaking, who they are and how they choose to be known, seen, distinguished from others.”
Kimmelman believes that globalization acts rather to increase our choices.
The “…leveling pressures of globalization have … provided more and more people with the technological resources to decide for themselves, culturally speaking, who they are and how they choose to be known, seen, distinguished from others. […] Anyone may now pick through the marketplace of global culture.”
The Steuben Day Parade may reflect the growing need for people to distinguish themselves one from the other, to resist the trend toward sameness, or rather to encourage the preservation and dissemination of individuality. That individuality which is, paradoxically, another basic American trait.
“This may sound like the essence of globalization, but the fact that everybody from Yerevan to Brasilia, Jakarta to Jerusalem, knows songs by the Black Eyed Peas or wears New York Yankees caps doesn’t mean that culture is the same everywhere.”
So wear your lederhosen and hold your bratwurst with pride!
~MS the O&W
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