America's Banquet of Cultures: Harnessing Ethnicity, Race, and Immigration in the Twenty-First Century [Paperback]

Ronald Fernandez (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 30, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0275975088 | ISBN-13: 978-0275975081 | Edition: 1ST

The melting pot is a myth, according to Fernandez, who shows that the United States is and always has been a banquet of cultures. As he argues, the best way to deal with the more than 20 million new immigrants since 1965 is to accept, recognize, and eagerly explore the differences among the American people. Fernandez seeks to forge a positive national consensus based on two building blocks. First, the nation's many ethnic groups can be a powerful source of unprecedented economic, artistic, and scientific creativity. Secondly, the nation's many ethnic groups offer a way to erase the black/white dichotomy which, masks the shared injustices of millions of European, Asian, African, Native, and Latino Americans. This is a provocative analysis of how we arrived at our current ethnic and racial dilemmas and what can be done to move beyond them. Scholars and students of American immigration and social policy as well as concerned citizens will find the book equally rewarding.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Fernandez has eloquently critiqued America's obsession with race, color, and immigrant `dangers'....Fernandez valiantly demands that we genuinely cherish ethnic and cultural difference. All levels.”–Choice

“...informative and interesting.”–Journal of American Ethnic History

“America's Banquet of Cultures breaks new and significant ground on ethnicity, race and immigration.”–Cultural Survival

“...a provocative blend of observation and policy suggestion....useful in teaching undergraduates, particularly for those instructors who like to use unconventional thinking and opinion to shake students free from the shackles of their everyday assumptions.”–Contemporary Sociology

“The Americas of which the United States is but one, albeit an iconic part, continue to invite deep analysis, insightful commentary, and practical directions towards a future capable of coping creatively with the dilemma of difference. Ronald Fernandez's America's Banquet of Cultures is a timely contribution to the continuing discourse on ethnicity, race and the immigration that underlie the textured diversity which is already the hallmark of 21st century life on planet Earth. It is indeed an invaluable and welcome addition to the expanding literature in the still emerging field of Cultural Studies.”–Rex Nettleford Vice Chancellor University of the West Indies

“America's Banquet of Cultures breaks new and significant ground on all three of Fernandez's principal emphases: ethnicity, race and immigration. He has again used the Presidential libraries to uncover a considerable amount of neglected or unanalyzed material. I was especially impressed with his overview of a hundred years of undocumented Mexican migration to the United States. He lets U.S. officials speak for themselves in a manner that underlines the hypocrisy and contradictions of Washington's attitudes toward Mexico and its migrants.”–Luis Nieves Falcon Director of the Center for Social Research University of Puerto Rico

About the Author

RONALD FERNANDEZ is Professor of Sociology at Central Connecticut State University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: Praeger Paperback; 1ST edition (July 30, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0275975088
• ISBN-13: 978-0275975081
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,167,150 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Revisiting race, color and immigration, February 12, 2001

By 

Antonio Garcia Lozada (West Hartford, CT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: America's Banquet of Cultures: Harnessing Ethnicity, Race, and Immigration in the Twenty-First Century (Hardcover)

Ronald Fernández's in-depth critical study about the hot button issues of race and immigration is a veritable gold mine of information for scholars and general readers. From the title itself, it is noticeable that Fernández wants to offer us an unique and versatile perspective. Rather than repeating the most common term of "melting pot", he employs "the banquet" which implies substantial meanings: celebration, camaraderie, dialogue and respect around the variety of food served in a communal table. In that sense "the banquet" is the representation of the social interaction in a common space: the United States of America. Fernández brings us intriguing and extraordinary facts and experiences, e.g., from the archives of presidents' libraries, to illustrate how paradoxical the incessant conception of race has been spread: from the people who have exercised the political power to the ordinary population. His critique of the USA society intends to deconstruct (or dismantle) the absurd dichotomy between splendorous whiteness and dull blackness. Fernández offers with numerous examples a vivid picture that the concept of color is questionable and untenable. The idea of race based on skin color is so laden with contradictions that it not longer works. As an example, he makes a pointed remark about the multiple variations of colors of the large group of immigrants - Asians, Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Haitians, Filipinos and Mexicans - that do not find themselves within this category. It is in this spirit that Fernández has conceived the title of this book: America's Banquet of cultures. He invites us to be reflective since we live in a country that has not exactly created sensitivity and stability for the transnational immigrants, such as: Filipina maids, Mexicans farm laborers, Chinese sweatshop workers, among many others, who are displaced not only within the borders of this nation but also across the United States. Fernández persuasively stated, that the immigrants through many years have brought a complex realignment of social forces that engender an intense economic movement and cultural interdependency. Therefore, the term banquet, based on Fernández demands, refers to the sharing of our human common values and principles and develops honest awareness for our differences. Like all of Fernández' work this is a remarkable critical account in a sociological, historical, cultural and moral sense. This is a valuable work, analytical but very warm and witty. This is a book that everyone should read.

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book Must Have, June 30, 2005

By 

Esma Ajruli "Esma Ajruli" (Middlebury, CT) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: America's Banquet of Cultures: Harnessing Ethnicity, Race, and Immigration in the Twenty-First Century (Paperback)

As a student of Dr. Fernandez and direct of International Studies at Central Connecticut State University in Connecticut I have to say that his book "America's Banquet of Culture" is an excellent book in explaining the differences between cultures, ethnicity, race and immigration. It is a must have book!!!!

Esma Ajruli