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How Immigrants Are Keeping Cultural Origins Alive in America
By David Nutting
If you moved to a new country, how would you stay in touch with people with similar cultural values as yourself? Throughout history, immigrants have clustered together as best they could in order to keep hold of cultural values among the community. Today, technology has allowed cultural exchange to happen in a radically new way.
Fox to Air Japanese Game Show
By Alicia Lee
The popular Japanese game show Hole in the Wall will soon make its way onto American television. Fox has announced it will partner with FremantleMedia to produce a U.S. version of what fans call "Human Tetris." In the show, competitors contort their bodies to fit through a wall with cut-out shapes. FremantleMedia says the show "has a universal comedic appeal." Clips of the show have already received more than five million hits on YouTube.
In Asher Price's article, "Immigrants find Home on the Web," he describes a radical new version of online community. "India Community Center – Austin" is not a community center in the original sense. This community center has no building or social events. "India Community Center – Austin" is a place where Indian immigrants can go online and stay in touch, talk with family, exchange airline tips, and make plans for cultural events. The online community has been around for about five years and has been a success story for those who use it. One member had this to say about the experience, "There's easy accessibility and the quick exchange of thoughts."
While living in the United States, these immigrants are able to keep a hold of their cultural origins via the technology of the World Wide Web. I believe, as Price does, that this new form of communication and community allows immigrants to both find others similar to themselves, but also frees them from the stigma that comes from living in closed communities. They are able to enjoy the best of both worlds: keeping in touch with their original culture while still experiencing the new.
Price takes an interesting look at how the relatively new technology of the internet is being used in a way that preserves cultural origins while avoiding social stigma. This web community has become a melting pot of all things Indian for immigrants living within the United States.