How have the Vietnamese people been assimilated?

Assimilation

1. (a) How have the Vietnamese people been assimilated?

The Vietnamese people have been assimilated into the Australian society. They have been absorbed and adopted to the Australian Culture, by learning and socialising from others. Especially the new generations which have grown up in Australia.

(b) List the ways of how this was achieved

Socialising in cultural pattern to of the host country.
Intermarriage between the immigrant group and the core society.
Denying native country.
The change of the immigrant’s cultural pattern to that of the host society. Involving the change in ethnic values, customs and cultural forms.

Research

2. What is assimilation?

Assimilation, the process by which individuals or groups are absorbed into and adopt the dominant and society of another group. The term assimilation is generally used with regard to immigrants to a new land. New customs and attitudes are acquired through contact and communication with indigenous inhabitants. However, the transfer of customs is not simply a one-way process. Each group of immigrants contributes some of its own cultural traits to its new society. Assimilation usually involves a gradual change and takes place in varying degrees; full assimilation occurs when new members of a society become indistinguishable from older members.

3. Find two other examples where other races/cultures have been assimilated?

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3. Find two other examples where other races/cultures have been assimilated?

Aboriginal Assimilation

Assimilation came about during the post war years in Australia where the Aborigines were expected to live like White Australians do.

In 1951 assimilation was adopted as the Commonwealth Government policy. To facilitate the process, all Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory were declared "wards" under the welfare ordinance of 1953, which gave the Government legal rights over their movements, employment, residence, wages and even who they married. A network of government settlements was established to which any wandering "bush" groups were to be removed and where they were to be educated in the ways of mainstream society.

By the late 1960's, however, the assimilation policy was increasingly being questioned, mainly because it failed to provide for the economic development of Aboriginal people. The policy was based on an assumption that the Aboriginal people would adopt the economic and cultural values of the white majority.

To partake in development, Aboriginal people were required to alter radically their distinct cultural practices, particularly their attachment to the land. Yet, throughout the assimilation era, Aboriginal cultures continued to be remarkably resilient.

This assimilation is similar to that of the Vietnamese people because they both have the same effects, bringing native cultures to a dead end. Although the Aborigines weren’t in foreign lands and slowly adapted to western cultures. Unlike the Vietnamese, which suddenly arrived in foreign land that had a completely different, culture to their own.

Jewish Assimilation

Many Jewish arrived in America in the early 1900's with Jewish culture in hand. They favored Jewish life and opposed further assimilation into the world. They wanted to remain Jews.

Americans were the more dominant and succeeded in assimilating Jews completely into American society. The "melting pot" theory of assimilation of ethnic groups aided the efforts of Reform, which promoted less overt Jewish identity.

Reform became a "minimum religion" that gave its members a socially acceptable religious affiliation without demanding from them ritual, observance or even faith.

This developed into a conduit into Conservative Judaism which was founded as an opposition to Reform based on the Historical school that Judaism was a human and not a Divine institution and could develop and change in accordance with the needs and will of the people. It is no wonder that by 1906 over 90% of American Jewry were non observant of Jewish law.

They attempted to eradicate their Jewishness; many intermarried and most refused to identify with Jewish groups or causes. By the year 2000 it is interesting to note that the Jewish population in America has barely increased by one fifth while the general population has doubled in size. Such is the toll of assimilation, low birth rate and restrictive immigration policies.

This example of assimilation is similar to that of the Vietnamese people. They were both forced to go to foreign land and got absorbed into and adopt the dominant culture. Although the Jewish example is more drastic, where the people almost completely forgot about their culture.