Assimilation, Cultural and Structural

When a member of an ethnic minority group acquires the behavior patterns, lifestyles, values, and language of the mainstream culture, he or she has become culturally assimilated. Cultural assimilation is the process by which an individual or group acquires the cultural characteristics of a different ethnic or cultural group. Because the dominant racial, cultural, ethnic, or religious group controls most of the social, economic, and political institutions within a society, members of ethnic minority groups must acquire its cultural characteristics in order to experience social class mobility and structural inclusion in society.

Assimilation often occurs when a minority group voluntarily acquires the behavior patterns and lifestyles of the dominant group in order to attain social-class and economic mobility. In the history of most nations that were colonized, however, such as India and Malaysia—and in the history of immigrant nations such as Australia, Canada, and the United States—some forms of cultural assimilation that occurred were involuntary or forced. These forms of assimilation were forced because the cultures, languages, and religions of certain groups were deliberately destroyed and a form of cultural genocide occurred. In the late 1880s, the U.S. federal government began a program to “Americanize” American Indians by stripping them of their languages, religions, and behaviors. A major vehicle for the Americanization program was the Indian boarding school. In 1879, Captain Richard H. Pratt founded the U.S. Training and Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Pratt's school became a model for the 150 boarding schools that were established in the United States by 1900. This quote from a speech that Pratt gave at a convention in 1892 epitomized his philosophy about the education and Americanization of American Indians:

In Australia and Canada, as well as in other colonized and immigrant nations, forced assimilation of indigenous groups also occurred. Australian Aboriginal children were taken from their families by the Australian and state government agencies and forced to live on state missions and reserves. These removals began in 1869 and continued until [Page 168]the late 1960s and early 1970s. These children are called “The stolen generation.” Kevin Rudd, the Australian Prime Minister, issued a formal apology to the stolen generation on February 13, 2008. In Canada, residential schools for Indians were established in the 19th century to implement the federal government policy of “aggressive assimilation,” which was similar to the policy of Americanization of the Indians that was occurring in the United States at the same time. Stephen Harper, the prime minister of Canada, issued a formal apology for the treatment of Indian children in residential schools on June 11, 2008. He said, “The treatment of children in Indian residential schools is a sad chapter in our history.” He also pointed out that the primary aims of these residential schools was to prevent Indian children from being influenced by their home and community traditions and cultures and to assimilate them into the Canadian mainstream culture. Action related to the apology included the establishment of the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

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