Quote:
Originally Posted by Crawford
The "real" Jewish neighborhoods in NYC are all Orthodox or centered around a certain ethnicity.
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The whole concept of newer members of a diaspora being more "real" and "authentic" than descendants of an older, more assimilated waves of a diaspora seems interesting but can be controversial.
Does the average American think of the old-time Brooklyn, Yiddish-speaking community when they imagine the average Jewish neighborhood or the newer Orthodox, Israeli or post- Soviet Union immigrants?
Are Irish expats in Boston more Irish than members of the old time Irish American population whose family hasn't set foot in Ireland in three or four generations? Some Irish from the actual country will call the latter the disparaging term "plastic paddies" for overplaying their Irishness.
Does a first generation African immigrant neighborhood of say, Washington DC, get to claim it's representative of an authentic black or African culture, relative to the long-standing African American community with southern roots? Or even to the Gullah community of Georgia and South Carolina?
Do the Tejanos or Hispanos of New Mexico represent authentic Hispanic American culture relative to a first or second generation immigrant from Mexico, in say Chicago?