By
It’s happening right before your eyes—the new American mix
The old paradigm of the melting pot and phrases like “ethnic diversity” can no longer describe the freedom with which more and more Americans are modifying and assimilating cultural elements across ethnic lines. Under the Dragon is a fascinating look at the way individuals are building their own identities from an increasingly diverse pool, whether they are African American Buddhists, Latino Muslims, or a group of Mien students who invented their own cultural dance in order to celebrate an ethnic “heritage.”
Published in collaboration with the Oakland Museum of California
Andrew Lam is an award-winning syndicated writer, an editor with the Pacific News Service, and a regular commentator on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered. He co-founded New California Media, and his essays have appeared in dozens of newspapers and magazines across the country, including the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Baltimore Sun, the Atlanta Journal, the Chicago Tribune, Mother Jones, The Nation, and Earth Island Journal.
