Arab-American Star:Â 'Kawkab
Amirka' and the orientation question
The 'huddled masses' sweeping the American shoreline
starting from the second half of the 19th century until World War I,
forced both newcomers and Americans to re-define themselves in relation to one
another. In his famous The Frontier in
American History Fredrick Jackson Turner forwarded the 'Melting pot' model
to relieve tensions arising at the junction between the ‘old’ and ‘new’
residents of America.
According to Turner, geographical proximity is bound to lead after a single
generation to social assimilation or acculturation, which is the exchange of
all previous affiliations and behaviors with loyalty to the United States and the adoption of
American customs and perceptions. But this description seemed to fit only the
earlier immigrants, such as the Swedes, Germans and German Jews and not the
variety of newcomers from Eastern Europe, the Middle East or the Far East. Instead, the term 'Nationality' set the border
between 'Americans' and the new 'National groups'.