William McNeil’s Polythnicity and National Unity in World History is a depiction of homogeneity of societies weakening after World War 1. He discussed homogeneity as being a way of describing barbaric or solitude communities such as societies found on islands or in undiscovered villages. He continues by explain how through trade and commerce homogeneity began a process into extinction. The trade and communication that was occurring between foreign countries jump started the mixing of ethnicities. Polyethnicity is used to describe this mixing of ethnicities within a single country or region. The stemming of polyethnicity can be attributed to post war land divisions , immigration, and intermarriage. McNeil states that for many societies polyethnicity has grown to be the cultural norm and that between the 18th and 20th century this mixing of people progressed to be the cultural societal norm.
This term is something that I consider in daily life, but have come to expect as the norm. Many of us, as Americans, look at the society for what it is today, as opposed to what our ancestors have gone through in the past. We are a product of polyethinicity. This idea is something that we often take for granted. While reading this article, I kept thinking how it related to my life, and the life of everyone I know.
This whole reading reminded me of a documentary that I watched in one of my classes. It showed how the migration of people have changed who we are. It then tested the DNA of 1000 people in New York City, and traced their DNA back to their country of origin. Many people were shocked to find out where they came from. It was often completely different then what they had assumed. It talked about how as the land changed and the climate, different people developed different feature. We all evolve based on where we are. In current society, a lot of people do move because of their surroundings due to war. I felt that the ideas behind this documentary were linked with the reading. My self history is very interesting to me, and it is interesting to see how it can compare to what McNeil was thinking.
It's easy for us to take for granted how intermingled and multicultural this country is since it is all we have ever known. I often wonder what it was like to be Japanese back before WWII when they were mostly very homogenous and how strange some foreign cultures would have seemed to them? On the other hand, they did trade with many nations, but their culture was based on tradition. I doubt they suffered the guilt of modern day political correctness when it comes to multiculturalism.
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