Gloria Anzaldua Multiculturalism

Since the inception of human society, people have moved from one placed and settled in another whether it be by immigration, food shortages, war, refugees, etc. Instinctively, individuals who have joined a new society do not simply forget their past culture but instead integrates it with the culture of the new society they live in. Belonging to multiple groups and cultures due to this constant shift is known as multiculturalism. In the text The Old Chief Mshlanga by Doris Lessing, the reader is introduced to the protagonist, a little girl named Nkosikass. Her parents are European, yet she was born and raised in Africa and has little knowledge about what is supposed to be her homeland. She can be considered both Europeans and Africans based
The background of Anzaldua is interesting to note because she is a feminist, lesbians, Mexican-American meaning she belongs to many different groups and cultures than an ordinary person. A large amount of ordinary people never leaves the home and area in which they are accustomed to causing them to close off from the world, ignore new perspectives, and obstinate in their beliefs and ideals. People who step out of their comfort zone at a young age and frequently are more likely to experience the true world around them. Going off of this notion, the two selected texts exhibit that multicultural individuals are better suited to identify the injustices that exist in the world around them than those who come from a single background and
When Nkosikaas’s father threatens the chief to keep the villages’ goats that caused damage to his crops and properties, Chief Mshlanga replies in his native tongue, “All this land, this land you call yours, is his land, and belongs to our people” (Lessing 726). From Mshlanga’s point of view he has seen the whites invade and stack claim on his land without consent. However, from the perceptive of the whites, they do not fully know the consequences of their actions. The Europeans are blinded and clueless to the fact that they are oppressing the natives around them. Their singular culture made them oblivious to the fact that it was the natives land and the European have trespassed on the land. This can be seen when little Nkosikaas transverse the country she had lived in her whole life yet never traveled far from her family home. While walking she feels lost and alone in her native country because this was her first time truly experiencing the country if which she called home (Lessing 723). People who stem from a singular background can learn to identify injustices, but it involves placing yourself into other culture and living life outside of one’s comfort area. When one has this reality check, then they become better suited at discerning