Carrying home, Portland, 2017
Item 102765 info
Maine Historical Society
Rather than the assimilation model of forcing immigrants to melt into the "American" pot, the 2017 cultural climate fosters a mosaic of experiences. When Germans immigrated to Waldoboro in the 1750s, or Scandinavians set out for Maine in 1870, it was generally understood that they would never return to their home countries.
The advancements in technology--cell phones, computers, and efficient international flights--allowed more recent immigrants the freedom to live a transnational experience, to keep their identities, their language, and maintain relations with people at home.
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