The fail city---Philadelphia, PA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The fail city---Philadelphia, PA - Essay Example It has an art and culinary mix that is reflective of its ethnic mix of Irish, Scottish, and German immigrants in the seventeenth century, then followed later mostly by immigrants from southern and eastern Europe such as Poles, Italians, Hungarians, etc. and followed again by another immigrant wave of African-Americans during a period called as their Great Migration in the early twentieth century. Before the European settlers and colonizers came to Pennsylvania, this state is the home of the Delaware native-American tribe as well as other Indian tribes like the Iroquois, Shawnee, Erie, and Susquehannock. Pennsylvania is one of the original thirteen states which declared independence from Great Britain. Although its state capital today is Harrisburg, it is Philadelphia which has a rich historic legacy in most important events of American history, like the Declaration of Independence (1776) and the signing of the Constitution (1787), as it was the preferred meeting place of the Founding Fathers. Philadelphia once surpassed Boston as a chief seaport in the mid-Atlantic seaboard. This paper examines the success factors of Philadelphia from an anthropological, economic, and political viewpoint during its heyday. Discussion Philadelphia had always been the center of most human activities since its early time as a European settlement. As such, its success can be viewed from an anthropological angle or perspective because it was, and still is today, a melting pot (or salad bowl) on the East Coast. The original settlers of Philadelphia were the Indians and a first wave of European colonizers was the Dutch, followed by the British, and then a bit later, by the Swedes. The resulting mix of various European settlers intermarried with the natives. This mixture of peoples produced a tolerant attitude towards other cultures and got the best aspects of each culture to make the present culture of Philadelphia today which is progressive, flexible, and open to new ideas. The peopl e of Philadelphia are composed mostly of white Europeans (almost 82%) who are non-Hispanic with the next big majority being either black Americans or African- Americans (non-Hispanic origin). Besides these two, there are also many ethnic groups in the city’s population such as Native Americans (descendants of the remnants of original tribes) and Asians such as Pakistanis, Chinese, Indians, Vietnamese, Koreans, and Cambodians. The composition of Philadelphia’s population is truly cosmopolitan hence it is similar to New York City in terms of ethnic diversity. The different groups learned to live with each other in peace due to close proximity and tolerance for their differences. Philadelphians have learned to accommodate, cooperate and collaborate in the racial politics of culture (Baker 130). Although anthropology has four main areas of concentration in terms of study (the sociocultural, biological-physical, archaeological, and lastly, linguistics anthropology) it is th e sociocultural aspects of Philadelphia’s anthropology which can best explain its success as a big, modern city. This is to examine the city in terms of its sociocultural features such as in social patterns, religious beliefs, and cultural practices, as defined (American Anthropological Association, para. 2) because it determines justice, balance of