Marcela Valladolid Quotes

I have no doubt that Japan will propagate to China and other countries in the Orient, whose standard of civilization is low, her new civilization, which is a product of harmonizing the Japanese and European civilizations. In a sense Japan may be said to have the mission of harmonizing Eastern and Western civilization and of propagating the new civilization; nay, I do not hesitate to declare that this is her mission

The Melting Pot

The strength of a culture depends on its capacity to open itself up to other cultures, to integrate itself into them and to integrate them into it.

What goes into the Melting Pot determines what shall come out of it.

It [being an immigrant] gave me a huge advantage. Being an immigrant is the best of both worlds. You’re programmed two different ways. You’re bringing the best from your culture—and Hispanic culture has so many great things—and mixing it with the greatest country in the world. That gives us an advantage in comparison to somebody who was born in the U.S., went to school here, and the U.S. is all they’ve seen. We’ve seen the other side.

I am hopeful that the concept of 'cultural appropriation' is a passing fad: people with different backgrounds rubbing up against each other and exchanging ideas and practices is self-evidently one of the most productive, fascinating aspects of modern urban life.

What I've learned, traveling the country and doing book signings, Mama's biscuits - you know, somebody in Montana's got their version of Mama's biscuits, somebody in California's got their version - so it made me realize that we're not as regionalized as we think we are.

I find that my Israeli background actually helps me to break some boundaries because we don't have such long traditions. We took traditions from Europe, from the Middle East, and we were encouraged to explore and adapt things.

I'm Mexican and Kenyan at the same time. I've seen the quarrels over my nationality, but I'm Kenyan and Mexican at the same time. So again, I am Mexican-Kenyan, and I am fascinated by carne asada tacos.

I have this internal cultural struggle where there's a side of me that is very Brazilian that misses the food and culture, and a side of me that's very American that really loves the structure and predictability here.

Los Cabos has been an amalgam of many cultures that have been coming here. There have been beautiful Jesuit missions for example, in many places around this area. The towns are incredible. But there is a very strong Mexicanized culture here that exists because people from different parts of Mexico have come to live here.

My personal opinion about the world is that it's homogenized.

Literally everything good about this culture comes from mixing.

What I want to tell people is that you can mix the culture a little bit and it's not always appropriation.

When you bring multiple cultures together, there's a degree of push and pull.

I feel like I've mixed my Middle Eastern and Western loves together.

I can be a mix of both. I don't have to be an Indian or an American. They're not mutually exclusive. It's something growing up I didn't know.

I don't think there is only one Arab culture or a pure Arabness. We are very multiple, especially our generation, which is very multilayered.

I ended up very American and very Indonesian and a little bit of a lot of things.

Culturally, I'm not 100 percent Korean. I'm very mixed and very open.

I grew up in a unique environment where I was immersed in both Japanese and American cultures equally.

Israel is a mishmash of other cultures. It's like New Orleans; it's a meltdown of other cultures.

Before, there was a culture that said Mumbai is separate, Telugu films should be separate. Now, everyone is working together. It's cool.

As a kid we would eat moussaka with mash. We had a real fusion of two cultures that no-one has dared to fuse since.

Few of us doubt that stealing is wrong, especially from the poor. But the accusation of 'cultural appropriation' is overwhelmingly being used as an objection to syncretism - the mixing of different thoughts, religions, cultures, and ethnicities that often ends up creating entirely new ones.