Iowa's Cultural Landscape
By Mark Grey

(Mark Grey is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls.)

The national census figures recently have been released, and legislators, politicians and urban and rural planners are pouring over the results. Perhaps in anticipation of these demographic changes, a bill in the Iowa legislature was introduced to make English the official state language. Here are the thoughts of UNI Professor Mark Grey, one of the state's leading experts on demographic changes in the state. Professor Grey has published extensively on the growth of minority populations in Iowa's rural meatpacking communities. Here's an excerpt from the article he wrote for our quarterly publication, The Scene, in 1999 anticipating the statistics that only recently were released:

At stake here is a deeper understanding and appreciation for a new Iowa and how smoothly the transformation is taking place. This change is presenting challenging and fascinating questions about books we buy for our libraries, the documents we accept for our state history archives and the validation of others' sense of who they are. Museums will someday be challenged to erect displays about the arrival of an entirely new wave of immigrants. Grants may be made to aspiring young, immigrant writers so they can express their experiences as newcomers in Iowa.

I often try to remind people that historically Iowa is a tremendously diverse place. The number of different cultures and languages that settled this state are legion. And, only a few short generations ago did cultural and linguistic differences among people mean more than the similarities. Today, of course, many of the distinctions among the European cultures that settled in America have disappeared through migration and intermarriage. Consequently, it is easy for people to understand their role in homogeneous societies: Yet their historical memories lack depth. Indeed, an honest assessment of most of Iowa's forebearers would, ironically, create a deeper appreciation for the newcomers today. How many thousands of Europeans settled in this state with little or no English skills, yet impatient residents today demand instant English among newcomer populations?

The transition will be difficult at times. Those people with a deep appreciation for the humanities, will contribute significantly to this transition. Indeed, it will be up to supporters of the humanities to remind others that the root word in "humanities" is "human" - and that all people - including people from different nations and cultures -deserve to legitimately express their identity and become a vital part of Iowa's cultural landscape.

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