Exploring The Perryman Family Via American Studies

 

The Perryman family is an iconic representation of racial and cultural diversity not only in Oklahoma history but Native American history, and U.S. history. They are an invaluable source for research in American Studies, Cultural Studies and Ethnic Studies. Explore American history to discover early narratives have overlooked the rich voices of non-white experiences in the making of the United States. 

 

American Studies examines U.S. history through and interdisciplinary lens while revisiting plural ethnicities, cultures and experiences that have been ignored or received less emphasis in the narratives of American history. Note, little of this applies to the Perryman family as they are exceptionally well documented. However, in most cases they are often acknowledged and associated with Native American ethnicity. As with most American families, we can find the richness of plural cultures when exploring deeper.  In American Studies we consider the past and current effects of globalization when researching. Globalization produces fascinating facets that may have been overlooked in earler studies.

 

Researching the contextual background of the Perryman family, and their involvement in founding Tulsa, Oklahoma, reveals the roots of globalization and the rich diversity that still exists in the Tulsa community today. Even prior to statehood, Oklahoma has always been a community of mix racial compositions with families who are Native American, African American, and Anglo. Most families today are a least a combination of these three ethnicities and many families contain even more.

 

An example of global influence on racial ethnicity and cultural diversity is found in the family of the author of this page. Jai Rogers is Cherokee and Choctaw with African American and Anglo ancestries. However, her family was grown into a wealth of ethnicities with the birth of each new generation. Her family now includes and ethnoscape of Iranian, El Salvadorian and Polynesian heritage.

 

 

 

 

 

Recall the definitions of a few words as they relate to American Studies and Cultural Studies so to better understand how they apply to racial ethnicity and cultural diversity in Oklahoma.

 

1. Multi ethnic: made up of people of various ethnicities

2. Multicultural: representing several different cultures or cultural elements

3. Globalization: increasing the interconnectedness of cultural exchange

4. Glocalization: combining global and local but resulting in a unique outcome different from either 

5. Creolization: either with people or customs; mixing of the "old" or "traditional" with the "new" or modern

6. Hybridity: (in racial theory) a cultural result of globalization with traces of other cultures existing in every culture with a mixture of traditions and  customs

7. Heterogenic: increases diversity through the combination of ethnicities, cultures or customs that retaining elements of each to produce a completely new ideas or values

8. Homogenization: reduces cultural diversity; it is the opposite of heterogenization 

9. Ethnoscape: people or groups relocate bringing with them cultural influences as seen with the migration of refugees or tourists

10. Diaspora: the movement of a population from original homelands

11. Acculturation: the adjustments and adaptations made in response to contact with the dominant society which explains the process of cultural change and psychological well-being; effects are seen to the culture, customs and social institutions including changes in language