Post #2- Understanding race and ethnicity

Link to article: Walmart celebrates Chinese New Year by catering to the neighbourhood

Walmart celebrates Chinese New Year by catering to the neighbourhood
Staff Reporter: Jayme Poisson

For this week’s blog post I choose to discuss an article that embraces Canada’s multiculturalism. We are all familiar with celebrating Chinese New Year, as well as Walmart Canada. Well, for the first time ever in Canada, a Scarborough, Ontario Walmart made special arrangements for 2012s Chinese New Year.

Chinese New Year fell on January 22nd celebrating the year of the Dragon.

By now, most large corporations like Walmart, as well as grocery stores, have dedicated and aisle or stocked a few shelves full of ethnic foods. However, now this specific Walmart which is located in a district where 40 per cent of their customers are of Asian descent is first to house an Asian bakery, fish market and butcher.

The new location provides chicken feet. Here it is in a cooked state.

The new location offers whole eel. Which can be used in dishes such as eel sushi.

Last but not least, almond cookies are churned in the bakery.

I felt this new addition of multiculturalism to my local Canadian community was a perfect example of what Dr. Brenda Allen, author and professor at the University of Colorado Denver, described as important, and why this difference matters. In her book, Difference matters: communication social identity, Allen outlines three specific reasons why exactly difference is important to recognize.

1.       We are becoming more different statistically
2.       Social identities are coming to the forefront
3.       Increasing variety of people is increasing demand for diversity programs in the public sphere

It is these three reasons that if understood and embraced can benefit our society's diversity. According to Allen (2004), “dealing effectively with difference and embracing it as a positive force rather than as something to be shunned of feared, can help organizations to accomplish their goals” (p. 5). Allen believes that when organizations (Walmart Canada) broaden their markets (accommodating the Asian market) will increase profits by producing and incorporating the input from such diverse groups.

This newly added accommodation is part of Walmarts “store of the community program,” launched in 2006, which works within the public sphere to effectively deal with difference. According to Poisson, the program works to “identify multicultural clusters across the country.” Poisson said Walmart Canada headquarters takes this data and is able to produce a merchandise selection specifically made for these multicultural clustered locations such as Scarborough.

The article also reminds me that although I am not a fan of how these massive corporations kill local businesses and individuality, their goal was to open a one-stop-shop to accommodate their existing customers (which compromise of almost half their clientele) and satisfy their food preferences.

I also believe that bringing these diverse ethnic foods to a more public sphere such as Walmart can in fact open up the minds of those in the community who are not familiar with Asian cuisine as well as culture. I am an advocate for experiencing other cultures and having an open mind. According to Allen “thinking and talking about difference can facilitate productive and enjoyable interactions with one another across our differences” (p. 5).

References

Allen, B. J, (2004) Difference matters: communicating social identity. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.

Poisson, J. (2012, January 23). Walmart celebrates Chinese new Year by catering to the neighbourhood. The Toronto Star. Retrieved from http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1120080--walmart-celebrates-chinese-new-year-by-catering-to-the-neighbourhood