International Journal of Social Science Studies Vol. 6, No. 8; August 2018 ISSN 2324-8033 E-ISSN 2324-8041 Published by Redfame Publishing URL: http://ijsss.redfame.com 22 Patterns of Cultural Inclusion and Exclusion in American Society: The Case of Chaldean Americans Lanouar Ben Hafsa 1 1 University of Tunis, Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, Tunisia Correspondence: Lanouar Ben Hafsa, University of Tunis, Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, Tunisia. Received: June 11, 2018 Accepted: July 3, 2018 Available online: July 24, 2018 doi:10.11114/ijsss.v6i8.3475 URL: https://doi.org/10.11114/ijsss.v6i8.3475 Abstract This study aims to shed light on a community for long positioned as Arab and/or Muslim but still in search of a sense of belonging that promotes its ancestral heritage and at the same time reinforces bonds of solidarity among its members. It investigates the rhetoric around the Detroit-based Chaldean diaspora, not merely as case in point, but also because this is where the bulk of Chaldean Americans are concentrated. While it retraces their pathway from the homeland (Iraq) up through their establishment in the United States, it essentially explores the debate surrounding the group’s identity formation. Principally, it seeks to scrutinize patterns of continuity and change operating within the Chaldean microcosm, namely to demonstrate that the construct “ethnic identity” is more than a question of self-perception. It rather involves an interplay of mechanisms that concur to preserve the group’s distinctive features and keep it shielded against threatening erasure. The investigation suggests to evidence, ultimately, that even though it exhibits broad consensus on basic elements of association that unify its individual members, notably Church and family, the Chaldean diaspora is by no means conflict-ridden. In effect, the persevering influx of co-ethnics fleeing persecution in the homeland appears to be a new source of internal frictions likely to polarize the community and precipitate an identity crisis. Keywords: Chaldean Americans, ethnic identity, assimilation, internal frictions 1. Introduction The concept “ethnic identity” is not a recent one. In the United States, better known for its ethno-religious diversity, it even preceded the great migration of the late 19 th and 20th centuries, and had rather been used in reference to racial identity. Even though unavoidable in forums pertaining to assimilation and the melting pot in general, the construct started to reemerge in social behavioral sciences literature in the 1960s and 1970s, when ethnic minority groups began to claim civil rights up to then denied to them (Bell, 1975: 174). However, the concept is too far from generating consensus among ethnic theorists who still fall short of setting on a common definition to the designate in question. If a significant number among them appear to converge on the assumption that ethnic identity formation is by no means a static process (Phinney, 2003: 63), but rather a dynamic and fluid one, others suggest that it has become nothing more than a cliché term, more and more difficult to elucidate (Gleason, 1996). The study gauges to probe the rhetoric surrounding the Chaldean American community, especially to explore the dynamics of a group, erroneously positioned as Arab/Muslim, but still in search of a sense of identity that promotes ancestral ties and at the same time binds community members together in a multicultural environment. It aims to spotlight a group that traces its origin to present day Iraq, but that largely takes pride neither in its national origin, nor in the Arabic language spoken by the majority of their former fellow citizens. It seeks to demonstrate how, despite its adherence to American values and symbols, the community steadfastly refuses to relinquish its own cultural and linguistic heritage which it endeavors to pass over to future generations. To date, very little has been written about the American-based Chaldean diaspora. Understandably, due to its tiny size, the group has either been completely ignored by social scientists, or at best has not been sufficiently addressed in ethnic literature, written in larger part by non-Chaldeans. Actually, except for several references, notably the authoritative book, The Chaldean-Americans: Changing Conceptions of Ethnic Identity, by renowned sociologist Mary C. Sensgstock, few material has been published about the group that, otherwise, would have helped bring the community to more visibility.