Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Multicultural Miami
There's an old saw that South Florida, with its diversity and urban character,
is culturally Northeastern even if it's geographically Southern, but that's re-
ductive. Miami and surrounds aren't Manhattan with a tan. This region is an
intersection of Middle America, Latin America and the Caribbean, a clash of
the idiosyncratic types who decided miles of marshland, beach, mangroves
and islets were a place where the American dream could be realized to sub-
tropical perfection. In short, it's demographically interesting here.
Greater Multicultural Miami
Contemporary South Florida is certainly more than Miami, but if the local distinct regional
identity has an anchor city, Miami is that town. With that said, while Miami's energy im-
pacts the Keys and the Glades (particularly the former), these other areas are more demo-
graphically homogenous, and in the case of Key West, have their own unique histories of
settlement and demographic shift.
Miami
It'd still be silly not to recognize Miami as the center of South Florida's cultural gravity.
Which begs the question: what makes Miami, well, Miami? Basically, it's the mix: that con-
spicuous jumble of Cubans, Haitians, Anglos, Jews, and South and Central Americans of all
stripes. Miami possesses the best and worst of its parent cultures, immigrant and migrant
narratives that are embraced and rejected and spliced and diced into entirely new
paradigms. How else does a Cuban American proudly show off an inherited Matanzas ac-
cent on the one hand while shrugging off the pork and rum of their island ancestors in favor
of vegetarianism and yoga? As they say here, only in Miami. Of if you prefer,
sólamente en
Miami
.
It can be difficult to meet someone from Miami who has more than two generations of
connection to the city. At the negative end, this lack of connection can manifest as a de-
tached sense of place and resentment toward other newcomers. Miami is not without ten-
sions between its myriad communities. On the positive side are those Miamians concerned
