Unit 4 thematic analysis and key concepts

America

One enduring aspect of American identity that appears to be emerging in the twenty-first century is that of constant change. The United States of America might have reached the limits of its geographic expansion when it annexed Alaska and Hawaii, the forty-ninth and fiftieth and final states. However, the identities of Americans have been and remain in a state of continual flux and flow. As Huntington points out in Who Are We: Challenges to America's National Identity, the nation-state notion has held sway in America since the eighteenth century. Before that, residents were colonialists, natives, or slaves. Identity was linked to religion in many cases, or alternatively to culture or linguistic heritage. Since the Revolution and the dawn of the modern nation-state, the United States has been a somewhat cohesive community that gives rise to the identity of being "American." What it means to be an American has changed dramatically since 1776, though. Slaves did not consider themselves American, as they were not considered Americans by their captors. Females might have tacitly considered themselves Americans, but they were not considered to be citizens in the sense of being able to participate in the political process. New immigrants to the United States since the Industrial Age have had varying degrees of success regarding the self-identification of being American. Therefore, the American identity is one that reflects prevailing social values and norms related to ethnicity, gender, and power.

The concept of American identity is one that continually changes because the United States demographics change on a regular basis. As Segura puts it, "the fight, then, over who is an American, and what constitutes 'American-ness, is and has been an on-going one for virtually the entire history of the United States," (278). The early colonialists did not recognize either Native Americans or slaves as being Americans, when both Native Americans and the descendants of slaves are now entitled to the full rights and privileges of being an American citizen. In fact, the prevailing norm of inclusion and tolerance makes it so that hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan are now classified as domestic terrorist organizations rather than as preservers of the Southern culture, as some of their members would like to believe. The Ku Klux Klan are as anti-American as Al Qaeda now, but a hundred years ago the group operated under the full light of day throughout much of the American South.

Most Americans during most of American history did not consider persons of African descent worthy of citizenship. Even after abolition and the passage of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution, African-Americans were considered such on paper only. Discrimination was so much a part of the American social fabric, that it can be considered an integral part of the American identity. The American identity in the twenty-first century continues to reflect the trend of discrimination against non-white citizens. The writings of Alba, for example, suggest that Latin Americans are somehow not true Americans. Segura also cites "the passage of anti-immigrant initiatives in California and Arizona, English- only laws and initiatives in a variety of states, as well as the public advocacy of groups like U.S. English and the Federation for American Immigration Reform" as signs that bigotry may actually be built into the very fabric of the nation (277).

The Constitution has always denied bigotry, racism, sexism, and any other systematic or institutionalized form of discrimination. In practice, though, the opposite has been true. Americans have built an empire on the foundations of discrimination. Were it not for the superior weaponry of Europeans, the Native Americans would have been spared the humility and pain of genocide.

In other words, the identity of Americans has been linked to European Christian, or White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) hegemony. Although Friedman claims that the use of religion as a common bond among early Americans is no longer relevant, there are scores of Americans who still believe that the nation is essentially a Christian one. The identity of Tea Party people is inextricably tied into an identity that may seem outmoded to many Americans. Yet to the Tea Party, their identity is more American than any apple pie.

Most Americans throughout most of American history considered it perfectly fine to deny half the (white) population the right to vote on the basis of gender. Being female was considered a handicap, which systematically denied women the right to be Americans even if they identified with the culture of the United States. Asian men who worked on the railroads in nineteenth century America were not even permitted to start families because their Otherness was too much for the WASP majority. Now, Asians proudly proclaim their American-ness through a hyphenated designation. The identity of Americans changes according to social norms. Now that women are considered human beings, women can enjoy the full rights and privileges of citizenship. Now that Asians are considered worthy of American citizenship, both men and women can be citizens of the United States.

Americans have claimed to be comfortable with diversity when in reality it makes many people squirm. Segura and Friedman both point out the conflict in the American consciousness over immigration and assimilation. The "melting pot" symbol is one that purposefully constructs ethnicity as something to be cooked and boiled down: the principle of assimilation prevails in the American consciousness. Huntington notes that during the1960s, and 1970s, "the primacy of national identity came under challenge" as "dual loyalties, dual nationalities, and often dual citizenship" became common (108). This permitted for a more natural multiculturalism in the United States. "Subnational racial, ethnic, gender, and cultural identities took on new importance for many Americans," who recognized the limitations of a blanket "American" identity. The cultural norms shifted to reflect the decline of the nation-state and the rise of a culture of globalization and trans-nationalism. This theme was played out in a dark way on September 11, when it become apparent that war was also no longer tied to nation-states. The trans-nationalism of terrorism called into question once again what it meant to be an American.