Exploration of American Identity (original) (raw)
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Our current political discourse is scattered with claims and accusations regarding which persons or groups qualify as “American,” “not American,” or “un-American.” This question has profound consequences that can range from the mundane—such as attempts at tarnishing a reputation—to the more serious, such as democratic in/exclusion, and legal and extralegal violence. What it means to “be American” was pivotal in the nation’s founding as Paine’s Common Sense and Crèvecœur’s Letters From an American Farmer make clear, but the politics of Americanness were negotiated, oftentimes violently, in the centuries of Colonial Era politics and culture that preceded the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It is arguably more critical now than ever to understand what “Americanness” is (or can be) and what made it this way—starting from the beginning (or close thereto). Focusing in pre-1800 American literature and culture, our endeavor will navigate through exploration and captivity narratives, US slavery and the trans- and circum- Atlantic slave trade, indigenous American literature, religion and the Puritan tradition, Enlightenment discourse, the ideological underpinnings of the American Revolution and the Constitution, early-American print culture (including the sentimental novel), gender studies, and perspectives in law and literature. Finding motivation in the problems, issues, and contradictions within the figuration of collective identity, we will better understand the political discourse surrounding “what it means to be American” as it was then, and therefore, as it is now.
Defining America: An Examination of Identity 1
2014
America’s change into a Minority-Majority country has presented its citizens with the challenge of redefining their identity. As the demography of the country changes, many are left to question whether the traditional views regarding the American Identity are still valid in light of the changing population of the United States. Written from the perspectives of a Turkish citizen, a naturalized American citizen, and a native-born American citizen this work examines American identity from three different lenses. Exploring ideas from the romantic and idealistic to the conflicts of trying to reconcile the complexities surrounding the American Identity, we examine how America is changing and how its identity is being manifested given the undergoing demographic and political changes.
Defining America: An Examination of Identity
America's change into a Minority-Majority country has presented its citizens with the challenge of redefining their identity. As the demography of the country changes, many are left to question whether the traditional views regarding the American Identity are still valid in light of the changing population of the United States. Written from the perspectives of a Turkish citizen, a naturalized American citizen, and a native-born American citizen this work examines American identity from three different lenses. Exploring ideas from the romantic and idealistic to the conflicts of trying to reconcile the complexities surrounding the American Identity, we examine how America is changing and how its identity is being manifested given the undergoing demographic and political changes.
The struggle to pretend and belong: Americanah’s case
RihumSo : Revista de investigación del Departamento de Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales, 2021
In this essay, it will be analyzed the postcolonial novel Americana (2013) written by author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The lives of main and secondary characters will be explored in order to demonstrate how, living in a foreign country, they will have to adapt themselves to the American and England life pretending to be something they are not to find a sense of belonging there. Racism, the language used by these characters and identity are some topics to deal with within this essay.
Rewriting the Myth of the American
2016
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