Diversity and the American National Identity

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Diversity and the American National Identity

Greed is good, get get get, I want what you have, don't touch mine." This is what a friend of mine said when I asked for his conception of the American national identity is.1 Although this statement seems informal and absurd, it accurately reflects the dog-eat-dog world many people believe to be the American capitalist culture.2 Whether my friend said this with the intent of comic relief is inconsequential. Whether he knew it, the informant reflects his cultural identity.

Many ambiguities surround the establishment, formation, and retention of a national identity. To what extent can a national identity be individualized? Does every individual, regardless of origin, possess the ability to engage in the national identity? Can an individual abandon his or her "cultural self?"3 Can non-American citizens who reside in America create multi-national identities of their own? Is a national identity predestined, or does an individual exert control over it? There is not one definitive national identity in any society. America is marked by the diversity of both people and ideas.

The aim of this paper is not to establish a universal conception of national identity from the basis of history and documented facts. Rather, I am attempting to form a holistic definition of the national identity from my fieldwork with the widest possible variety of college students.

Hernando, a native of Sacramento, considers himself a Mexican-American, yet he declares himself to be of indigenously American descent. He states, "If you trace my lineage back, I am actually from the United States. My family came from Texas and California before it was taken over by the United States." Despite Hernando's Mexi...

... middle of paper ...

...ational identity and "a" national identity. "The" is used in the context of the United States and "a" refers to the universal construct.

2. In this discourse, the term "America" refers to the United States.

3. Emily A. Schultz and Robert H. Lavenda. Cultural Anthropology: A Perspective on the Human Condition, 5th ed. (California: Mayfield, 2001) 120.

4. Ibid., 328.

5. Ibid., 160.

6. Ibid.

7. Ibid.

8. Ibid., 109.

9. Deborah Tannen. That's Not What I Meant! How Conversational Style Makes or Breaks Relationships. (New York: Ballantine, 1987), 74-75.

Bibliography

Schultz, Emily A., and Robert H. Lavenda. Cultural Anthropology: A Perspective on the Human Condition. 5th ed. California: Mayfield, 2001.

Tannen, Deborah. That's Not What I Meant! How Conversational Style Makes or Breaks Relationships. New York: Ballantine, 1987.

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