Mayssa Chehata, Blog #4: American-ness, the Nation, and Nations at Odds

What is American-ness, and what does it mean to be an American? I think the answers to those questions vary for every single person. While we all belong to the American nation, and are connected to it in one way or another (even if that connection is simply that we live on American soil or that we speak American English), each person’s idea of what being American means varies; the degree and nature of each individuals connection to the American nation is unique.

I personally have spent a lot of time reflecting on this question. My parents immigrated to the US in the 90s from Tunisia, and I grew up in a household that was very concerned with ensuring I did not lose my Tunisian heritage. I spent months each year in Tunisia visiting my family, and my mother was inexhaustibly dedicated to making sure my sister and I spoke our mother tongue, Arabic. We ate Tunisian food, spoke Arabic at home, and had many Tunisian and Arab family friends. In addition, I was attending American school in which I was immersed in a melting pot of cultural diversity, but also exposed to what could be referred to as “American culture” which I did not experience as strongly at home.

So where do I lie? Is there a spectrum of American-ness, on which descendant of the first settlers are the “most American” and first generation immigrants and naturalized citizens are the “least American”? I definitely don’t think this is the case. I really enjoy and agree with the political cartoon below:

So my opinion is that American-ness is in the eye of the beholder. I guess for me American-ness is having a strong sense of civic duty, within the country and internationally, and using the opportunities and resources available to us to try to affect positive change in our communities, the country, and the world. This is not to say we should overstep our boundaries, or exploit this position of power (e.g. Iraq War), but that we should be socially aware, conscious, and empathetic.

Another interesting thing to consider is how people can and usually do exist in multiple nation. For me, I belong to the American nation, the Tunisian nation, the nation of Arab-Americans, you could ay I belong to the nation of people who share my political views aka my political party as a nation, etc. From the very interesting lecture by Professor Chinua Thelwell on Minstrelsy this is something I thought about in regards to Orpheus McAdoo, and several classmates brought this up as well. We discussed how when performing in South Africa, McAdoo made concerted efforts to be viewed as, and to be integrated into, the “coloured” community/nation, in distinct opposition to being part of the “native” or “black” community/nation. But this was possible because of the 3-tiered racial system in South Africa. In America, where it was the “one drop rule” that dictated race relations, McAdoo was easily identified as part of the “Black” community/the African American nation.

This makes me wonder about McAdoo’s different identities, and his belonging/identifying as/being placed into these different nations or communities. Were his different identities in conflict or in opposition to one another? Is there such a thing as “conflicting nations,” meaning you cannot simultaneously belong to 2 different nations because they are fundamentally opposite (according to society, or to yourself, or to the members of those nations). For example, in the case of McAdoo, who was practicing uplift politics in order to be viewed as a member of high-class and civilized society (something that Blacks in America, especially in the South, still were not always viewed as), he was inherently a member of the African American society and due to physical features could not not be a part of that nation. So since in the eyes of many white, upper class Americans, being Balck and being upper class were inherently opposite, did that make it so that there was a highly constricting limitation on McAdoo’s quest to belong to both? Or in my personal case, I am a Muslim, an Arab, and an American. But I would say that during the year following 9/11, there were many Americans who saw those nations to be in conflict with one another, and many who said and still do say that you cannot be a Muslim or an Arab and be a “true” American (whatever that means).

So this brings me back to my original point, and raises several questions in my mind. While each individuals’ personal views and beliefs about a nation are very important in shaping and imagining that nation, society has its own views of what the nation is, and what is and what is not the nation, and who does and who does not belong in the nation. So which is more important, the individual notion, or the notion of society/the collective opinions of those within the nation. Because although McAdoo did what he could to be viewed as high class, or “coloured,” or even maybe “white,” if those “nations” were not willing to accept him, could he ever really be a part of them? Or in my case, despite being an American citizen, and considering myself a highly assimilated and culturally integrated Tunisian-America, if the American nation deeming the Muslim nation or the Arab nation to be at odds with “Americanism,”  how can I really be an American, if I am not accepted by that nation? But what if we, McAdoo and myself, truly believe ourselves to be part of those nations, could that be enough?

And what about this idea of conflicting nations? Is there a such thing, and if so who creates them and where do they exist? In the individual’s mind? In social constructs and institutions? Or both?