class 1 – introduction. what is an american? - class 12 classtheme 9/28 introductions imaging...
TRANSCRIPT
What is an American?
Class 1 – Introduction
What is an American? - Class 1 2
Class scheduleClass Theme
9/28Introductions
Imaging America, then and now10/5 Becoming America
10/12 What happened to my America?
10/19 The American century
10/26 Worcester is America
• Readings and presentations are available online.
• Course slides will be available within 15 prior to the start of class.
What is an American? - Class 1 3
About yours truly• Karl Hakkarainen• [email protected]• 508 829 5825• Skype: karl.hakkarainen
What is an American? - Class 1 4
About the class• Our thinking will engage multiple levels,
often simultaneously• Personal – “What does it mean for me to be an
American?”• Group – “What does it mean for me and others
to be hyphenated-Americans?”• Political – “What does it mean to be a citizen?”• Historical – “What did Americans in the past
think about being American?”• No gotcha history (or as little as possible)
What is an American? - Class 1 5
There will be technical problems We’ll deal with them as they come along
What is an American? - Class 1 6
Introductions Your name What brings you to this class?
What is an American? - Class 1 8
Our views of the past says more about us in the present than about those in the past.
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What is an American? - Class 1 9
Was, is, or should this be a symbol of Americans?
What is an American? - Class 1 10
Historical characters as a Rorschach test
What is an American? - Class 1 11
The American Dream is a 20th Century notion
What is an American? - Class 1 12
Noah Webster and an American language
What is an American? - Class 1 14
LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN FARMER
A pleasing uniformity of decent competence…
What is an American? - Class 1 15
Notes• One of the first texts about American
character was written as an invented voice. • From the Foreword by Warren Barton Blake• “the
author of Letters from an American Farmer was not an American; and he was no ordinary farmer.”
• Likened to Thoreau, who also defined America by way of an invented character
• Communication via roads and rivers
What is an American? - Class 1 16
From this promiscuous breed, that race now called Americans have arisen.
What is an American?Hector St. John de Crevecoeur
What is an American? - Class 1 17
In 1850, the census starts to track birthplaces
Native and Foreign-born
What is an American? - Class 1 18
By living in or near the woods, their actions are regulated by the wildness of the neighbourhood. …This surrounding hostility immediately puts the gun into their hands; …and thus by defending their property, … a hunter wants no neighbour, he rather hates them, because he dreads the competition.
-- Crevecoeur
The frontier will drive us crazy
What is an American? - Class 1 19
One nation, American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America -- Colin Woodard (Summary on Business Insider)
See also The Nine Nations Of North America (PDF) by Joel Garreau
