Intro to AMST 185 Definitions of identity and definitions of "America"

1. AMST 185
Spring Semester
Dr. Renae Mitchell

2. Welcome to
Introduction to Class, Race, Ethnicity!
First, this CONDENSED course is divided into eight
major units:
• Unit One: Defining Identity and Class
• Unit Two: Family Migrations and The Migrant
Experience (two weeks)
• Unit Three: The Civil Rights Movement and The
Black Experience (two weeks)
• Unit Four: Post-War Life and Asian Localities
• Unit Five: Native in the U.S. (two weeks)
• Unit Six: Multiculturalism in America and Borders &
Borderlands (if there is time)

3. Introduction to Class, Race, and Ethnicity!
A Few Ground Rules:
• “Trolling” is absolutely not tolerated.
• No matter your beliefs or background, you must
be tolerant of other opinions, as long as those
opinions are based in either fact or historical
research.
• No question is “dumb”!
• You are free to pass with regard to answering
difficult questions.
• Do not ask personal/bullying questions.
• Sometimes your teacher may find a question
difficult to answer. She’s human too, and that’s
OK.

4. Introduction to Class, Race, and Ethnicity!
Nota bene:
• This class is largely focused on historical records
and documents that enlighten the experiences of
a number of ethnic groups.
• Because this is 1. an introductory course, 2. is
only one half of a semester in duration, we are
unable to cover all social, ethnic, and cultural
groups in this class! This course is not purposed
to “favor” one group over another, but to focus
on the history of groups of people that may not
receive a great deal of attention as in other
courses.

5. Introduction to Class, Race, and Ethnicity!
Reading Response / Journal Assignments:
• Some of the journal assignments are short,
researched essays. They will approach the unit in
open-ended questions. Here are a few examples:
– According to Buchanan, laws prohibiting
discrimination, hate crimes, and segregated housing
and employment require “sacrificing freedom” in
order to attain greater equality. How and for whom is
freedom restricted by such laws? Explain why you
think the tradeoff is or is not worthwhile, based on
what we have read for this unit.

6. Introduction to Class, Race, and Ethnicity!
Nota bene:
• This class is centered on historical documents
that are included in your textbook, films available
online, lecture and other material available on
Blackboard.

7. Socio-economic Class
• Class—categorization of people based on their
economic position in society. The higher one’s
class, the more power, status and influence one
has in the economy.
• Social class—this term has numerous
definitions, constantly in flux. However, these
definitions often center on people grouped
according to wealth, income, education, type of
occupation, and membership in a specific
subculture or social network.

8. Social / Economic Class
● Class: The most basic class distinction is
between the powerful and the powerless.
Social classes with a great deal of power are
usually viewed as "the elites" within their own
societies.

9. Social Significance of Race and Ethnicity
Race- refers to a group of
people who share
physical characteristics,
such as skin color and
facial features, that are
passed on through
reproduction.
– Social Construction
– Only 6 of the bodies 35000
genes determine skin
color. That means we have
99.9% of the same DNA.
Ethnic Group- a group of
people who identify
with a common national
origin or cultural
heritage.
– Includes language,
geographic roots, food,
customs, traditions and
religion.

10. Racial and Ethnic Friction
• Racism- a set of beliefs that
one’s own racial group is
naturally superior to other
groups.
• Prejudice- an attitude, positive
or negative, toward people
because of their group
membership.
– Anyone can be prejudiced, use
stereotypes and exhibit
ethnocentric behavior
• Stereotype- oversimplified or
exaggerated generalization
about a category of people
– Can be positive or negative
• Scapegoats- individuals or
groups whom people blame
for their own problems or
shortcomings.
• Discrimination- any act that
treats people unequally or
unfairly because of their group
membership

11. What is “Identity”?
Let’s turn in your textbook to page 8.
• As our textbook states, “Our identity is a specific
marker of how we define ourselves at any
particular moment in life” (8).
• Is identity permanent from the time you are
born?
• Not at all! Identity is affected by:
–Our decisions and choices
–Life events
–Community recognition / expectations
–Social categorization
–Classification and socialization
–National or international events

12. What is “Identity”?
Let’s turn in your textbook to page 10.
We will examine three levels of social and cultural
influence that contribute to our identity:

13. Let’s turn in your textbook to page 10.
• Micro: Identity formation, page 10
– Critical life experiences
– Physical appearance (personal)
– “Home”: physical residence, social / emotional / spiritual
space of safety / security / familiarity / continuity /
acceptance / understanding / one or many places.
• Meso: Categorization (by others) page 11
– Categorical questions
– Physical appearance (perceptions / judgements /
treatment by others)
– “Community”: geographic / emotional / group affiliations
• Macro: Classification (by social groups) page 13
– Real or assumed physical / biological / genetic differences.
– Gender / Race / Class
– Colonization / domination / exploitation

14. Why “Identity”?
Why focus so much on identity? Defining identities…
• …highlights how identities are constructed when
we encounter (different) others.
• …reveals how identities change over time, often
in response to historical events.
• …challenges our assumptions of commonalities
or categories we take for granted.
• …compels us to also consider others’ unequal
access to resources, social equality, and authority.
• …allows us to understand what it means to be an
American.

15. Ethnicity ≠ Race
Ethnicity ≠ Nationality
● Nationality refers to our citizenship –in other words, the
nation we are a member of.
● Ethnicity, or ethnic identity, refers to membership in a
particular cultural group. Characterized by shared cultural
practices: holidays, food, language, customs, etc.

16. What is an American?
How do we define being an American?

17. What does it mean to be
American?
...in the news?
...in conversation?
...in literature?

18. What does it mean to be
American?
Let’s follow a very brief history of
the definition of “American.”

19. What does "American" mean?
Oxford English Dictionary:
1. An indigenous inhabitant of (any part of) the
Americas; an American Indian. Now only with
modifying word, as indigenous American, original
American, etc.
2. Originally: a native or inhabitant of America, esp.
of the British colonies in North America, of
European descent (now hist.). Now chiefly: a
native or citizen of the United States.
3. An American ship or other vessel.
4. The variety of English used in the United States;
American English.

20. American Hemisphere
North, Central, South America
Does “America” only
include the United
States?

21. American Hemisphere
North, Central, South America
●Where is "north," from
space?
●Why is only one part of
the hemisphere
commonly referred to as
"America"?
●Why are the North,
Central, and South
referred to as separate
continents?

22. American Hemisphere
North, Central, South America
●Amerigo Vespucci,
Italian explorer, was the
first to state that the
lands Columbus
discovered were not
parts of India, but were
instead a separate
“unexplored” continent.

23. American Hemisphere
North, Central, South America
●A map made by a
person named Martin
Waldseemüller used
Amerigo’s idea in a map
created in 1507.
Waldseemüller wanted
to name the continent
after Amerigo, but new
lands were always
feminized and
Latinized.

24. 1507 Waldseemüller map

26. Themes that
will shape the course
● Identity: __________________________
● Class: ____________________________
● Gender: __________________________
● Ethnicity: _________________________
● How these experiences define one's
"Americanness"

27. Ethnicity ≠ Race
Ethnicity ≠ Nationality
● Nationality refers to our citizenship –in other words, the
nation we are a member of.
● Ethnicity, or ethnic identity, refers to membership in a
particular cultural group. Characterized by shared cultural
practices: holidays, food, language, customs, etc.
● Persons can share the same nationality but have
different ethnic groups and backgrounds. For example,
citizens of the United States are of many different ethnic
backgrounds.
● In the US, the term "ethnic" carries a different meaning
from how it is commonly used in some other countries.
Historical and ongoing racial distinctions categorize what
might otherwise have been viewed as ethnic groups.

28. Ethnicity ≠ Race
Ethnicity ≠ Nationality
● Nationality: American
● Ethnicity: Any one of the following, among others:
African
Balkan (Yugoslavian, Greek,
Bulgarian, Albanian, Romania)
British Isles
East Asian (Chinese, Japanese,
Korean, Taiwanese…)
French
Germanic (includes Swiss and
Dutch)
Hungarian
Irish
Italian
Middle Eastern (Iraqi,
Lebanese, Syrian, Israeli, Saudi
Arabian)
Native American
Spanish/Portuguese
Scandinavian
Slavic (Russian, Polish,
Ukrainian)
South Asian (Indian, Pakistani,
Indonesian, Malaysian…)
South American (Native to
South America or
Spanish/Portuguese)

29. What is an American?
Many authors, artists, and politicians have sought to
define an American from the earliest days of the U.S.’
claims of independence.

30. J. Hector St. John de Crèvecœur
• One of the U.S.’s first immigrants!
• He was born France.
• In 1755 he migrated to New France in North
America and served in the French Colonial
Militia, as a lieutenant.
• After the defeat of the French Army (1759), he
moved to the Province of New York, where he
became a citizen, changed his name, and in
1770 married an American, Mehitable Tippet.
• He bought a farm in Orange County, New
York, where he prospered as a farmer.

31. J. Hector St. John de Crèvecœur
wrote
Letters from an American Farmer
This text is the first major
published work to
describe the US as an
actual country, rather
than a colony, and
attempted to define
American identity.

32. J. Hector St. John de Crèvecœur
wrote
Letters from an American Farmer
Lets read a few excerpts
from this text to see how
one of this country’s
earliest immigrants
defined what it means to
be an “American.”

33. Letters from an American Farmer
What makes “America” different from other places? That is
the main question Crèvecœur is trying to address:
● p. 350: “Here are no aristocratic families…”
● P. 351: “We have no princes, for whom we toil…”
● p. 352: “What then is the American…”
What about the slaves, Native Americans,
and non-white Europeans?
● p. 351: “they receive ample rewards…”
● p. 352: “individuals of all nations are melted into…”
● p. 354: “In them the name of Englishman…”
Prejudice against pioneer/woodsmen lifestyle
● p. 356, “That new mode of life brings along with it…”
and further down, “Thus our bad people…”
●p. 357, “A European…”

34. Letters from an American Farmer
Part of the reason Crèvecœur’s book lost popularity
was because readers recognized its glaring
generalizations about Americans. For example:
● p. 350, “We are a people of cultivators.”
Is everyone who lives in America at that time
necessarily a cultivator/farmer?
● p. 352-3, “Those who live near the sea…”
● Further, Crèvecœur generalizes about people
from other countries (Europe), people of certain
religions, people who live in certain environments
(eg. forests), etc.

35. 22/08/10
United States (official name from 1778)
Let’s fast-forward a few decades…

36. 22/08/10
United States (official name from 1778)
By the 1820s,
the US has
expanded
quite a bit
from when it
was only 13
colonies!

37. What is an American?
● How have writers today attempted to define
“American”?
● Think about this, and write down how you think
one may define an “American.”

38. What is an American?
Many authors, artists, and politicians have sought to
define an American.
Let’s consider how one recent writer attempts
this definition.

39. ● Rose to fame in the 1920's
during the Harlem
Renaissance
● Celebrated his black identity at
a time when being back was a
cause of racist oppression.
● Strove to demonstrate that
black people were as resilient
as anyone else, and their
experience is characteristic of
the American experience
Langston Hughes

40. “Let America Be America Again”
by Langston Hughes
● How does identity play a role in this
poem? Class? Gender? Ethnicity?

41. American!
• Is it easy or difficult to step away from your
own experiences, memories, beliefs, etc.,
to take into account every person who
identifies her/himself as an American?
• Let’s take a look at a group of people who
reside in North America to practice this
attempt to step out of our own experience.

42. What is an American?
How do we define being an American?

43. American Identities
• Let’s turn to page 2 in your textbook.
• How are identities “constructed” (what does
that mean, anyway)?
• How does identity change over time?
• How do one’s assumptions influence categories
of race, ethnicity, class, etc.?

44. American Identities
• Let’s turn to page 93 in your textbook.
• Read the first three paragraphs, about a man
who migrates from one part of the United
States to another.
• What is his transition like (before and after the
move(s))?
• What was “easy” for him?
• What was difficult for him?