We've been talking about the difference between a nation and a nation-state, and then proceeding from that idea into a discussion of nationalism. The doubt in my mind is about how we approach the idea of a nation, especially regarding the United States? It's easy enough to identify the US as a nation-state (borders, government, laws, etc) but how do we define it as a "nation"? Is there one American culture that we can all agree upon? Or does it fit enough as a nation that we recognize it's a tremendously diverse place and the "culture" is that of a melting pot?
A visit to Wikipedia gives an interesting bit of insight into the idea of American culture: the idea has been introduced that we're not a melting pot of a nation, we're a salad bowl. While I'm glad we kept it in the kitchen (possibly my favorite room), I wasn't familiar with the term. It's simple enough to figure out, however: where a melting pot holds a soup made, say, with the help of an immersion blender - no pun intended? - in an attempt to create a uniform taste and texture, a salad bowl contains an assortment of vegetables (well, and fruit, meat, starches, seeds/nuts, condiments) that are left unscathed by a blending mechanism, maintaining their original characteristics. It's the difference between assimilation and multiculturalism, as I understand it. The idea is an obvious oversimplification, but at least it attempts to tackle the big picture.
And really, how do we define American culture? It seems too weighty of a task to sit down and determine what "American" culture is as we can hardly decide who counts as an American to therefore sort out their similarities and call it culture. (Side note, it's rather a shame that Usonians didn't catch on as a term, as I know Central and South America take some contention to our attempted monopoly on "American." Vespucci can't have known his given name would be in such high demand!) This is where the idea of nation vs nation-state comes into play. It would be easy to say, official government-recognized citizens of the United States are Americans. But of course, nation isn't the same as nation-state; citizenship is therefore disqualified as a metric for "Americanness" and we've hit a roadblock.
Thanks to this roadblock (and a subsequent blown intellectual tire), I don't have a good answer for the question I'm asking. I'm not certain anyone can effectively convince me that there is one culture that is uniquely and uniformly American. Whether it's desirable for us all to assimilate to a prescribed norm (although the necessary next question is: what is that norm and who sets it?), I can't say that I think that's what's at play in the US. It seems we indeed are more of an American salad, replete with varied ingredients (and probably swimming in a full-fat ranch dressing, as these days I'm told you can't consider American culture without considering obesity). This metaphor fits for me especially when I think about the way we talk about salads. It might be taking the metaphor too far, but consider the restaurant menu. Tomato soup is billed as just that, but a salad listing will spell out all of the various components (a la "spinach with tuna, tomato, and raisins"). The shoe fits: American culture is complex enough that you can't just call it "American culture" and have the restaurant patrons understand what they're ordering; all the components must be considered.
...of course, I haven't really solved my problem, just gotten hungry.
This is a quote I really like of John Steinbeck from his book "Travels with Charlie":
ReplyDelete"For all of our enormous geographic range, for all of our sectionalism, for all of our interwoven breeds drawn from every part of the ethnic world, we are a nation, a new breed. Americans are much more Americans than Northerners, Southerners, Westerners, or Easterners...It is a fact that Americas from all sections and all racial attractions are more alike than the Welsh are like the English...It is astonishing that it has happened in the last 2oo years and most of it in the last 50. The American identity is an exact and provable thing."
Though I agree with you that American-ness icludes a whole gamut of people, I do believe that there is something that makes Americans American. Too often Americans avoid answering the question: What does it mean to be American? And they end up with an anwer similar to what you write of, or come up with some elaborate metaphor. This is in itself a very American value—"a belief that every individual is so unique that the same list of values could never be applied to all, or even most, of their fellow citizens".
I think a fairly comprehensive list of values that drive Americans can be found here: http://www.claremontmckenna.edu/pages/faculty/alee/extra/American_values.html.
I was marinating on this for a while (Okay, let's all call off the food metaphors)and thinking about how our idea of food show's that there's really no such thing as American culture.
ReplyDeleteIf you look at all other cultures, most countries have a kind of food that, whether or not it's still true today, is representative of them, right? Mexico has its torillas, France has baguettes, Ethiopia has injera, etc.
The interesting difference, I think, is that most of these other foods are, or a least they have been, produced in people's homes. I know when I was in Guatemala I would hear the slapping sound of people making tortillas every morning.
But the things we think of as American foods-hot dogs, hamburgers, cotton candy, are all products produced by corporations that we buy. I don't know anyone that's ever really made a hot dog at home, and I don't think I'd want to be around to see it. We grill hamburgers, but does heating up something really count? You could argue, "Apple pie, hey we make that," but really, what percentage of Americans make their own apple pie any more?
What does that say about American culture? Can you use this to draw broad conclusions about how we value consumerism over creativity? Maybe and maybe not, but I think it's something interesting to look at.
lb, did my comment back to you never post?! I liked that list that you provided, and I think that does a better job than anything I could do. I had also posed the question, though, of whether the time lapse (both between Steinbeck and Kohls, and between Kohls and the present day) has made a difference? Also, some of those points struck me as being perhaps more relevant to American corporate culture; for example, time is indeed of the essence in a corporate environment, but I haven't noticed that same obedience to the clock in everyday social interactions anymore... In any case, I think you definitely have a point that there may, despite all the diversity, be a set of values (rather than specific food items, dances, etc) that are stronger trends than others in the US. Food for thought! (Agh, no pun intended!)
ReplyDeleteDan - loved the food analysis. I think you can definitely draw conclusions about the general decrease in cottage industry for both public and private use in popular American culture using comestibles as an example. People used to boil a chicken bone and a bay leaf for soup, now we just crack open a can of Progresso - which, by the way, no longer even requires us to own a can opener, if you want to look at just how far our reliance upon the ready-made has come.
ReplyDeleteNow, I'm not certain that we can define culture quite so simply as by said culture's emblematic food (not that that was your suggestion), and I think some of the foods you mentioned as particularly "American" actually originated in Germany. But then, we could almost make conclusions about "American" food being the making-less-healthy, over-processing, commercializing, and ultimate bastardizing of the food of other cultures. For example, I'm certain guacamole, when the Aztecs made it, did not include sour cream or mayonnaise, much less canned tomato salsa or a nondescript "just add avocado" spice packet from McCormick's.
So yes, Dan, I think we could certainly speculate about US culture valuing the commercial over the non. I wish I had a strong argument ready to say that's just American corporate culture, though, because I'm old-school and would love for that to not be the case. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!