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Between @JohnCleese expressing his “culturalist, not racist” views of London and @DouthatNYT lamenting the loss of a “common-culture” America, kinder gentler #MAGA white supremacism is having a moment this morning. #twitterstorians
But here’s the thing: it’s not just that we can’t separate these laments for homogeneous cultural and national identities (English, American, wherever) from white supremacist racism and xenophobia (although we sure can’t and shouldn't).
It’s also and especially that, at least in America (and I’m willing to bet in England too, but UK #twitterstorians feel free to chime in!), that homogeneous cultural/national past is entirely mythic, invented, inaccurate to our history whenever/wherever you look.
The colonial period? Even if you see English communities as homogeneous (& they sure weren’t), we’ve got hundreds of indigenous nations, Af Am & Muslim enslaved peoples, the Dutch in New Amsterdam, the French in the MW, the Spanish throughout the SE and SW…
The Revolutionary era? Added to those enduring cultures & communities, we’ve got the Moroccan Muslim (“Moorish”) community in Charleston, Filipino villages in LA, the Germans in PA about whom Ben Franklin worried so unnecessarily…americanstudier.blogspot.com/2010/12/decemb…
The antebellum period? Added to those enduring cultures & communities, we’ve got Chinese communities across the West, Mexican communities post-Guadalupe Hidalgo, Italian arrivals like Hawthorne’s Salem organ grinder…
The turn of the 20th century? Added to those enduring cultures & communities, we’ve got the nation’s first mosques in ND & Iowa, prominent Jewish communities in every American city, Japanese Americans in HI & beyond, Puerto Rico & the Philippines…
It’s true that in every one of those eras, exclusionary visions of America sought to define our community as homogeneously Anglo, & those cultures as thus outside of it. So in that sense, “common-culture” arguments like Douthat’s are as American as pumpkin pie.
But then as now, those definitions were developed in spite of the profoundly multi-cultural realities of America, and were consistently challenged by inclusive visions of the nation that highlighted & celebrated all those American cultures & communities.
That originating, longstanding, ongoing battle between exclusionary & inclusive visions of America is the focus of my forthcoming book *We the People*. @RLPGBooks rowman.com/ISBN/978153812…
I hope the book can help offer historical contexts for these contemporary debates, ways to challenge “common-culture” or “culturalist” laments like those of Cleese and Douthat. None of this is new, but it’s sure as central & crucial as it has ever been. Fin (for now!).
PS. For more on these & related histories of multi-cultural America, see the great work of @ProenzaColes @dimmerwahr @hidehirota @DavidTreuer @educadaxicana & many many more!
