Qu'est-ce que c'est, un «américain»?
Here in Indiana, we joke about being a Hoosier. We're proud of being a Hoosier (in this instance, meaning "someone who is from Indiana"), but when someone from out-of-state asks what that is, what the word means, where it comes from, we just laugh: even we Hoosiers don't know!!
I've done some research this week for a paper due on Tuesday concerning the English Only debate in our country. One of the stated goals of the English First and the US English orginizations is to promote the use of English to "unify Americans". This has led me to a question while reading and pondering these philosophies and how they relate to education is this:
What does it mean to be an American?
I'd like your input on this. I asked Mari - he laughed and shrugged. We are American, and yet we ourselves had a difficult time trying to answer this question. Any thoughts? Any opinions? I don't want to start a great debate or offend anyone, but I would like to hear what you have to say (and I might ask to quote you in my paper!) Also to consider: if we ourselves recognize that "being American" is difficult to quantify due to the abundant diversity which constitutes our identity, how can we then define what makes someone not American?*
*note: this question will probably play a central role in my final paper and is copyrighted under academic laws. No stealing my thoughts!! :)
I've done some research this week for a paper due on Tuesday concerning the English Only debate in our country. One of the stated goals of the English First and the US English orginizations is to promote the use of English to "unify Americans". This has led me to a question while reading and pondering these philosophies and how they relate to education is this:
What does it mean to be an American?
I'd like your input on this. I asked Mari - he laughed and shrugged. We are American, and yet we ourselves had a difficult time trying to answer this question. Any thoughts? Any opinions? I don't want to start a great debate or offend anyone, but I would like to hear what you have to say (and I might ask to quote you in my paper!) Also to consider: if we ourselves recognize that "being American" is difficult to quantify due to the abundant diversity which constitutes our identity, how can we then define what makes someone not American?*
*note: this question will probably play a central role in my final paper and is copyrighted under academic laws. No stealing my thoughts!! :)
affiché par petite américaine à 14:16
I'm an American. I was born in this country (thank God!), love my country and vote for politicians and complain loudly & fearlessly about the politics & politicians. Immigrants can become Americans... what's the process? I'm not sure, but know thre is one and have a dear friend who did go through this process to become an American! yeah! and he is proud of this! believes you should come to America the 'legal' way, w/ Visa and apply for citizenship. To be an American is a privilege! some of us are blessed to be born an American. some of us must go through 'the process'. Hopefully, all are proud to be citizens of America.
To be honest, since coming back from Australia in the late 1990s, I haven't felt totally American since. I am thankful, though, for all the privileges I have from living in America.
We had a blast meeting up a few weeks ago in northern Indiana! Wished you lived closer, or that we lived closer!
I just got back from a conference in VA. It was more like a mini-graduate school, as we did readings and went to two classes led by well-known researchers in the field. In one of the classes, we had to make a group presentation which was a nightmare. One of the profs in my group tried to take over and write the whole presentation herself. I decided to ignore her and presented my own views anyway. It was so ironic in that we all have studied small group communication and group dynamics!
Hope your paper goes well!
Tangentially, you might be interested in
this post, or rather the two blog posts it links to. A guy asking "what is an American?" in the context of a media habit of asking rural Americans or farmers, when rural is 17% of the country and farmers are less than 1% -- 2 million people, smaller than Chicago, or Jews, or World of Warcraft players.