American Studies 2200E Chapter Notes - Chapter Week 3: Leo Marx, Norman Holmes Pearson, Identity Politics

• School: Western University
• Department: American Studies
• Course: American Studies 2200E
• Professor: Anna Zuschlag

Document Summary

Alice kessler-harris, cultural locations: positioning american studies in the great. The great debate: the pushback between the left and the right over multiculturalism. Enmeshed in a battle over the idea of america. A wide range of cultures cohabit the united states. Minority groups play a part in molding the larger culture even as they are molded by it. Critics fear that multicultural courses will displace tradition subjects, depriving students of what they call the heritage of western culture. Question: (cid:862)whether this (cid:272)ou(cid:374)tr(cid:455) is to (cid:271)e et(cid:272)hed i(cid:374)deli(cid:271)l(cid:455) i(cid:374) the (cid:373)i(cid:374)ds of (cid:455)ou(cid:374)g. Americans simply as a strange collection of races and ethnic groups without real identity or purpose in common, or as a great creative action of nationhood in which the building of one (cid:271)e(cid:272)a(cid:373)e the purpose of (cid:373)a(cid:374)(cid:455)(cid:863) pg. Those who attack a politically correct stance seem to be supporting the idea of america as something fixed and given, deriving from western civilization.