American Studies in the time of Empire

Abstract

This article argues that in terms of political economy, political/military power, and culturally, the USA is 'worlded' in two important ways. In terms both of power and self-perception, the national space of the USA is no longer contained within the boundaries indicated on political maps, but has come to encompass the globe, projecting the nation onto a global space. At the same time, intensified population flows into the USA – part of the same process – 'worlds' the USA from within, transforming American society. These contemporary developments need not be projected upon the past, but they do enable us to see the past in different ways – with colonialism integral to the US national formation both in North America and elsewhere. The article suggests on these grounds that an American-centered view of the USA, understanding the US as a sui generis formation is insufficient to understand the US past or present; such an understanding requires constant attention to the entanglement of the USA in the world and of the world in the USA.     

A Qualitative Model of Long-Term Recovery for American Indian Women

SUMMARY

A developmental model of Indian women's long-term recovery is proposed based on American Indian thought about health and healing and life histories of six urban Indian women in recovery for three to 12 years. The qualitative analysis identified four components of the recovery process including positive discontinuity, expanding the circle, reclaiming the mother, and developing new continuity. These components are supported by narrative analysis from the lives of a Yakama woman (Washington Plateau), a Nez Perce woman (Idaho), two Black-feet women (Montana), and two Ojibway women (North Dakota).     

'Another History': Alternative Americas in Paul Auster's Fiction

Abstract

Even though Paul Auster's work has been influenced by European writers, he is also a fundamentally American writer. His settings, many of his literary references, his characters and most of his themes are certainly American. And so is his interest in American history and reality. Moon Palace (1989), for example, deals with the creation of the myth of the American Dream as the country extended its frontier westward. One of the ways for Auster to express his concerns is the creation of parallel fictions like 'Kepler's Blood', a story-within-the-story which fictionally rewrites the origins of the US. Almost two decades later, Travels in the Scriptorium (2006) creates another Western American fiction by moving forward and describing a parallel nineteenth-century North America and a country called 'the Confederation'. Finally, in Man in the Dark (2008), Auster's effort at the creation of alternative Americas reaches the twenty-first century by showing a country where the 2000 election has led to secession and war. This essay analyses the parallel worlds created by Auster to question American myths and archetypes, particularly as they relate to the origins of the myths behind the creation of the United States of America.     

Recidivism,Risk, and Resiliency Among North American Indian Parolees and Former Prisoners

Abstract

Using official data, this paper examines recidivism, defined as rearrest over a 3-year follow up period, among a North American Indian First Nation-the Lumbee of North Carolina. Recidivism of the Lumbee, who reside in a tri-county non-reservation area, is compared with that of non-natives residing in the same counties. The working hypothesis was that being a member of the Lumbee First Nation and residing in a “Lumbee county” provides resiliency against the risk of recidivism. The hypothesis was confirmed with respect to violent and drug-related arrests, but not for property and other miscellaneous types of offenses.     

American Studies in India: a retrospect

Abstract

This article was prompted by John Muthyala's piece in Comparative American Studies entitled ' "America" in Transit: The Heresies of American Studies Abroad' (2003). However, it is not simply a response; it attempts to plug certain gaps in the earlier article and draw attention to a few factual details essential for a proper understanding of the growth and evolution of American Studies in India. During the years when funds from the US government were in ample supply, the discipline flourished in Indian universities. Following the cessation of fiscal support, it has been languishing, but by no means is it dead: committed scholars continue to work in American Studies and a lot of academic activity still takes place. The present article begins with the historical background and the earliest exchanges between India and the USA; it concludes with reference to the scenario now, in 2004, which may not be too bright but is certainly not without hope.     

'If we only had some of what they have' Ralph Ellison in Wales

Abstract

During his period as a merchant marine in the Second World War, the African American novelist Ralph Ellison was stationed in Swansea, Wales. His short story 'In a Strange Country', collected in Flying Home and Other Stories (1998), is based on these Welsh experiences, and there are two other unpublished Welsh-based stories among the Ellison papers at the Library of Congress: 'A Storm of Blizzard Proportions' and 'The Red Cross at Morriston, South Wales'. This article considers these stories as a basis for exploring the cultural and historical connections and correspondences between African Americans and the Welsh. In drawing inspiration from Ellison's critical writings, the article seeks to substantiate a genuinely comparative, transatlantic approach to literary and cultural texts. This approach leads to an exploration of the ways in which the diversity of the Welsh experience – manifested in language, politics and cultural practice – led Ellison to meditate in new ways on the issues of race, nationhood and identity that he would later famously address in Invisible Man.     

LATIN AMERICA

Abstract

This article draws on theories of colonial discourse, cultural representation, subjectivity, feminist studies, cultural studies, and historical analysis to examine how the representations of American Indians in 1990s television fiction are constructed, especially in the American television fictions Northern Exposure, Twin Peaks and Paradise. Central to this analysis is the discussion of colonial discourse and representations of American Indians as Other on popular American television and, more generally, in mainstream American discourse. This examination is set in the context of the issues surrounding the treatment of Indian people in mainstream history, in film, and in contemporary television fiction. It is the authors' position that in the easy acceptance of a stereotyped cultural construction, mainstream America has come to little knowledge or understanding of American Indian nations, their contemporary concerns, or their discrete identities. For the mass market, their contemporary concerns, or their discrete identities. For the mass market, the Indian is either the Vanishing Race of Edward Curtis's photographs or the savage of the captivity narratives, and the process by which that imaginary functions to contain American Indian identity continues in our most popular narrative today: television fiction.     

Writing of home and home of writing Chinese American diaspora and literary imagination

Abstract

The Silent Traveller's Hong Kong Zhuzhi Poems (1972) by Chiang Yee provides an interesting case for study in relation to Asian American literary theory aesthetics for at least the following three reasons: First, Chiang's poems comment on the 'idiosyncratic phenomena' in Hong Kong, and the ambiguity and sometimes contradictions in his comments allow us to explore the issues of assimilation and Americanization and to get a good understanding of the meaning of 'home' to a Chinese diasporic poet. Second, utilization of the zhuzhi form, a tradition that has been largely abandoned in modern China, suggests the intrinsic value of the cultural tradition and emotional or psychological satisfaction to a Chinese diaspora. Chiang's tenacious adherence to the cultural tradition is a reflection of his yearning for an imaginary 'home'. Third, the use of the Chinese language underlines the poet's Chinese cultural sensitivity. A discussion of the form, content, and language of these poems illustrates the complexity of Asian American cultural and ethnic identity and the significance of the imaginary 'home' – a construction through writing where a diaspora may find a haven in displacement.     

Adolescent Gambling on a Great Lakes Indian Reservation

SUMMARY

The gambling habits of adolescents and the relationship between gambling, other high-risk behaviors and self-esteem were investigated. One hundred eighty-five American Indian and non-Indian students in grades 7–12 in two schools (one tribal and one public) were surveyed on a Great Lakes Indian Reservation. The seventy-eight item survey replicated a previous study on another reservation. The instrument reported data by age, gender, school, ethnicity, socio-economic status, incidence of high-risk behaviors, self-esteem indicators, and incidence(s) of individual and family gambling. The results indicated statistically significant relationships between gambling habits, parental gambling, other high-risk behaviors, and self-esteem. These findings have implications for American Indian youth and their families, for tribal leaders making policy decisions, and for social workers who provide services to these communities.     

Mental illness as metaphor in Hua-ling Nieh and Li-hua Yu's Chinese-language American novels

Abstract

This article focuses on two fictional immigrant characters who appear in the Chinese-language American novels Sang Ching Yu Tau Hong (Mulberry and Peach) by Hua-ling Nieh and You Jian Zong Lu, You Jian Zong Lu (Palm Trees Again, Palm Trees Again) by Li-hua Yu respectively. Both protagonists suffer from identity crises that lead to mental disorders. These disorders, resulting partly from their immigrant experience, should be read as a metaphor for the damage that can be caused by discrimination and cultural dislocation, not as a statement that immigrants are somehow inherently unbalanced. A character's slip into mental illness may occur because of the character's mistreatment and subsequent inability to adjust, but the character's mental illness may also be seen as an active resistance to assimilation and as a reaffirmation of the character's 'Chineseness'.     

The transnational turn,Houston Baker's new southern studies and Patrick Neate's Twelve Bar Blues

Abstract

This article considers Houston Baker's take on the 'new southern studies' in Turning South Again (2001) in relation to the transnational turn in American studies and Paul Gilroy's theory of the 'Black Atlantic'. The article begins by pointing out that the vision of 'the South' formulated in southern (literary) studies during and after the 1950s frequently cut against the nationalism and exceptionalism central to the development of American studies in the same period. However, southern literary critics and writers (both white and black) developed their own exceptionalist and nativist models of identity, including Donald Davidson's 'autochthonous ideal' and the 'Quentissential fallacy' – in William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom!, Quentin Compson's claim that 'you would have to be born' in the South to understand it. A transnational turn displaces such southern exceptionalism and nativism. However, Baker's 'new southern studies' approach to African-American experience (from slavery to 'United States black modernism') proceeds through a predominantly regional-national framework and privileges 'the South' and his own native southern authority. From a transnational perspective, Baker's approach becomes problematic when it facilitates the 'Quentissential' repudiation of Gilroy's Black Atlantic. The article concludes by discussing the transnational South of Patrick Neate's novel, Twelve Bar Blues, with reference to Gilroy and songs by Billie Holiday and Eric B and Rakim.     

American Indian Lesbians and Gays

Abstract

This article is a study of American Indian lesbians and gays. Using interview content, this study helps practitioners understand these virtually unstudied individuals. Interview data are compared to reports in the literature in an effort to understand how American Indian lesbians and gays are similar to and different from other lesbians and gays. Implications about future research and social work practice with American Indian lesbians and gays are discussed.     

An Ecological Assessment of Drug-Related Problem Situations for American Indian Adolescents of the Southwest

ABSTRACT

This study examined difficult situations related to drug and alcohol use as identified by American Indian youth in the Southwest. Sixty-two contextually based items were developed from focus group data, and were administered to 71 American Indian youth. The items measured the frequency in which youth experienced specific drug-related situations, as well as the perceived difficulty in resisting drug use offers in those situations. The results indicated that the most frequent and difficult drug and alcohol situations occurred primarily with friends or cousins at their homes or after school. Implications for culturally specific assessment, prevention, and treatment are discussed.     

Masturbatory Behavior and Feelings: An Exploratory Study of Indian Immigrant Men in Australia

ABSTRACT

Objectives: Sexual problems associated with masturbation (especially intense negative feelings) are commonly reported among Indian subcontinental men. Yet there is a paucity of scientific information about masturbatory behavior and feelings. Much of the available information is either from clinic-based studies or from studies involving young Indians. Methods: The present study, using a community sample of Indian men in Australia, aimed to explore their masturbatory behavior and feelings. Results: Overall, 268 men took part in an online survey, and 221 of these men completed the section on masturbation. Some demographic characteristics of the study sample were comparable to those of the Indian community in Australia. A large proportion (n = 174, 79%) reported that they currently masturbate, while the rest said they never masturbated (n = 9, 4%) or did masturbate in the past but not at present (n = 38, 17%). Among those who currently masturbate, the mean age of onset of masturbation was 14.9 years. Married men tended to masturbate less frequently than unmarried men. The most common mode, source of stimuli, and reason for masturbation were using hands (n = 162, 95%), watching erotic material on the Internet (n = 136, 81%), and to gain pleasure (n = 137, 79%), respectively. A high proportion (n = 114, 66%) of Indian men who currently masturbate said that they experienced positive feelings when masturbating. Conclusions: Masturbatory feelings of Indian men were found to differ by length of residence in Australia but not by degree of acculturation or age. The present exploratory study has provided baseline information about masturbation among Indian men and indicates the need for further research.     

Clearing the air: American Indian tribal college students' exposure to second hand smoke & attitudes towards smoke free campus policies

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine knowledge, awareness, and support for campus smoke-free policies. Participants: 1,256 American Indian tribal college students from three tribal colleges in the Midwest and Northern Plains. Methods: Data are from an observational cross-sectional study of American Indian tribal college students, collected through a web-based survey. Results: Only 40% of tribal college students reported not being exposed to second hand smoke in the past 7 days. A majority of nonsmokers (66%) agreed or strongly agreed with having a smoke-free campus, while 34.2% of smokers also agreed or strongly agreed. Overall, more than a third (36.6%) of tribal college students were not aware of their campus smoking policies. Conclusions: Tribal campuses serving American Indian students have been much slower in adopting smoke-free campus policies. Our findings show that tribal college students would support a smoke-free campus policy.     

American Indians,civilized performance and the question of rights

Abstract

Between the middle of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, public arguments about the eligibility of American Indians for citizenship, and about the obligations of white Americans toward Indian populations, shifted from a focus on the rights of the Indian minority to a focus on the rights of the white majority. Similarly, discussions of the criteria for Indian citizenship also shifted, from a concern with the moral duty of the majority to ensure the human rights of the minority to a consideration of whether any claims to rights must be respected on moral grounds alone. The writings of Lydia Maria Child and Lyman Abbott on the 'Indian question' illustrate the ways in which Child's paternalistic family model of entitlement is replaced by a later model that emphasizes culture over morality, behavior over rights.     

Demographic and Sexual Behavior Comparisons of Indian and U.S. Internet Samples of Men who have Sex with Men

ABSTRACT

Data were collected via the Internet on sexual behaviors of Indian men who have sex with men (MSM; n = 171); these data were compared to online American MSM (n = 682). Among Indian MSM, 51% had never been tested for HIV, 100% believed themselves to be HIV-uninfected, and 22% (secondary Internet male partners) to 43% (primary male partners) reported not using condoms during last anal intercourse. While U.S. MSM were more likely to not use condoms (42% for secondary Internet partners to 67% for primary male partners), most (88%) had been tested for HIV (.0001 ≤ p ≤ .002, all comparisons). Low rates of HIV testing, beliefs about being HIV-uninfected, and significant levels of unsafe anal intercourse could fuel the spread of infection among Indian MSM.