The author's definition of the "Master Narrative of American History" is synonymous with the idea of "whitewashing" history. Primarily as a result of political leadership being predominately white throughout its history, people tend to see America as a "White" nation and ignore the vast multicultural diversity that exists in the country.
The problem, as Takaki sees it, is that people view the nation of America as "founded by white settlers," which ignores the history that Native people had in the nation as well as the contributions of people of color and minorities throughout history. In fact, Takaki argues that it flies in the face of the very idea of America from its earliest days—the concept of a melting pot. Even within the "White community" there are vast cultural differences and ancestral lines which are ignored in favor of enveloping the nation in a single garment of white identification.
According to Takaki, various people groups who have had an impact on America are written off because they were seen, alternately, as people who were savages, were unintelligent, were only supported by white citizens (having no contributions of their own), or were unable to assimilate. It speaks to the heart of the issue—the idea that being able to assimilate into white/European culture is the only way to be a valid and contributing member of American History.
Takaki defines the “Master Narrative of American History” as a filter that people place over the multiculturalism that is America. Instead, the term “America” became synonymous with “white.” As observed by Toni Morrison, even the term “race” itself became a metaphor, and the national identity of America has become white. If one is not white, they are defined as “Other” and even considered as different, inferior, and even unassimilable. The history of America has always been multicultural (this includes the Native Americans and others who arrived before Europeans), and he argues historians created a myth that America is white. It is also because of these historians, according to Takaki, the “Master Narrative is deeply embedded in our mainstream culture” and in the academic world. One example is Fredrick Jackson Turner, who created the “frontier thesis” in the 1890s when Americans moved west. The idea of the thesis is the idea that Europeans have “civilized” the American frontier. He discredits the Native Americans and “shouts a war cry and takes the scalp in orthodox Indian fashion” and then states as simple fact “the new product is American.” Oscar Handlin is another historian from the 1940s, and he wrote about the immigrants who arrived in America. However, he only looked at those who immigrated from Europe and not those from Asia, Latin America, and Africa.
Takaki also looks at today's use of the Master Narrative of American History in public schools where the “White-centered” views of minorities are almost nonexistent. He takes notice of the lack of diversity being taught in American public schools. Takaki tells a different history of the United States that focuses on diversity and its history, instead of the white narrative as to how America was built.
Takaki defines the "Master Narrative of American History" as a kind of filter that some people place over the multicultural people in American history and in the current day so that "American" becomes synonymous with "white." In this narrative, those who aren't white are defined as the "Other" and are seen as inferior and in some ways not American. Though our history has always been multicultural (after all, Native Americans lived here before Europeans did), revisionist historians have created a myth of America as white.
According to Takaki, many historians have perpetuated this myth. One example is Frederick Jackson Turner, who developed the "frontier thesis." This is the idea that Europeans "civilized" the American frontier and, by taming the frontier, created a culture that was purely American in nature. Even historians who studied immigration such as Oscar Handlin, who wrote in the 1940s, looked only at European immigrants and overlooked people who came from Africa (forcibly), Asia, and Latin America.
Takaki identifies this concept in the first chapter in A Different Mirror. He defines the "Master Narrative of American History" (the capitalization is Takaki's) as a "powerful and popular but inaccurate story" in which "our country was settled by European immigrants, and Americans are white." In this narrative, American identity is imagined as whiteness. According to Takaki, not being white in America is to be "designated as the 'Other'"—different, inferior, and unassimilable. He argues that it has become "deeply imbedded in our mainstream culture and even in academic history, where he identifies its origins with the work of Frederick Jackson Turner and other historians who were influenced by him. Even today, Takaki observes, this narrative informs the way history is taught in public schools, where even African-American history is taught in a "White-centric" way. As he points out, the work of several generations of scholars has deconstructed this narrative, but it remains pervasive. A Different Mirror is Takaki's attempt to write a synthesis that tells a different story of the United States, one that focuses on diversity, rather than whiteness, as the defining characteristic of America.
No comments:
Post a Comment