Off-White

Author(s): Arjun Appadurai

Source: ANY: Architecture New York, No. 16, Whiteness: WHITE FORMS, FORMS OF
WHITENESS (1996), pp. 55-59
Published by: Anyone Corporation
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 I- í
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16.55

Untila fewyears agoI wascontent toliveinthatspecialspaceallotted to"for-

eigners," especiallyeducated Anglophones likemyself, withfainttracesofa
Britishaccent. Asa blackwoman ata busstopinChicago oncesaidtomewith
approval, I wasanEastIndian. Thatwasin1972.Butsincethathappy conver-
sationtwodecades ago,ithasbecome steadily lesseasytoseemyself as some-
howimmune, armed with myIndian passport andmyAnglophone ways, from the
of
politics racial
identity in the United States. It is notsimply thataftertwo
decades ofbeing a "resident alien"intheUnited States,thespouseofanAnglo-
SaxonAmerican woman, andthefather ofa bicultural thatmyIndian
teenager,
passport seemslikea rather slightbadgeofidentity. Thenetofracialpolitics is
nowcastwider thaneverbefore onthestreets oftheurban United States.
Myowncomplexion anditsroleboth in"minority" andinstreet
politics
encounters withracialhatred, prompt metoreopen thelinksbetween America and
theUnited between
States, bicultural
ism and between
patriotism, diasporic identi-
tiesandthe(in)stabilities
provided bypassports andgreen cards.Postnational
arenotirrelevant
loyalties totheproblem ofdiversity intheUnited States.Indeed,
a postnationalorder isinthemaking, andAmericanness changes itsmeanings,
thewhole problem ofdiversity inAmerican lifewillhavetoberethought.
Itisnotjusttheforce ofcertain deductions thatmoves metothisrecommen-
dation.AsI oscillate between thedetachment ofa postcolonial, diasporic, acad-
emicidentity (taking advantage ofthe mood ofexile and the of
space displace-
ment) andtheuglyrealities ofbeing racial
ized,minoritized, andtribal¡zedinmy
everyday encounters, theory encounters practice. A 1993 Random House book,
Tribes:HowRace,Religion, andIdentity Determine SuccessintheNewGlobal
Economy, tracestheconnections between ethnicity andbusiness success.Its
author,"aninternationally recognized authority onglobal, economic, political
andsocialtrends/7 delineates five"tribes" - theJews, theChinese,the

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 Japanese, theBritish, andtheIndians (anoddgroup, butthey represent primordialem with a high-tech face).They areMaxWeber's pariah capitalists inlate
20th-century transnational drag. Books like this are reminders that East Indians are still
a tribe, as are the Jewsandothers, working theprimordial lodeto
maketheir waytoglobaldominance. So,thetrope ofthetribe canturn onitsownpremises, andwecanhavevastglobaltribes, animage thatseekstohaveit
bothways, as regards primordial intimacy andhigh-tech strategies. However diasporic weget,liketheJews, South Asians aredoomed toremain a tribe,forev-
erfixersanddealers ina world ofopenmarkets, fairdeals,andopportunity forall.
Forthoseofuswhohavemoved intothenational fantasy ofAmerica from theex-colonies, there isthustheseductiveness ofa plural belonging, ofbecoming
American while staying somehow of an
diasporic, expansive attachment to an unbounded, postnational fantasy space. But while we can make our identities,we
cannot dosoexactly as weplease.Asmany ofusfind ourselves racialized,biologized, minoritized, somehow reduced rather than enabled by our bodies and our
ourspatialdiacritics
histories, become ourprisons, andthetrope ofthetribe setsusofffrom another, unspecified America, farfrom theclamor ofthetribe,
decorous, andwhite,
civil, a landinwhich wearenotyetwelcome.
Theterm postnational hasseveral implications. Thefirst istemporal andhistorical andsuggests thatweareintheprocess ofmoving toa globalorder in
which thenation-state hasbecome obsolete andother formations forallegiance andidentity havetakenitsplace.Thesecond istheideathatstrong alternative
forms fortheorganization ofglobaltraffic inresources, images, andideasareemerging, forms thateither actively contest thenation-state orconstitute peace-
fulalternativesforlarge-scale political loyalties. Thethird implication isthepossibility that, while nations might continue toexist, thesteady erosion ofthe
capabilitiesofthenation-state tomonopolize loyalty willencourage thespread ofnational forms largely divorced from territorial states. Thesearerelevant
sensesof"postnational/' butnoneofthem implies that the nation-state, in its classicalterritorial is
form, yet as out of business. It iscertainly incrisis, andpart
ofthecrisisisanincreasingly violent relationship between the nation-state and itspostnational others.
TheUnited Statesisa particularly salient placeinwhich toconsider thesepropositions since, onthefaceofit,ithasmanaged toretain most successfullythe
image ofa national order thatissimultaneously civil,plural, andprosperous. Itappears tonurture a vibrant andcomplex setofpublic spheres, including some
thathavebeencalled"alternative," "partial," or"counter" publics. Itremains enormously wealthy byglobalstandards, and,though itsforms ofpublic vio-
lencearemany andworrisome, itsstateapparatus isnotgenerally dependent onforms oftorture, imprisonment, andviolent repression. When thisisaddedto
thefactthatmulticultural ismintheUnited Statesseemstotakepredominantly nonviolent forms, weappeartobefacedwith a great, uncontested power that
16.56 dominates thenewworld order; that draws immigrants the
by thousands; and that seems to be a triumphant of the
example classic, territorial nation-state. Any
argument abouttheemergence ofa postnational globalorder willhavetoengage itsgreatest apparent contradiction, thecontemporary United States.
Thisbrings usbacktothepervasive idiom andimage oftribalism. Applied toNewYork, Miami, andLosAngeles (asopposed toSarajevo, Soweto, orSriLanka),
thetrope oftribalism both conceals andindulges a diffuse racism about those others (e.g.,Hispanics, Iranians, African-Americans) whohaveinsinuated themselves
intotheAmerican body Itallows
politic. ustomaintain theideaofanAmericanness thatprecedes (andsubsists inspite of)thehyphens thatcontribute toitandto
maintain a distinctionbetween tribal Americans (theblack, thebrown, andtheyellow) andother Americans. Itfacilitates thefantasy thatcivilsociety intheUnited
Stateshasa special destiny inregard topeaceful multiculturalism. Intelligent multiculturalism forus,bloody ethnicity ormindless tribalism forthem. K
Aspecialsetoflinks hasdeveloped between democracy, and
diversity, prosperity in American social thought. Built on a complex dialogue between political
science(theonly genuine made-in-America socialscience without obvious European counterparts orantecedents) andvernacular constitutionalism, a comfort-
ableequilibrium wasestablished between theideasofcultural diversity andoneoranother version ofthemelting pot.Swinging between National Geographic
andReader's Digest, thisanodyne polarity hasproved remarkably durable andcomforting. Itaccommodates, sometimes onthesamepageorinthesame
breath,a sensethatplurality istheAmerican genius andthatthere isanAmericanness thatsomehow contains andtranscends plurality. Thissecond, post-Çivil
Waraccommodation with difference isnowonitslastlegs,andthepolitical correctness/multiculturalism debateisitspeculiar, parochial Waterloo. Parochial
because itinsistently refuses torecognize thatthechallenge ofdiasporic pluralism isnowglobalandthatAmerican solutions cannot beseeninisolation.
Peculiarbecause there hasbeennosystematic recognition thatthepolities ofmulticulturalism isnowpartandparceloftheextraterritorial nationalism ofpop-
ulationswholoveAmerica butarenotnecessarily attached totheUnited States.Morebluntly, neither popular nor academic in
thought country cometo
this has
terms with thedifference between being a land of and
immigrantsbeing one node ina postnational network of diasporas.
Intheemerging postnational world, diaspora runs with, notagainst, thegrain ofidentity, movement, andreproduction. Everyone hasrelatives working
abroad.Many people find themselves exileswithout having tomove very -
far Croats inBosnia, Hindus inKashmir, Muslims inIndia.Yetothers find themselves
inpatterns ofrepeat migration: Indians whowent toEastAfrica inthe19thandearly20thcenturies, inthe1980sfound themselves pushed outofUganda,
Kenya, andTanzania tofind fresh travails andopportunities inEngland andtheUnited States.Nowthey areconsidering returning toEastAfrica. Similarly,
Chinese from HongKong buying realestateinVancouver, Gujarati traders from Uganda opening motels inNewJersey andnewspaper kiosks inNewYorkCity,
Sikhcabdrivers inChicago andPhiladelphia areallexamples ofa newsortofworld inwhich diaspora istheorder ofthings andsettled waysoflifeareincreas-
inglyhard to find.The United States, in its a
always self-perception immigrants, land of finds itself awash in these no
globaldiasporas, longer a closedspace
forthemelting pot to work itsmagic, but rather another diasporic switching point to which people come to seek theirfortunes but are no longer content toleave
theirhomelands behind. American JewsofPolish origin takeHolocaust in
tours Eastern Europe, Indian doctors from set
Michigan upeye clinics in New Delhi,
PalestiniansinDetroit participate inthepolitics oftheWestBank.Global democracy feverandthebreakdown oftheSoviet empire havemeant thatmost
groups wishing torenegotiate their links totheir diasporic identities from their American vantage points arenowfreetodoso.

THETROPE OFTHETRIBE supplantedbymore intimate abovethat

loyalties; andbourgeois
style, nationalism, Our
Nehru-style.
Inspiteofalltheevidence tothecontrary,
these it
level, gives to
way empty slogans rarelybacked India,withits
Japanese connections
andanti-
arehardtimes forpatriotism.Maimed bodies and bythe will
tosacrifice
orto kill.When thinking Westernways, carried
thenameless
aroma oftrea-
barbedwireinEastern Europe,xenophobic vio- aboutthefutureofpatriotism,itisnecessary
first son,inrespect
tothecozyalliance
oftheNehrusand
lenceinFrance, flagwaving inthepolitical
rituals toinquireintothehealth
ofthenation-state. Mountbattens,andthebourgeois
compactbetween
oftheelectionyear here intheUnitedStates,all Mydoubts aboutpatriotism are
(patria-tism?) GandhiannonviolenceandNehruviansocialism.
My
seemtosuggest thatthewillingness
todieforone's tiedupwith myfather's
biography, inwhich patri- father's
distrust
oftheNehrudynasty us
predisposed
countryisstilla globalfashion.
Butpatriotism is otismandnationalismwerealready diverging toimaginea strange,
deterritorial
izedIndia,invent-
anunstablesentiment,which thrives atthe
only terms.Mysister, and I
brothers, grew upin edinTaiwan andSingapore,BangkokandKuala
ofthenation-state.
level, Belowthatlevelitiseasily Bombay wedged betweenex-patriotism,Bose- Lumpur, of
quiteindependent NewDelhiandthe

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 16.57

United
States ofState
Secretary Warren and
Saudi
center,
Christopher, Prince
AI-Saud,infront
left, abuilding
that
housed
U.S. personnel
military abomb
following that
killed
explosion 19and over
injured in
200people
Saudi
Dharan, 26June
Arabia, 1996Photo:
Associated Marinovich
Press/Greg

Nehrus, theCongress partyandmainstream nation- bloodlust inthenameofthenation? turesconcerningreading andpublicity, texts and
alisms.So thereisa specialappealformeinthe Modern nationalisms involve communities of their
linguisticmediations,nations andtheir nar-
that
possibility the marriage between nationsand citizensin theterritorially definednation-state rativesare now
only being juxtaposed toformulate
stateswasalways a marriage ofconvenience and whosharethecollective experience, notofface-to- thespecialandspecific diacritics ofthenational
thatpatriotismneedstofind newobjects ofdesire. facecontact orcommon subordination toa royal imaginary anditspublicspheres.
Onemajor factthataccounts forstrainsinthe person, butofreading books, pamphlets, newspa- Theleaders ofthenewnations thatwere
union ofnationandstateisthatthenationalist pers,maps, andother modern textstogether. In formed inAsiaandAfrica after World WarII -
genie,never perfectlycontained inthebottle ofthe andthrough thesecollective experiences ofwhat Nasser, Nehru,andSukarno - would havebeen
territorial
state,isnowitself diasporic. Carried Benedict Anderson callssprint capitalism" and distressed
toseethefrequency with which theideas
intherepertoires ofincreasingly mobile popula- others increasingly see as "electronic capitalism" oftribalismand nationalismare conflatedin
tionsofrefugees, tourists,guest workers, transna- (televisionand cinema), citizensimagine them- recentpublicdiscourseinthe West. Theseleaders
tionalintellectuals,
scientists,andillegal aliens, selvestobelong toa national society.Themodem spent a greatdealoftheir rhetorical energies in
itisincreasinglyunrestrained byideasofspatial nation-state,inthisview, grows lessoutofnatural urging theirsubjectstogiveupwhatthey sawas
boundary andterritorial sovereignty.Thisrevolu- facts - suchas language, blood, soil,andrace- primordial - tofamily,
loyalties casteand
tribe,
tioninthefoundations ofnationalism hascrept up butisa quintessential cultural product, a product region - intheinterestsofthefragile abstractions
onusvirtuallyunnoticed. Where soilanaplace ofthecollective imagination. Thisviewdistances they called"India,""Egypt," and"Indonesia."
wereoncethekeytothelinkage ofterritorial
nation itself,
butnotquiteenough, from thedominant the- Theyunderstood thatthenewnations needed to
withstatemonopoly overthemeans ofviolence,key oriesof nationalism, from those ofJ. G. Herder to subvertand annex theprimary attached
loyalties
identities
andidentifications nowonly partially Guiseppe Mazzini andsincethen toallsorts of tomoreintimate collectivities.
They restedtheir
revolvearound the realitiesand of
images place. In right-wing nationalists, which seenations as prod- ideasoftheir newnations onthevery edgesofthe
theSikhdemand forKhalistan, inFrench-Canadian uctsofthenatural destinies ofpeoples, whether paradox thatmodern nations wereintended tobe
aboutQuebec,
feelings inPalestinian demands for rooted inlanguage, race,soil,orreligion. Inmany somehow open,universal,andemancipatory by
images
self-determination, ofa homeland areonly ofthese theories ofthenation as imagined, there is virtueoftheirspecialcommitment tocitizenly
partoftherhetoric ofpopular sovereigntyanddo always a suggestion thatblood, kinship, race,and virtue butthattheirnations werenonetheless, in
notnecessarilyreflect a territorial
bottom line.The soilaresomehow lessimagined, more natural than someessential way, differentfrom, andeven better
violenceandterror surrounding thebreakdown of theimagination ofcollective interestorsolidarity. than, other Inmany
nations. waystheseleaders
many existingnation-states arenotsignsofrever- Thetrope ofthetribe reactivates thishidden bioio- knew whatwehavetended toforget, namely, that
siontoanything biological orinnate, darkorpri- gism, largely because forcefulalternatives toit nations, inmulti-ethnic
especially are
settings,
mordial. Whatthen arewetomakeofthisrenewed naveyettobearticulated. Thehistorical conjunc- tenuous collective
projects, noteternal natural

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 facts.Yetthey toohelped tocreate a falsedivide families thathavemembers ofwarring groups with- forplaying down their Islamicidentity under
between theartificiality ofthenation andthose inthesamehousehold; andtheurgings ofthose who Communist rule.Bosnian Muslim leaders have
factsthey falselyprojected as primordia - tribe, holdtotheviewthatSerbs,Muslims, andCroats begun tostateexplicitly that,ifthey donot
family, region. inBosnia- Herzegovina havenofundamental enmi- receive helpquickly from theWestern powers, they
Thenation-state, initspreoccupation with ty.Itishardtoexplain howprinciples ofethnic might havetoturn toPalestinian models ofterror
thecontrol, classification,andsurveillance ofits affiliation, however dubious their provenance and andextremism.
subjects, has often created, revitalized, or frac- their
fragile pedigree, very can rapidly mobilize Oneimportant waytoaccount forthosecases
turedethnic identities that were previously fluid, largegroups into violent action. inwhich cool identities turn and
hot, implosions
negotiable, ornascent. Ofcourse theterms used Whatdoesseemclearisthatthetribal model, from oneplacegenerate explosions inothers, isto
tomobilize ethnic violence today mayhavelong insofar as itsuggests prepackaged passions waiting remind ourselves thatthenation-state isbyno
histories.Buttherealities towhich they refer - toexplode, fliesinthefaceofthecontingencies means theonly gameintown as faras translocal
Serbo-Croatian language, Basquecustoms, thatspark ethnic passion. TheSikhs, until recently loyalties areconcerned. Theviolence thatsur-
Lithuanian cuisine - weremostoften crystallized thebulwark oftheIndian army andhistorically the rounds identity politics around theworld today
inthe19thandearly20thcenturies. Nationalism fighting armofHindu Indiaagainst Muslim rule, reflects the anxieties attendant on the search for
andethnicity thusfeedeachother, as nationalists today regard themselves as threatened by Hinduism nonterritorial of
principlessolidarity. The move-
construct ethnic categories, which inturn drive andseemwilling toaccept aidandsuccor from ments wenowseeinSerbiaandSriLanka,
others toconstruct counterethnicities, which, in Pakistan. TheMuslims ofBosnia-Herzegovina have Mountain Karabakh andNamibia, Punjab and
times ofpolitical crisis, demand counterstates beenforced, reluctantly, torevitalize their Islamic Quebec arewhatmight becalled"trojan nation-
basedonnewfound counternationalisms. Forevery affiliations. Farfrom activating long-standing alisms."Suchnationalisms actually contain
nationalism thatappears tobenaturally destined, "tribal" sentiments, Bosnian Muslims aretorn transnational, subnational, and,more generally,
thereisanother thatisa reactive by-product. between their own conception of themselves as nonnational identities and aspirations. Because
Minorities inmany parts of theworld are as "European Muslims" (a term used
recently by theyare so often the product of forced as wellas
16.58 artificialas themajorities they are seen to threat- vice
EjubGanic, presidentBosnia), of and transna- voluntary diasporas, of mobile intellectuals as
en:"whites" intheUnited "
States,Hindus" in tionalIslam, which isalready actively involved in wellas manual workers, ofdialogues with hostile
India,"Englishmen" inGreatBritain, allare Bosnian warfare. Wealthy Bosnians wholive as wellas hospitable states, very fewofthenew
examples ofhowthepolitical andadministrative abroad, incountries suchas Turkey, arealready nationalisms canbeseparated from theanguish of
designation ofsomegroups as "minorities" buying weapons forthedefense ofMuslims in displacement, thenostalgia ofexile,therepatria-
(blacks andHispanics intheUnited States, Celts Bosnia. Tofreeusfrom thetrope ofthetribe, as tionoffunds, orthebrutalities ofasylum-seeking.
andPakistanis intheUnited Kingdom, Muslims the primordial source of those nationalisms we find Haitians in Miami, Tamils in Sri Lanka, Morroccans
andChristians inIndia)helptopuii majorities lesscivicthanourownintheUnited States, we inFrance, Moluccans in Holland are the carriers of
(silentorvocal)together under labelswith short need to construct a of
theory large-scale ethnic these new transnational and postnational loyalties.
livesbutlonghistories. Thenewethnicities are mobilization thatexplicitly recognizes andinter- While there aremany separatist movements in
oftennoolderthanthenation-states they have prets itspostnational properties. theworld today - theBasques, theTamils, the
cometoresist. TheMuslims ofBosniaarebeing Québécois, theSerbs- thatseemdetermined to
reluctantly ghettoized though there isfearamong POSTNATIONAL FORMATIONS locknationhood andstatehood together under a
bothSerbians andCroats aboutthepossibility Many recent andviolent ethnonationalisms arenot single ethnic rubric, moreimpressive stillarethe
ofanIslamic stateinEurooe. Minorities areas somuch explosive as implosive. Thatis,rather many oppressed minorities whohavesuffered dis-
oftenmadeas they areborn. thanbeing rooted insomeprimordial substrata of placement andforced diaspora without articulat-
Recent ethnic movements often involve thou- affect deepwithin eachofus,which isbrought up inga strong wishfora nation-state oftheir own:
sands, sometimes millions., ofpeople whoare andoutintowider sorts ofsocialengagement and Armenians inTurkey, Huturefugees from Burundi
spread acrossvastterritories andoften separated group action, thereverse isoften thecase.The wholiveinurban Tanzania, andKashmiri Hindus
byvastdistances. Whether weconsider thelinkage effects oflarge-scale interactions between and inexileinDelhiarea fewexamples ofhowdis-
ofSerbsseparated bylargechunks ofBosnia- within nation-states, often stimulated bynewsof placement doesnotalways generate thefantasy of
Herzegovina, orKurds spread acrossIran,Iraq, events inevenmore distant locations, servetocas- state-building. Although many antistate move-
andTurkey, orSikhsspread through London, cadethrough thecomplexities ofregional, local, ments revolve around images ofhomeland, ofsoil,
and
Vancouver, California, as wellas the Indian and neighborhood politics until it energizes local of place, and of return from exile, these images
Punjab, thenewethnonationalisms arecomplex, issuesandimplodes intovarious forms ofvio- reflect thepoverty oftheir (andour)political lan-
large-scale, highly coordinated actsofmobiliza- lence,including themostbrutal ones.Whatwere guagesrather thanthehegemony ofterritorial
tion,reliant onnews, logistical flows, andpropa- previously coolethnic identities (SikhandHindu, nationalism. Putanother way,noidiom hasyet
gandaacrossstateborders. They canhardly be Armenian andAzeri, SerbandCroat)thusturn emerged tocapture thecollective interest ofmany
considered tribal,ifbythiswemeanthatthey are hot,as localities implode under thepressure of groups intranslocal solidarities, crossborder
spontaneous uprisings ofclosely bonded, spatially events andprocesses distant inspaceandtime mobilizations, andpostnational identities. Such
segregated, allied
naturally groupings. In the case from the site ofthe implosion. Among Bosnia's interests are and
many vocal, they but are still
wefind most frightening today, whatcouldbe Muslims, itispossible towatch thetemperature entrapped inthelinguistic imaginary oftheterritor-
calledSerbian "tribalism" ishardly a simple thing oftheseidentities changing before ourvery eyes ial This
state. incapacitymany of deterritorial ized
sincethere areat least2.8million Yugoslav fami- as they find themselves pushed awayfrom a secu- groups tothink theirwayoutoftheimaginary ofthe
lieswhohaveproduced about1.4million mixed lar,Europeanist ideaofthemselves intoa more nation-state isitselfthecauseofmuch global vio-
marriages between SerbsandCroats. Towhich fundamentalist posture. They arebeing pushed not lence sincemany movements ofemancipation and
tribecouldthesefamilies besaidtobelong? Inour only bythethreats totheir survival from Serbs identity areforced, intheir struggles against existing
horrified preoccupation with theshock troops of butalsobypressure from their fellow Muslims in nation-states, toembrace thevery imaginary they
ethnonationaiism, we have lost sight of the con- Saudi and
Arabia,Egypt, Sudan, suggest who seek to escape. Postnational or nonnational move-
fused sentiments ofcivilians; thetornloyalties of thatBosnian Muslims arenowpaying theprice ments areforced bythevery logicofactually exist-

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¡ngnation-states tobecome antinational orantistate ingorganized itself around a modern political ide- laryandstyle, ifthey notice them atall,they are
andthus toinspire thevery statepower thatforces ology inwhich pluralism iscentral totheconduct annoyed anddismayed. Inthismisreading ofhow
them torespond inthelanguage ofcounternational- ofdemocratic life.Outofa different strand ofits othershandle whatwestillseeas ournational
ism.Thisvicious circle canonly beescaped when a experience, this society has also generated a power- recipeforsuccess, Americans perform a further
language isfound to capture complex, nonterritori- fulfable of itself as a land of immigrants. In today's actofnarcissistic distortion: we imagine that
al,postnational forms ofallegiance. postnational, diasporic world, America is being thesepeculiarly American inventions (democracy,
THEFORM OFTHETRANSNATION invited toweldthese twodoctrines together, tocon- capitalism, freeenterprise, human rights, etc.)
TheAmerican formula ofhyphenated allegiance front theneedsofpluralism andofimmigration, to areautomatically andinherently interconnected
(as inItalian-Americans, Asian-Americans, and construct a society around diasporic diversity. andthatournational sagaholds thekeytothe
African-Americans) isreaching thepoint ofsatu- Whatistobedone?There couldbea special combination. Inthemigration ofourwords, we
ration,and the right-hand sideof the hyphen placefor America in the new, postnational order, seethevictory of our myths. We are believers in
canbarely contain theunruliness oftheleft-hand andonethatdoesnotrely oneither isolationism terminal conversion.
side.Evenas thelegitimacy ofnation-states in orglobaldomination as itsalternative basis.The TheAmerican "victory" intheColdWarneed
theirownterritorial contexts isincreasingly under United Statesiseminently to
suited be a sort of not turn
necessarily Pyrrhic. Thefactisthatthe
threat, theideaofthenation flourishes transna- cultural laboratory anda freetradezoneforthe United States,from a cultural point ofview, is
tional^.Safefrom thedepredations oftheir home generation, circulation, importation, andtesting already a vastfreetradezone(FTZ),fullofideas,
states,diasporic communities become doubly loyal ofthematerials fora world organized around technologies,styles, andidioms (from McDonald's
totheir nations oforigin andthusambivalent diasporic diversity. Ina sense, thisexperiment is andtheHarvard Business SchooltotheDream
abouttheir loyalties toAmerica. Thepolitics of already under way.TheUnited Statesisalready a Teamandreverse mortgages) thattherestofthe
ethnic identity in the United States is inseparably huge, fascinating garage sale for the rest of the worldfinds fascinating. This FTZ rests ona volatile
linked totheglobalspread oforiginally local world. also
By providing a set of images (Rambo in the
economy; major citiesof the American border-
national identities.Forevery nation-state thathas Afghanistan, vxWe AretheWorld," Bernard Shaw land(LosAngeles, Miami, NewYork, Detroit)
exported significant numbers ofitspopulations to inBaghdad, CokegoestoBarcelona, Perot goes arenowheavily militarized. Butthese facts areof 16.59
theUnited Statesas refugees, tourists, orstudents,toWashington) thatlinks human rights, consumer little relevance tothose whocome, either briefly
there isnowa delocal izedtransnation, which style,antistatism, andmediahype, itmight be orformore extended stays, tothisFTZ.Some,
retains a specialideological linktoa putative place saidthattheUnited Statesispartly accountable fleeing vastly greater urban violence, stateperse-
oforigin butisotherwise a thoroughly diasporic forthe idiosyncrasies that attend struggles for cution,and economic hardship, as permanent
come
collectivity.No existing conception of Americanness self-determination in otherwise very different parts migrants, or
legal illegal. Others areshort-term
cancontain thislargevariety oftransnations. ofthe world. This is a
why University of Iowa for
shoppers clothes, entertainment, loans, arma-
Inthisscenario, thehyphenated American sweatshirt isnotjusta ridiculous symbol inthejun- ments, orquicklessons infreemarket economics or 0
04
rt
might havetobetwicehyphenated (Asian- glesofMozambique oronthebarricades ofBeirut. civilsociety politics.Thevery unruliness, therank u
£
U
American-Japanese orNative-American-Seneca Itcaptures thefree-floating yearning forAmerican unpredictability, thequirky inventiveness, thesheer <+4
orAfrican-American-Jamaican orHispanic- styleeveninthemostintense contexts ofoppositioncultural vitalityofthisFTZarewhatattract all 0
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mobile andgrow moreprotean. Orperhaps nationality isanexample ofthiscontradictory FortheUnited Statestoplaya majorrolein £
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American-Italians, American-Haitians, American-tries, theinsistently hungry eyeoftheelectronic maymeanmaking room forthelegitimacy of - I
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globalidentities anddiasporic loyalties. Itmight togenerate, reformulate, andrecirculate cultural Broadway, Hollywood, andDisneyland: theimport OI s»a hs
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salisms anddiasporic pluralism. waysinwhich these American products and hyphen between nation andstate, andtoallowthe ~ B £
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