Postnationalism, Globalism, and the New American Studies

Curricula and scholarship in American Studies have changed significantly over the past decade, reflecting the important influences of women's studies, ethnic studies, postmodern and postcolonial theories. Earlier approaches, such as the Puritan Origins and Myth-and-Symbol schools, attempted to elaborate those features of American identity and social organization that are unique national characteristics. Often implicit in this nationalist approach to the study of U.S. culture was the assumption that the United States constitutes a model for democratic nationality that might be imitated or otherwise adapted by other nations in varying stages of their "development." The criticism of such "American Exceptionalism" has focused on both its contributions to U.S. cultural imperialism and its exclusions of the different cultures historically crucial to U.S. social, political, and economic development. In response to concepts of American identity shaped by Western patriarchy and Eurocentric models for social organization, more recent critical approaches have focused on the many cultures that have been marginalized by