ABSTRACT

Discourse on immigration and assimilation reveals the ways intellectuals within nation-states deliberate on how to deal with the internal other, and hence how they play a role in constructing national identities. Horace Kallen introduced the notion of cultural pluralism to the American public, and ultimately is understood, though not in his time, as having planted the seed for what we know today as multiculturalism. Kallen's work is discussed within both its sociohistorical context and his intellectual and professional work. Looking at the discourse of twentieth century intellectual elites on assimilation as a locus of evaluation proves fruitful for revealing the varying processes of the construction, reproduction, and renovation of national narratives and identities in the US. Samuel Huntington, the high-ranking Harvard professor whose publications found their way into public discourse, re-entered the explicit discussion of American identity with the antagonistic Who Are We? to provoke debate in the post-9/11 era.