‘I am an American'

How are citizenships and nationalisms constructed, connected and contested in the post-9/11 US – performatively, affectively and visually – and how do their relationships figure ‘Americanness’? This chapter suggests that among the ways citizenships and nationalisms figure Americanness is through the performative grammars of public service advertising campaigns, which are both theatrical and political in equal measure, with a specific focus on the American Advertising Council’s ‘I am an American’ campaign from 2001.