ABSTRACT
The ethnic mix of America is complex, consisting of indigenous peoples as well as voluntary and involuntary immigrants around whom revolve questions of religion, allegiance and national pride. Tension and ambiv - alence surround the whole idea of ethnicity in America, indeed some would argue that ‘our grandparents were ethnic, not us’, preferring to believe in the possibility of ‘one homogeneous “American” community’ (Singh et al. 1994: 5). However, the concept of assimilation asserted that all ethnic groups could be incorporated in a new American national identity, with specific shared beliefs and values, and that this would take preference over any previously held system of traditions. Assimilation stressed the denial of ethnic difference and the forgetting of cultural practices in favour of Americanisation which emphasised that one language should dominate as a guard against diverse groups falling outside the social concerns and ideological underpinnings of American society. Of course, within this particular vision, ‘whiteness became the privileged grounding and metaphor for the empty abstraction of US citizenship’ (Singh 2009: 10). Native Americans and African Americans, as well as immigrants from Europe and elsewhere, were seen as a threat to this vision until they were brought within the acceptable definitions of ‘Americanness’ or excluded from it entirely. These versions of assimilation argued for conformity and homogeneity as the means of guaranteeing democracy and equality for all in America. In the case of Native Americans, as we shall examine, the differences between tribal and white culture appeared too great for a satisfactory assimilation and the reservation system was employed instead (the case of African Americans is examined in Chapter 3).
