Amerykański nacjonalizm

• Authors: Krzysztof Kasiński

Title variants

EN

American nationalism

Abstracts

EN

The phenomenon of American nationalism dates back to the pioneer times of the Pilgrims and Founding Fathers who established first social and political relations creating origins of a future developed country. Throughout the past centuries the term “nationalism” from an American perspective was tangled to various definitions and sometimes official politics of the state. American nationalism was first represented by faithful Protestant settlers who believed strongly in a God’s destined society. Based on that the first definition was coined by John Winthrop in his poem “City upon a hill” – idea of a land deprived of evil in all of its emanations, which is not distant and obeys the will of an Absolute. One of the Founding Fathers – Thomas Paine in his Common Sense developed Winthrop’s idea and presented Americans as people with unlimited abilities. American writers and first colonists believed in a Biblical promised land that offered them unlimited abilities of self-growth. This strength of a self consciousness paved a way to a scientific term of super-patriotism. Coined by Michael Parenti, this term encompasses both democratic ideas of Alexis de Tocqueville and vision of a self-made man, who is the organizer of American statehood. American nationalism is also a derivative of ideology of americacentrism with its roots in the 19th century concept of Manifest Destiny proclaiming a nation that is endowed with an eternal right to secure the world for democracy. This idea has been a long term debate in American political and social life as United States became more and more involved in international affairs since the beginning of 20th century. In sum, the idea of American nationalism is the result of American melting-pot of religious, cultural and specific historical circumstances that built this nation.

Keywords

EN

nationalism; America; nation; state

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Slawistyki PAN
• Journal: Sprawy Narodowościowe
• Year: 2012
• Issue: 40

Contributors

author

Krzysztof Kasiński

• Katedra Antropologii Kultury SWPS, Warszawa