{"id":185434,"date":"2022-05-11T07:30:42","date_gmt":"2022-05-11T11:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=185434"},"modified":"2023-06-27T12:58:51","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T16:58:51","slug":"in-defining-america-students-critique-criticize-and-warn-of-what-is-and-could-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2022\/05\/in-defining-america-students-critique-criticize-and-warn-of-what-is-and-could-be\/","title":{"rendered":"In Defining \u2018America,\u2019 Students Critique, Criticize, and Warn of What Is and Could Be"},"content":{"rendered":"

For today\u2019s thinkers and doers and the generations that come after, Ruth Braunstein has one question: What does America mean to you?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe public is always thinking about it whether they know it or not,\u201d she says. \u201cOur assumptions about what it means to be American are embedded in so many of our conversations about public policy. Who deserves access to public institutions and resources, whether we should allow certain religious groups to display their religious symbols in public, do you need to be a taxpayer to be a good American? There are so many ways this plays out in the background of our policy debates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of the time, though, the general public doesn\u2019t get to answer, says Braunstein, an associate professor of sociology who runs UConn\u2019s Meanings of Democracy Lab<\/a>. Politicians and elected officials, institutional and corporate top brass typically make decisions that end up defining \u201cAmerica\u201d for those who comprise it \u2013 like what holidays are observed on the public school calendar.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Last fall, she sought to change that with the help of political science<\/a> professor and President Emeritus Susan Herbst, who came across a 1937 contest in Harper\u2019s Magazine soliciting written submissions that attempted to define America in that time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t see all the answers submitted in the 1930s, but from what we can tell, they are the standard ones: that democracy is fragile, citizens are not always informed and are open to manipulation, and there are indeed problematic leaders with poor intentions,\u201d Herbst says. \u201cLike many intellectuals in the 1930s, there was tremendous concern that the United States could see the rise of authoritarian movements right here on our own soil.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were watching the rise of Adolph Hitler and other dictatorial leaders and many American journalists thought the topic of our own future was a vital one,\u201d she continues. \u201cWhile our contemporary situation is different, we do have the same fears as we watch demagoguery at home and abroad. The parallels to the 1930s, and shared concerns, are stunning, in fact.\u201d<\/p>\n