Global Perspectives on the United States

Pro-Americanism, Anti-Americanism, and the Discourses Between
Author: Edited by Virginia R. Dominguez and Jane C. Desmond
A kaleidoscopic view of America from abroad
Cloth – $95
978-0-252-04083-2
Paper – $30
978-0-252-08233-7
eBook – $19.95
978-0-252-09933-5
Publication Date
Paperback: 04/24/2017
Cloth: 04/24/2017
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About the Book

A daring collaborative effort, this volume showcases dialogues between international scholars engaged with the United States from abroad. The writers investigate the analytic methods and choices that label certain talk, images, behaviors, and allusions as "American" and how to read the data on such material. Seeking to capture the immense complexities behind labels like "Pro-American" and "Anti-American," the editors present the essays in pairs that overlap in theme or region. Each author subsequently comments on the other's work. A third scholar or team of scholars from a different discipline or geographic location then provides another level of analysis. The cross-cut works invite readers to embrace differing viewpoints and ideas of what constitutes evidence in discovering new intellectual vistas, and to apply their own areas of expertise to furthering each debate.

Contributors: Andrzej Antoszek, Sophia Balakian, Zsofia Bán, Sabine Bröck, Ian Condry, Kate Delaney, Jane C. Desmond, Virginia R. Dominguez, Ira Dworkin, Richard Ellis, Guillermo Ibarra, Seyed Mohammad Marandi, Giorgio Mariani, Ana Mauad, Loes Nas, Edward Schatz, Manar Shorbagy, Kristin Solli, Amy Spellacy, and Michael Titlestad.

About the Author

Virginia R. Dominguez is the Gutgsell Professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is the author of several books including People as Subject, People as Object: Selfhood and Peoplehood in Contemporary Israel. Jane C. Desmond is a professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is the author of Displaying Death/ Animating Life: Human-Animal Relations in Art, Science, and Everyday Life and several other books.

Reviews

"An interesting, uniquely structured work . . . Highly recommended."--Choice

"Global Perspectives on the United States offers rich, interesting, innovative, and thought-provoking reflections on the process of assimilation, adaptation, and transformation of American values and cultural expressions, within different contexts. The book . . . shows the utility and complexity of constructivist approaches in international and social studies."--H-Net

Blurbs

"A fascinating, timely, and provocative intervention into current debates and discussions within the field of American Studies."--Nick Selby, editor of Comparative American Studies

"Lively and the format adds to the excitement and informative dialogue. The scholarship builds a depth and richness into the discussion and contributes to our understanding of a challenging set of questions."--Ida Susser, author of Norman Street: Poverty and Politics in an Urban Neighborhood