One thing that has continually struck me throughout this quarter is the way in which America has a particularly unreliable narrative concerning colonization. I believe that this is largely due to the level of inconscience that the American ideology possesses regarding the memory of its own creation and history. In its desire to possess and colonize other parts of the globe, it is as though the nation has forgotten the Revolutionary War to escape the colonial power of Britain to become a nation (and this only accomplished with the aid of the French).
If I can recall one moment from the entire class that truly resonated with me, and spoke to the unreliability of the American narrative, it was the day that Christine was elucidating the hypocrisy inherent in popular thought surrounding World War II. Most Americans, both then and now, consider U.S. involvement in WWII to be ‘fighting the good fight’ against the ‘evil enemy’ the Nazis. However, the reality of the situation was that U.S. embassies across Europe were denying exit visas to Jewish refugees. This is just one example of unreliability in the context of a national popular narrative, but it was such a sobering, maddening, and intense moment of realization for me.
Although that particular piece of history stuck out to me, moments of realization occurred rather frequently for me throughout the course of our class. Each novel, text, or film contained unreliability in its narration that required much more critical thought and evaluation on behalf of the reader. This level of engagement with the texts was the source of many ‘ah-ha’ moments and insights into the complex relationship the our country has with the rest of the world. It is truly a wonder that it took as long as it did for the term ‘blowback’ to be coined…
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