Inclusive nationalism endured as minorities’ resistance to nativism despite defeats
Evidence
During the period I was writing about, American universalism was generally at a low ebb. It struggled at a disadvantage against the aggressive and dynamic thrust of nativism. Moreover, it had a problem of internal contradiction. It was inspiring, yet also oxymoronic. It defined Americans as a peculiar people while grounding their identity in the rights of man. Despite its weakness during the fin de siécle heyday of western imperialism, this inclusive nationalism bore a message of hope, which I failed to emphasize enough. Although devastatingly defeated in an era of lynchings, scientific racism, and war fevers, American universalism lived on, still looking to the future to reduce disparities between cosmopolitan ideals and parochial realities. Its importance in my argument was simply to demonstrate that nationalism was not always exclusionary and defensive. It had given many Americans, epecially though not exclusively minorities, a means of resisting nativism on staunchly patriotic grounds. … American universalism could revive and become once more a precious resource for a liberal politics. It tells us that the dream of a widening interracial community is not just an airy abstraction. The aspiration for such a community has endured because it is rooted in national pride. — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 2007
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to reader’s hypothesis testing: universalism-as-counter-narrative to manufactured-enemy theories — the ‘enemy’ category may decay in part because a rival inclusive patriotism remains structurally available. — connects to: Fear-driven nationalism roused nativists but failed to assimilate immigrants — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 1424; Coercive Americanization backfired, driving minorities into their own defensive nationalisms — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 1531
Broader Connections
- Coercive Americanization backfired, driving minorities into their own defensive nationalisms
#corroborates(0.85) — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 1531