As I return from a long but not unexpected break from writing articles, I have decided to start with a topic that may seem really complex. But trust me, after some deep thought about it, it actually makes a lot of sense. The topic in question is the idea that all American identities should be framed in the context of trying to understand 'colonial' identities.

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The Context: Starting In Europe

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For example, take a Western European country that has had many hundreds of years to develop unique identities and sub-identities. Using England as an example, we can dare to ask the question, what makes you English?

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Now this question has a variety of responses (with rather inclusive or exclusive definitions being given), yet the polling data gives us two rather consensus points, specifically for English nationality. You are English if you are born in England, pay taxes in England and contribute to English society. A 2019 poll saw just 10% of participants state that being white is an important marker of British national identity.

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That's not to say that we don't have sub-identities, but they don't appear to negate 'Englishness', my Irish great-grandparent or Scottish surname has a bearing on some identities that I hold, but I think you'd be hard-pressed to find someone that would consider my grandma Irish-English. 

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It is pertinent to state that there is a less likely chance that 'BAME' people would describe themselves as English, yet here is both an example of colonial identities and a development of a new identity, with an interesting use of being British identified by some 'BAME' respondents.

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These interesting dynamics present us with a complex part-colonial approach to English Identity. Prior colonial action in Ireland doesn't appear to have had much longstanding impact on English/English-Irish identity in England (identity is a personal affair and thus some may resonate with being Irish more than others).

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Yet now let's look at Americans. 

America's Colonial Identity: Summarised

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To start, America as a state places great emphasis on citizenship as a marker of American identity, however in recent census data, America cares little for subdivisions, as races in America are categorised as follows: White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, or Some Other Race. Compared to ethnic identity in the UK which asks for specific subdivisions in most cases, often with the exception of white, with white British and white other being the only 2 separate categories.

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Yet it is this obsession with race that formulated the hyphenated (colonial) identities that still appear in contemporary American society. These subdivisions appear to actually stem from pre-1940s American subdivisions of being white, with there being a clear subscription to inter-European races, such as Celtic, Meditteranean and Anglo-Saxon. 

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The clear designation that immigrants were Irish-American, Italian-American and much broader categorisations such as Asian-American, are framed in the concerns of, first white and then inter-white concerns. The clear designation of origin (or broad racial grouping regardless of particular origin) is a colonial concern of America, which favoured their preferred White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) identity. 

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Whilst American conceptualisations of race have changed since the pre-war influx of white immigrants to America, the beliefs appear to have long-term influences on American identity. Although the pledge of allegiance has (since 1892) claimed to promote allegiance to "one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all", the focus on heritage is a long-term effect of this not being the case for many who now call themselves American.

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Whilst non-white Americans may in part identify with these broad collective identities such as 'Asian-American', 'Hispanic' and 'African-American', there is an idea that individuals of these groups do not trace their heritage in the same way. African-American identity is often claimed to be the same as Irish-American, even by American sociologists attempting to tackle Whiteness, how can that be?

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To put bluntly, the less prevalence of hyphenated X-American identity from the sub-groups of African/Asian/Hispanic descent comes out of the necessity to stay united as a group, against continuous racism and discrimination from many different areas of American society. It does not mean that Chinese-American, Mexican-American and Nigerian-American (to pick 3 random examples from each group) don't exist. They are simply not a focus of the identity discourse which is still dealing with large-scale racial issues. 

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The descendants of those Irish and Italians (who now celebrate St Patrick's Day and the Feast Day of San Gennaro on a much broader scale than those in Ireland and Italy) were discriminated against, but could still enter the country (unlike Asian-Americans, and Jews who entered with a maximum quota) and vote (unlike many African-Americans).

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Colonial Identities Don't Go Away

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This brief exploration of identity demonstrates how America's particular colonial identities remain in today's society, albeit transformed into (in the case of many white people) a celebration of heritage rather than a reminder of discrimination. Yet identity remains intersecting and the continued likening of America's white and non-white hyphenated identities by American sociologists who claim to be academics studying 'whiteness' shows how ignorant the country remains of its colonial identities and historic discourses. 

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I hope this article has usefully touched upon some issues of identity, and also how different English and American identity discourses are. I really do hope you enjoyed this article, and thank you for getting this far.