American Identity in the Age of Obama

The election of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States has opened a new chapter in the country’s long and often tortured history of inter-racial and inter-ethnic relations. Many relished in the inauguration of the country’s first African American president — an event foreseen by another White House aspirant, Senator Robert Kennedy, four decades earlier. What could have only been categorized as a dream in the wake of Brown vs. Board of Education was now a reality. Some dared to contemplate a post-racial America. Still, soon after Obama’s election a small but persistent faction questioned his eligibility to hold office; they insisted that Obama was foreign-born. Following the Civil Rights battles of the 20th century hate speech, at least in public, is no longer as free flowing as it had been. Perhaps xenophobia, in a land of immigrants, is the new rhetorical device to assail what which is non-white and hence un-American. Furthermore, recent debates about immigration and racial profiling in Arizona along with the battle over rewriting of history and civics textbooks in Texas suggest that a post-racial America is a long way off. What roles do race, ethnicity, ancestry, immigration status, locus of birth play in the public and private conversations that defy and reinforce existing conceptions of what it means to be American?This book exposes the changing and persistent notions of American identity in the age of Obama. Amílcar Antonio Barreto, Richard L. O’Bryant, and an outstanding line up of contributors examine Obama’s election and reelection as watershed phenomena that will be exploited by the president’s supporters and detractors to engage in different forms of narrating the American national saga. Despite the potential for major changes in rhetorical mythmaking, they question whether American society has changed substantively.

"With the inauguration of Barack Obama, pundits and prophets from all across the political spectrum announced the end of race and racism. Yet under the shroud of ‘The Dream’ achieved, sat Trayvon, Detroit, ICE raids, Voter ID laws, the birther movement, Shelby County v. Holder and a host of social conditions clearly colored by America’s racial reality but now made seemingly illegible by the claims of a post-racial society. Barreto and O’Bryant take up the daunting task to confront this critical moment not as an end but a beginning, a world in need of a new language for a new racial landscape. With courage and dare we say hope, these essays tackle the vexing theaters of war surrounding the president’s citizenship, his religion, his shifting status between too black and not black enough, and the meaning of all this for a multiracial America clinging tightly to its image as leader of the free world. The collection boldly demonstrates that only through an honest assessment of the Age of Obama, both its beauty and its ugliness, can we build any sustainable visions for a truly democratic future."—Davarian L. Baldwin, Trinity College"American Identity in the Age of Obama is a must read for scholars of race, ethnicity, immigration, presidential politics, and overall American politics. This is a book that analyzes the dynamic role of America’s first black American president, and how his election has directly affected how the US is viewed internationally, how we discuss race in the 21st century, how we incorporate non-black and non-white individuals into larger discussions of the American polity, and how we view national identity through an increasingly more complex lens."—Christina Greer, Fordham University

Amílcar Antonio Barreto is Associate Professor of Political Science at Northeastern University. He is the author of Nationalism and Its Logical Foundations (2009), Vieques, the Navy, and Puerto Rican Politics (2002), The Politics of Language in Puerto Rico (2001), and Language, Elites and the State (1998). Richard L. O'Bryant is an assistant professor of Political Science and the Director of the John D. O’Bryant African American Institute at Northeastern University. His research interests focus on science and technology policy and politics, urban and regional studies and politics, and urban and community technology. He published a chapter in Yigitcanlar, Velibeyoglu and Baum’s anthology, Creative Urban Regions.