SALZBURG SEMINAR AMERICAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION (SSASA) UNDERSTANDING AMERICA IN THE 21ST CENTURY: CULTURE AND POLITICS SALZBURG GLOBAL SEMINAR IS GRATEFUL TO THE NUMEROUS CONTRIBUTORS TO SSASA WHO HAVE PROVIDED GENEROUS FUNDING THAT HAS ENABLED US TO PROVIDE LIMITED SCHOLARSHIP AID FOR THIS PROGRAM. IN ADDITION, SALZBURG GLOBAL SEMINAR WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE FOLLOWING AMERICAN EMBASSIES AND CONSULATES FOR THEIR SUPPORT OF INDIVIDUALS TO ATTEND THE PROGRAM: BERLIN, GERMANY BUCHAREST, ROMANIA COPENHAGEN, DENMARK DAKAR, SENEGAL JERUSALEM, ISRAEL OSLO, NORWAY PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC TUNIS, TUNISIA VALLETTA, MALTA VIENNA, AUSTRIA VLADIVOSTOK, RUSSIA ADDITIONAL FUNDING PROVIDED BY: SALZBURG GLOBAL SEMINAR WOULD LIKE TO THANK ALL PARTICIPANTS FOR DONATING THEIR TIME AND EXPERTISE TO THIS PROGRAM. 3 UNDERSTANDING AMERICA IN THE 21ST CENTURY: CULTURE AND POLITICS SEPTEMBER 21 TO 25, 2018 SSASA 16 PROGRAM DIRECTOR PROGRAM ASSOCIATE RAPPORTEUR Marty Gecek Antonio Riolino Louise Hallman CONTRIBUTORS Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu PHOTOS Sandra Birklbauer Stephanie Quon COVER Vlad Tchompalov/ Oscar Tollast Unsplash 4 Understanding America in the 21st Century: Culture and Politics TABLE OF CONTENTS 5 Understanding America in the 21st Century: Culture and Politics 7 Introduction 8 Rhetoric vs. Reality 9 Through The Lens Of Popular Culture 9 The 24-hour News Cycle and Loss of Trust 11 International Audiences 12 Forces of Change 12 Social Change 13 Cultural Change 14 Political Change 15 International Change 17 Conclusion 18 Faculty Interviews 18 Charlie Savage: “Part of the Fun of the Job Is That Things Never Stand Still” 20 Victoria Zhuravleva: We Need to Understand Other Countries Are Not “One- Dimensional” 23 The Ron Clifton Lecture on American Studies 24 Trying to Understand America 32 Appendix 32 Participants 34 Staff 5 UNDERSTANDING AMERICA IN THE 21ST CENTURY: CULTURE AND POLITICS Ever since Salzburg Global Seminar was founded in 1947 as the Salzburg Seminar in American Studies, critical dialogue about American history, literature, cultural institutions, politics, economics, and law has played a vital role in our organization’s development and legacy. The Salzburg Seminar American Studies Association was founded in 2004 to continue this legacy. In 2018, its 16th symposium was held – Understanding America in the 21st Century: Culture and Politics. The annual symposia convened by the Salzburg Participants examined factors related to Seminar American Studies Association leadership, race and ethnicity changes in (SSASA) focus on topical questions and issues America, transformations in media and digital related to American culture and society, to communications, the decline of trust in political foster understanding of how these issues are and cultural institutions, the direction and influenced by, and affect, the world as a whole. polarizing significance of popular culture and the arts in understanding America, and the The multi-disciplinary symposium, implications of the above for the future of Understanding America in the 21st Century: American Studies abroad. Culture and Politics in September 2018 explored the sensitive intersect of culture Through thematic lectures, including a keynote and politics in America’s rapidly changing from leading British Americanist Christopher landscape. The 2018 symposium built on the Bigsby on “Understanding America,” small conclusions of the 2017 symposium on Life table discussions and a lively “knowledge and Justice in America: Implications of the New café,” participants analyzed the likely Administration, which had explored historic directions of changes in America over the events related to social progress and literary next decade, drawing on their observation of reflections of the nature and quality of life and developments since the 2016 presidential justice in America. election as well as political trends leading up to the mid-term elections of 2018, which were The four-day program, bringing together 53 due to take place six weeks after the annual Americanists, political scientists and cultural symposium concluded. and media professionals from 29 countries on five continents, sought to foster the Ultimately, participants left Schloss participants’ greater understanding of how the Leopoldskron with a better understanding of lives of individuals and communities in 21st the complexity of domestic and international century America are being reshaped as a result forces impacting and driving America in the of current social, political and cultural forces as 21st century, which will now enrich their well as America’s changing role in world affairs. teaching, research, and practice. 6 Understanding America in the 21st Century: Culture and Politics Former US diplomat and SSASA Advisory Board member Mark Wenig speaks with Rokhaya Toure from the Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar. 7 INTRODUCTION Given its ubiquity on our movie and TV screens, radios, newspapers, and social media feeds, many from the average media consumer to the expert academic could be forgiven for believing that they understand the United States of America. But the USA – with its recent unexpected presidential election outcome, persistent racial and socioeconomic tensions, and seemingly unique phenomena such as school shootings – continues to confound. Why is America so hard to understand? That was the leading question for the 53 Americanists, political scientists and cultural and media professionals from 29 countries across five continents at the 16th symposium of the Salzburg Seminar American Studies Association (SSASA) in September 2018. “One problem in understanding America… is spatial,” admitted leading British Americanist Professor Christopher Bigsby, director of the Arthur Miller Institute at the University of East Anglia, in the inaugural Ron Clifton Lecture on American Studies. Indeed, the US is vast. A single country spanning the breadth of an entire continent (“from sea to shining sea”), its landscape includes frozen Arctic tundra and searing hot deserts, forests, prairies, swamps, mountains, canyons, huge metropolises and wide open, empty spaces. Its population is similarly diverse – and diverging. No longer the great “melting pot” but more a “multicultural mosaic,” the US is shifting demographically: The Brookings Institute projects that America will become minority white by 2045. It is polarizing culturally and politically. Urban vs. rural, “red” states vs. “blue” states, liberal vs. conservative, religious vs. secular, black vs. white, poor vs. the 1% – America is finding it as difficult to understand itself and each other as outsiders do. As Bigsby pointed out, “Those living in Manhattan may have more in common with those in London or Berlin,” than they would with their fellow Americans living in the Deep South. To understand “America” is to understand there are many different Americas. There is the rhetorical America – based in history, mythos and modern media portrayals. But there is also the “real” America, experienced by diverse communities with increasingly little understanding and appreciation of or even belief in each other’s realities. Understanding America also requires an understanding of both the country’s unique history and the forces that are shaping its future, be they domestic social, cultural, political forces or outside of the country. As the US shifts from the sole global superpower of the late 20th century and early 21st century to a more isolationist country under President Donald J. Trump’s “America First” foreign policy, the world’s understanding and perception of it is shifting too. This report seeks to summarize the rich discussions and insights shared across the four-day “One problem in program. A full transcript of Bigsby’s lecture is also included, starting on page 23. understanding America… is spatial.” Christopher Bigsby, Director, Arthur Miller Institute, University of East Anglia, UK 8 Understanding America in the 21st Century: Culture and Politics RHETORIC VS. REALITY America’s self-image is of a country born in revolution – the land of the free, home of the brave – where every person enjoys the four freedoms: the freedom of speech and expression, the freedom to worship, the freedom from want, and the freedom from fear. But despite the First Amendment, the US stands 45th in the World Press Freedom Index – a place only four places below where it stood before President Donald J. Trump declared the press to be “the enemy of the people.” Demands for “safe spaces” on college campuses are raising concerns that free speech is being quelled in academia also. Despite the Establishment Clause separating church and state, many politicians, lawmakers, and bureaucrats, including current Vice President Mike Pence, use their (typically evangelical Christian) faith to justify their policy decisions. Despite the American Dream, inequality in the US is widening. Almost one in eight Unlike traditional academic conferences, the interactive American adults do not have any health insurance and as Bigsby told his audience in nature of SSASA symposia also includes formats such Salzburg, “It would take 150 years, or five generations, for a child from a poor family in a Knowledge Café, allowing America to earn the national average.” participants to discuss various aspects of American Studies in more depth, at greater length, Despite the successes of the civil rights era, as more recent movements such as Black Lives and with more people. 2018’s program included a Matter highlight and protest against, many people of color