Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-v5vhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-06T04:01:11.360Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

1 - National Identity and the Conditions of Tolerance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2013

Norbert Finzsch
Affiliation:
Universität Hamburg
Dietmar Schirmer
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Get access

Summary

National identity is a concept frequently raised by a people or by a government, as when we ask, Who are Americans? or What does it mean to be German? Yet, as we also know, the sense of identity that a people or a government arrive at can be a slippery concept and not infrequently a changing one. If national identity is not easy to define precisely, it is, nonetheless, often used, sometimes for necessary and important purposes, like mobilizing a people for war, and sometimes for keeping others out. Since this collection of essays treats the question of the Outsider in the history of Germany and the United States, I should like to offer some suggestions as to how the achievement of national identity in these two countries might throw some light on the issue of xenophobia.

Only by examining the sources and uses of the identity of people over time - that is, through history - can one understand and appreciate the circumstances out of which tolerance emerges or is sustained. Or, to put the matter a little more comparatively: One may learn about the conditions and uses of tolerance by recalling the past presence of intolerance.

Despite the divergent histories of Germany and the United States - about which more will be said later - today they share a concern. Thanks to an upsurge in immigration over the last four or five years, leaders and followers in both countries have been asking an old question, “Who is a German?” or “Who is an American?” On the face of it, the peoples of these two countries do not seem to have a common concern about who they are.

Type
Chapter
Information
Identity and Intolerance
Nationalism, Racism, and Xenophobia in Germany and the United States
, pp. 3 - 20
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×