Transnational America: Outlines of Modern American Culture is an editorial book that includes 13 essays by different people plus one fully illustrated photo essay on the play, edited by Russell Duncan and Clara Juncker. Museum Tusculaneum Press has published it in a 276-page paperback with ISBN 8772899581 in 2004 in Copenhagen.
The contributors to this one-volume editorial are experts in several disciplines, primarily English literature and American studies.
The work was categorized into 5 main categories: 1- Visions and Reviews 2- Secrets and Lies 3- Photo Essay 4- New People 5- New Places, which each subcategorized to a few essays.
This book has a pro-American structure and tries to present the United States as a cross-cutting pattern and even an archetype that all other nations and states must follow from their nation-state pattern. Many countries consciously or unconsciously persecute it, and its taste and smell can be felt in the rest of the world. that’s why it’s called transnational america.
In fact, the editors believe in an alliteration of Trans in everything related to the United States, as described in the editors’ introduction:
“A transatlantic voyage can discover a new continent or start a new life, and a transcontinental exploration can give rise to Manifest Destiny. Pioneers can cross borders to build a nation. To transmigrate is to travel across a country on the way to rest.” more permanent. The slaves are transported; immigrants make transitions; people transform. The transactions are necessary for the acquisition of properties. Translators mediate between languages. Hopes are transmitted; communities are transplanted; nations are transfigured. Media producers transcribe programs for broadcast. for international offices.”
It can be said -in fact- that the book tries to normalize the concept of transnaturalization.
“The editors commissioned articles explaining the contours of the ‘glocal’ (global and local) and ‘intermestic’ (international and domestic) trends involved in transnational America.” The language of the work is not too complicated but to some extent sophisticated, the editors try to free their minds by coining new words using the method of combination which can be a sign and a metaphor of the interdisciplinary approach of the book per se.
“They tackle the complex issues of globalization, American mythology, Christian proselytizing, modern slavery, conspiracy theory, apocalyptic terrorism, Vietnam stories, international feminism, changing gender roles, the resurgence of regionalism , Hillary Clinton, Muhammad Ali, Latinos and the changing definitions of place, whether it be in Hungary, Nigeria, Estonia, the southern United States or Canadian cities.As the word enters America, so America enters the world, free of territorial borders and experiencing ambivalent reactions of acceptance and resistance”.
It’s really hard to label it unique, but it’s certainly a great piece of work for those who are new to Americaology and Globalizationology. Popular culture is smelled in the whole; examples, similes and metaphors from different Hollywood movies give the work a subtly abstract and interactive atmosphere.
however, it has a unique part, and that is the photo essay. 14 dazzling photos that can represent 14 rehearsals of the play. A very expert eye can obviously find much and more in each one; ‘Naturalization’, ‘Mc Donaldization’, American Surrealization, Presidential Exceptionalization American Puzzle, Phallicist Feminization, Americanization of Negro-Islam, Economic Novelization, Mexico-America Hybridization, Amerinadaization, non-American assimilation; they are probable conceptualized nominations that I dare to put them, and of course all coined by me except in quotation marks. I really recommend everyone who is interested in the book and doesn’t have time to read the whole thing, even if they skip the rest, live a room with this photo essay that has an encyclopedic essence.
As stated in the American Understanding book, several notions and concepts must be taken into account; ‘nationalism’, ‘racism’, ‘masculinity’, ‘Christianity’, ‘globalisation’, ‘immigration’, ‘classical democratic roots’, ‘militarism’, ‘technology’, ‘advertising banners’, ‘youth’, ‘future’ , ‘progress’ and ‘border’ are topics that are reviewed in this work, thus paving the way for American understanding. But some other points are neglected in this work, if they are also treated as elements of modern American culture; Hip Hop music, same-sex marriage, new concept of Guiso as successor to Melting Pot, Voluntarism, Democratization of the World and preferential right. Yet he illuminates new horizons by looking at America from within, even without.