Amerikaner (USA)

Amerikaner er den generelle betegnelsen av en person fra Amerikas forente stater.^[3]^[4] Definisjonen er statsborgerlig, og enhver person med amerikansk statsborgerskap anses derfor som en amerikaner.

USA er et multietnisk samfunn, hjem til mennesker fra forskjellige etniske og nasjonale bakgrunner. Dermed definerer mange amerikanere ikke deres nasjonalitet som en etnisitet, men de identifiserer seg både ved sin nasjonalitet og deres parentale bakgrunn.^[5] Ved siden av den indianske urbefokningen i USA har nær sagt alle amerikanere eller deres forfedre immigranter gjennom de siste fem århundrer. Selv om borgere av USA utgjør flertallet av amerikanere, er det også beboere uten statsborgerskap, personer med to statsborgerskap, og utvandrete som også hevder å ha en amerikansk identitet.^[6]

Engelsktalende, og selv de som snakker mange andre språk, bruker vanligvis begrepet «amerikaner» for å henvise utelukkende til folk fra USA. Dette utviklet seg fra den opprinnelige anvendelsen for å skille mellom engelske folk i det amerikanske koloniene fra engelske folk i England.^[7] Likevel kan betegnelsen «amerikaner» også i bestemte kontekster henvise generelt til folk i Amerika, det vil si fra Nord-Amerika såvel som i Sør-Amerika.^[8]

Referanser

^ «U.S. Census Bureau Announces 2010 Census Population Counts – Apportionment Counts Delivered to President» (Pressemelding). United States Census Bureau. 21. desember 2010. Arkivert fra originalen den 24. desember 2010
^ «U.S. and World Population Clock» U.S. Census Bureau 2010 United States Census
^ Barbour, Christine; Wright, Gerald C. (2013) Keeping the Republic: Power and Citizenship in American Politics, 6th Edition The Essentials, CQ Press. ISBN 978-1-4522-4003-9, s. 31–33. Sitat: «Who Is An American? Native-born and naturalized citizens»
^ Shklar, Judith N. (1991): American Citizenship: The Quest for Inclusion, The Tanner Lectures on Human Values. Harvard University Press, ISBN 9780674022164, s. 3–4
^ Slotkin, Richard (2001): «Unit Pride: Ethnic Platoons and the Myths of American Nationality», American Literary History. Oxford University Press. 13 (3), s. 469–498. doi:10.1093/alh/13.3.469. Sitat: «But it also expresses a myth of American nationality that remains vital in our political and cultural life: the idealized self-image of a multiethnic, multiracial democracy, hospitable to differences but united by a common sense of national belonging.»
^ Petersen, William; Novak, Michael; Gleason, Philip (1982): Concepts of Ethnicity, Harvard University Press, ISBN 9780674157262, s. 62. Sitat: «...from Thomas Paine's plea in 1783...to Henry Clay's remark in 1815... "It is hard for us to believe ... how conscious these early Americans were of the job of developing American character out of the regional and generational polaritities and contradictions of a nation of immigrants and migrants." ... To be or to become an American, a person did not have to be of any particular national, linguistic, religious, or ethnic background. All he had to do was to commit himself to the political ideology centered on the abstract ideals of liberty, equality, and republicanism. Thus the universalist ideological character of American nationality meant that it was open to anyone who willed to become an American.»
^ «American»^{[død lenke]}, Oxford English Dictionary (betalingsmur)
^ Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage, Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, 1994, s. 87

[1] «U.S. Census Bureau Announces 2010 Census Population Counts – Apportionment Counts Delivered to President» (Pressemelding). United States Census Bureau. 21. desember 2010. Arkivert fra originalen den 24. desember 2010

[2] «U.S. and World Population Clock» U.S. Census Bureau 2010 United States Census

[3] Barbour, Christine; Wright, Gerald C. (2013) Keeping the Republic: Power and Citizenship in American Politics, 6th Edition The Essentials, CQ Press. ISBN 978-1-4522-4003-9, s. 31–33. Sitat: «Who Is An American? Native-born and naturalized citizens»

[4] Shklar, Judith N. (1991): American Citizenship: The Quest for Inclusion, The Tanner Lectures on Human Values. Harvard University Press, ISBN 9780674022164, s. 3–4

[5] Slotkin, Richard (2001): «Unit Pride: Ethnic Platoons and the Myths of American Nationality», American Literary History. Oxford University Press. 13 (3), s. 469–498. doi:10.1093/alh/13.3.469. Sitat: «But it also expresses a myth of American nationality that remains vital in our political and cultural life: the idealized self-image of a multiethnic, multiracial democracy, hospitable to differences but united by a common sense of national belonging.»

[6] Petersen, William; Novak, Michael; Gleason, Philip (1982): Concepts of Ethnicity, Harvard University Press, ISBN 9780674157262, s. 62. Sitat: «...from Thomas Paine's plea in 1783...to Henry Clay's remark in 1815... "It is hard for us to believe ... how conscious these early Americans were of the job of developing American character out of the regional and generational polaritities and contradictions of a nation of immigrants and migrants." ... To be or to become an American, a person did not have to be of any particular national, linguistic, religious, or ethnic background. All he had to do was to commit himself to the political ideology centered on the abstract ideals of liberty, equality, and republicanism. Thus the universalist ideological character of American nationality meant that it was open to anyone who willed to become an American.»

[7] «American»^{[død lenke]}, Oxford English Dictionary (betalingsmur)

[8] Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage, Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, 1994, s. 87

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