Best regards, Andrew Stewart
Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: June 27, 2021 at 7:58:03 AM EDT > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Diplo]: Kozák on Castañeda, 'America through > Foreign Eyes' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Jorge G. Castañeda. America through Foreign Eyes. New York Oxford > University Press, 2020. viii + 307 pp. $27.95 (cloth), ISBN > 978-0-19-022449-3. > > Reviewed by Kryštof Kozák (Charles University) > Published on H-Diplo (June, 2021) > Commissioned by Seth Offenbach > > Thinking about "America," or, more precisely, the United States, is a > favorite past-time of public intellectuals, as well as a pressing > matter of global human security, so it is fortuitous that we are > offered yet another perspective on the subject by a prominent author. > Is the United States in an inevitable perpetual decline or is there > still hope for new life in the US project? Jorge G. Castañeda's take > on these and other related question's is highly valuable, as he is > one of the most prominent public intellectuals in Mexico. Having > served as the country's foreign minister in President Vicente Fox's > administration, he also spent many years studying and teaching in the > United States, so he is in a unique position to do so. > > The author consciously follows the footsteps of famous America > observers from the past, trying to search for patterns, > interpretations, and deeper meaning of its most salient features. He > himself admits that the book should not be considered as academic in > the stricter sense of the word, as he is fully aware of the immense > complexity and combinations of various disciplines involved in such > an ambitious endeavor. Castañeda at times also acknowledges the > limits of his subjective, personal perspective. Methodologically, his > claims are supported by available data, which are nonetheless > cherry-picked without clearer structure. The narrative is supported > by personal anecdotes, which serve as an important anchor toward > shared social reality, albeit from a somewhat elitist environment in > this particular case. > > The book thus contains key graphs, numbers, and tables, as well as > results of dozens of polls, to support the main arguments in each > section. The data (such as on rising inequality, prisoners by race, > or gun ownership) have been analyzed in more detail elsewhere, but > Castañeda is able to weave them together into more or less coherent > critical narratives, without much ambition for further theoretical > grounding. In that sense, the largely forgotten book by Frederick A. > Mayer, _Interpreting NAFTA: The Science and Art of Political > Analysis_ (1998) comes to mind, with Castañeda leaning toward the > artistic side, in the great tradition of essays in Latin American > literature. > > From a critical perspective, Castañeda leads the readers through > topics that he himself sees as "key," ranging from the disappearing > middle class to migration, exceptionalism, culture, drugs, race > relations, and religion. One of the last chapters is called "The > Unforgivable: Mass Incarceration, the Death Penalty, Guns, and > Intelligent Design," which gives the idea of the scope of the book > and its ambition to cover it all in 305 pages. But Castañeda is not > necessarily the most modest public intellectual, given his attempted > presidential run in Mexico as an independent candidate in 2006, and > at times you can feel this in the book's magisterial tone. > > Following in the path of his predecessors intrigued by the "American > Question" (Tocqueville, Dickens, Myrdal, and Sartre receive extensive > mentions), Castañeda tackles the elusive notion of exceptionalism > head-on. After revisiting various perspectives, he argues that > America eventually began to realize that it had become more like > other states, the exceptional status finally wearing out. At the same > time, he acknowledges the continuing salience of exceptional > circumstances like slavery and mass immigration on the formation of > collective memory. Through that, exceptionalism is still present, > shaping the public debate. > > The greatest strength of the book lies in the fact that it > categorizes and contextualizes current academic as well as political > debates about the United States from the critical perspective of a > foreigner, an outside observer. This allows Castañeda to write about > the "irreparable political system," "hypocrisy of immigration and > drug policy," or "American civilization" from a detached vantage > point. Such an approach leads to broader generalizations that are at > times too sweeping but often capture the relevant aspects of the > American experience. The book is strongest in its chapters related to > Mexico and Castañeda's direct experiences with his US counterparts > in government. The frustration of the author from the inescapable > inner dynamics of the US Congress on issues ranging from immigration > to gun control is vividly on display in the text. These chapters also > illustrate the wider point about practically insurmountable obstacles > that the US political system places in front of too many much-needed > reforms. Castañeda could have also mentioned the conservative > Supreme Court as the final hurdle. > > Without explicitly saying so, Castañeda manages to reinvent the > concept of area studies by applying his proverbial gaze to the United > States, thus reversing the usual subject-object relation. Through > dissecting the United States proper, he is showing the way toward a > potential post-postcolonial turn in area studies, where scholars > outside the United States would gather among themselves to talk about > their peculiar object of inquiry in a reverse-objectification process > that also changes the power dynamic in the process of knowledge > production. > > Castañeda acknowledges that he wrote the book primarily for a US > audience and market, but he himself admits that Americans are > unlikely to hear advice or analyses from strangers. Luckily, the book > is very valuable for outside observers of the United States, > particularly in the field of American studies. The problems, topics, > and questions that Castañeda raises are often worrisome, even though > at the end he, as a self-proclaimed friend of United States, sounds > mildly optimistic. Given its wide-ranging scope, Castañeda's book > could well serve as springboard for wider academic endeavor related > to American studies understood within the framework of area studies, > as outside knowledge about the United States could be confronted with > knowledge generated within in the US. By treating the US as "Other," > Castañeda opens new possibilities for discourse. > > The biggest weakness of the book is connected to its biggest > strength. The author presents himself as "above the fray," as an > independent observer, but he is not as foreign as the title of the > book claims. His father served as foreign minister under Mexican > president Jóse Lopéz Portillo's administration from 1979 to 1982. > Castañeda's upbringing was thus more that of a global elite, at that > time dominated by US models. Moreover, he studied and taught > extensively at liberal US colleges, and his views are eerily similar > to those of a rather centrist, well-educated, and well-placed US > liberal who is trying to be helpful with his advice and observations. > Castañeda, who is no doubt familiar with the work of Gloria > Anzaldúa on the borderlands mentality, could have shown more > self-consciousness over this basic premise of his work.[1] Much like > the famous self-portrait of Frida Kahlo, in which she is torn between > Mexico and the US, there is a lot from "El Norte" in Castañeda > himself. That is why his analysis, while at times sharply critical, > is not likely to cause greater controversy, as it is fairly > consistent with critical liberal US literature on each topic. The > influential new book by Robert Putnam, _Upswing, How America Came > Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again _(2020)_, _is > fairly consistent with Castañeda's conclusions as well as > observations, even though it focuses primarily on the historical > development of the middle class. > > With respect to omissions, there are inevitably many, but I would > highlight three: the struggle for social justice, the idea of > supremacy, and the role of the military and the defense industry. > Given Castañeda's lifelong infatuation with leftist ideas (his > previous books include one on Che Guevara and another titled _Utopia > Unarmed:_ T_he Latin American Left __a__fter the Cold War_ [1994]), > it is curious that he did not devote more time to the plight of the > US progressive Left. The demise of the concept of solidarity is > effectively responsible for the rising inequality that serves as a > key concern for both Castañeda and Putnam. The story of the stifling > of minority and dissenting voices in the era of gigantic media > corporations, with Democrats and Republicans being dependent on money > from special interests, should have been interesting to a man like > Castañeda, but he lets this opportunity pass. Nevertheless, the > quest for social justice, motivated by a deep sense of morality, has > served as an important theme throughout US history, however difficult > it might be to attain in practice. > > The second omission is the dangerous but seductive idea of supremacy. > The fact that many Americans are convinced that their country is the > "best" in the world is eventually dangerous for world peace, but it > is also a salient feature for foreigners looking at United States. > The idea of supremacy is also prevalent within the United States, > structuring the society in economic and social hierarchies that are > sugarcoated by the rhetoric of individualism and equality. Constant > effort to be better than others provides for dynamism, but at the > same time leads to perceived arrogance in international relations and > strained relations within the society. Racial supremacy becomes just > one part of this wide-ranging phenomenon, with interesting overlaps > with the Mexican concept of _machismo_. > > The third major omission concerns the role of the military and > related social as well as cultural infrastructure. The fact that the > US is a military superpower with annual budgets in the high hundreds > of billions of dollars affects the society profoundly, and the > permanent war in Afghanistan just underscored this point. It is no > accident that the US military is closely connected to American > football, which celebrates male aggression as well as territorial > acquisition. Thinking about the United States without taking this > fact into account is a significant blind spot, which is all the more > surprising considering Mexico itself fell victim to US conquest. > > On a discursive note, the "America" in the title of the book is > problematic, and again, Castañeda should have known better, even if > it was likely the publisher who came up with the final wording of the > title. Using America and referring only to the United States is > Western-centric, as it excludes all the other states in the Americas. > This is especially ironic as Castañeda writes about the US losing > its exceptional status--linguistically at least, the exception (and > the entitlement that comes with it) in the title still holds. > > To conclude, Castañeda has made an important contribution to the > difficult genre of analyzing the United States from an outsider's > perspective. Such work is rather challenging given the size of the > country and the complexity of issues it faces. Indeed, we might > expect that in the future some kind of artificial intelligence with > access to big data will start churning out broad generalizations and > more precise analysis of the topics under discussion. But before that > happens, we need to rely on people with experience, data, and > intuition to present the United States to others, and hopefully, > through self-reflection, also to the US itself. Looking at the most > pressing challenges facing the US through Castañeda's experienced > eyes is highly recommended, especially for those interested in > current debates about the country's present and future. > > _Kryštof Kozák is currently __d__eputy __h__ead of the Department > of North American Studies at the Institute of International Studies, > Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague. He is an > alumnus of the American Studies program at Charles University, but > studied also at Bard College, New York, __the __University of > California, San Diego, and Freie Universitaet Berlin. His recent book > _Memory in Transatlantic Relations. From the Cold War to the Global > War on Terror_ was published by Routledge in 2019. He __has __also > published on U__S__-Mexican relations._ > > Note > > [1] Gloria Anzaldúa, _Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza_ (San > Francisco: Aunt Lute Books, 1987). > > Citation: Kryštof Kozák. Review of Castañeda, Jorge G., _America > through Foreign Eyes_. H-Diplo, H-Net Reviews. June, 2021. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=56122 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. 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