Forget the Past, Remember the Ancestors! Modernity, "Whiteness," American Hellenism, and the Politics of Memory in Early Greek America

Abstract

This essay examines the politics of memory associated with the construction of an "American Hellenic" identity by AHEPA (American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association) in the context of Post World War I American nativism. It examines AHEPA's assimilationist politics in relation to two dominant narratives about American national identity at the time, (a) political/cultural nationalism, and (b) racist nationalism. It shows that although political/cultural and racist nationalisms were incompatible in their expressions of Americanism, they worked dialectically to make race a crucial consideration in the immigrant quest for national belonging. Thus AHEPA's assimilative politics of national inclusion entailed more than political and cultural conformity; it required a narrative of its racial fitness to American "whiteness." A politics of memory was instrumental for AHEPA's inclusion in the racialized nation. AHEPA sought to exclude ethnic memories that were deemed incompatible with the imperative of "white" American republicanism.

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