scholarly journals PROBLEMATISASI KELOMPOK SUBALTERN DAN AMERICAN DREAM DALAM NOVEL THE BUDDHA IN THE ATTIC KARYA JULIE OTSUKA

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Sindhy Sintya Mianani
Keyword(s):  
American Dream ◽  
Pursuit Of Happiness ◽  
Declaration Of Independence ◽  
Gayatri Spivak ◽  
The Buddha

Novel The Buddha in the Attic karya Julie Otsuka merupakan novel yang memuat fenomena migrasi para perempuan Jepang sebagai picture brides di Amerika Serikat. Berawal dari sebuah foto yang menyimbolkan kesuksesan American Dream, para perempuan ini mengadu nasib di daratan yang selama ini dikenal dengan gaung kesuksesan yang ditawarkan oleh American Dream. Akan tetapi, para picture brides, termasuk para imigran Jepang di Amerika, mengalami diskriminasi rasial. Dari kondisi ini, muncul sebuah permasalahan lain yang dialami oleh picture brides, termasuk didalamnya para imigran Jepang, yang mengalami kesusahan dalam mendapatkan kesempatan memperoleh kesuksesan di Amerika. Isu ini kemudian mengarah ke permasalahan yang lebih mendalam, yaitu mengenai problematika American Dream dari sudut pandang picture brides dengan American Dream dari sudut pandang warga Amerika itu sendiri. Untuk menjawab permasalahan tersebut, studi ini menerapkan teori subaltern milik Gayatri Spivak sebagai kerangka pemikiran teoretis. Berdasarkan hasil analisis, nampak bahwa ada fenomena propaganda American Dream yang mereduksi nilai-nilai American Dream. American Dream yang menekankan life, liberty dan the pursuit of happiness layaknya tercantum dalam The Declaration of Independence pada kenyataannya digunakan sebagai agenda politik oleh pemerintah Amerika Serikat untuk menjaga homogenitas budaya masyarakat Amerika.

scholarly journals Race and Politics in the United States

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 174-179
Author(s):  
Howard A. Palley
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Black Population ◽  
The United States ◽  
Thomas Jefferson ◽  
Pursuit Of Happiness ◽  
George Washington ◽  
Declaration Of Independence ◽  
Chattel Slavery ◽  
Race And Politics ◽  
Inalienable Rights

Abstract The Declaration of Independence asserts that “All men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Nevertheless, the United States, at its foundation has been faced with the contradiction of initially supporting chattel slavery --- a form of slavery that treated black slaves from Africa purely as a commercial commodity. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, both of whom had some discomfort with slavery, were slaveholders who both utilized slaves as a commodity. Article 1 of our Constitution initially treated black slaves as three-fifths of a person for the purposes of apportioning representation in order to increase Southern representation in Congress. So initially the Constitution’s commitment to “secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity” did not include the enslaved black population. This essay contends that the residue of this initial dilemma still affects our politics --- in a significant manner.

Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
David A. Gerber
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
American Family ◽  
Pursuit Of Happiness ◽  
Declaration Of Independence ◽  
Capitalist Democracies

The United States is a nation of diverse peoples, formed not through a common genealogy, as were its European counterparts among capitalist democracies. Instead, its people have been bound together through allegiance to a constitution, outlining the framework for the making of law and for governance, and a loosely defined, ever-contested creed. Americans are moved to love their country not by membership in an “American family,” but rather by the powerful rhetorical formulations of Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence that establish the promise of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” What this inspiring language means in practice is an ongoing argument that holds Americans together....

Understanding Is Not Enough

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 27-48
Author(s):  
Emilia A. Tajsin ◽  
Keyword(s):  
French Revolution ◽  
John Locke ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Social Revolution ◽  
Pursuit Of Happiness ◽  
Declaration Of Independence ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Law And Politics ◽  
Revolutionary Movements ◽  
Main Ideas

John Locke was one of the first empiricists of the age of modernity who created a masterpiece on systematic gnoseology, and the first Enlightener whose ideas on ethics, law, and politics, preceded and made possible the 18th century and the Great French Revolution, and inspired the key wordings in the American Declaration of Independence. The slogan “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” influenced the course of history becoming the banner “Freedom, Equality, Fraternity” for all revolutionary movements. However, “Possessions” as part of Locke’s slogan is treated and criticized very frequently and on different grounds. The main questions are: Is reason enough for enlightening, and, could property be the fourth slogan of a social revolution? This paper is meant to be a synopsis of Locke’s main ideas, showing their utmost importance for the contemporary world, as well as examining the latest changes in the role performed by the present-day media, now acting as the new means for enlightening.

“To Close the Circle of our Felicities”: Caritas and Jefferson's First Inaugural

2004 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew S. Holland
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Public Utility ◽  
Careful Attention ◽  
Pursuit Of Happiness ◽  
Declaration Of Independence ◽  
The New Testament

Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence defends an inherent and individual right to the pursuit of happiness. For Jefferson, this right dramatically limited Christianity's role in politics. In any case, when drafting the Declaration, Jefferson thought Christianity largely irrelevant, if not inimical, to America's well-being. However, shortly before becoming president, several events transformed Jefferson's private thoughts about Christianity and its public utility. Careful attention to both the text and context of Jefferson's First Inaugural (a significant Jeffersonian document, but one that has never been examined in great detail by political theorists and intellectual historians) reveals that Jefferson came to embrace the teachings of a rationalized version of the New Testament in a way that lightly amends the liberal paradigm of his Declaration. Without significantly altering his commitment to a rights-based government of limited proportions, Jefferson's First Inaugural bespeaks the new political importance he placed on widely cultivating a largely demystified sense of Christian charity.

What Are Rights?

2020 ◽  
pp. 58-93
Author(s):  
Aryeh Neier
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Pursuit Of Happiness ◽  
Declaration Of Independence ◽  
Legal Enforcement ◽  
Ethical Norms

This chapter focuses on the general agreement that rights are an aspect of humanity and are intertwined in the promotion of human rights. It clarifies that rights are not dependent on characteristics such as race, nationality, or gender, nor do they depend on a person's presence within the territory of a particular political entity. It also explains that rights are ethical norms with a legal content that requires that they should be honored and enforced by public institutions. The chapter addresses disputes over rights that question which norms warrant universal legal enforcement. It talks about the Declaration of Independence as the most sweeping concept of rights, which not only included “Life” and “Liberty” but also the “pursuit of Happiness.”

scholarly journals Allen, Jones and Hall: Black Social Entrepreneurship During the Early Republic

Perceptions ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Donovan Forrest
Keyword(s):  
African Americans ◽  
Black Men ◽  
Social Entrepreneurship ◽  
Early Republic ◽  
Revolutionary War ◽  
Pursuit Of Happiness ◽  
Right To Life ◽  
Declaration Of Independence ◽  
The Social ◽  
American Society

In the years after the Revolutionary War, the cities of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Boston, Massachusetts saw a dramatic increase in the social entrepreneurship of African- Americans. The prevalent disenfranchisement of African-Americans in the era of the early Republic, the signing of the Declaration of Independence while most Blacks  were enslaved and denied their basic right to life, liberty, and their pursuit of happiness, created an American society filled with discrimination and injustice.  In the midst of  hypocrisy, Black men rose to the occasion and founded organizations that provided Blacks  with a sense of identity, comfort, and support.

scholarly journals Trump’s Base, Ahab, and the American Dream

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 3-16
Author(s):  
Inez Martinez
Keyword(s):  
Common Good ◽  
American Dream ◽  
Declaration Of Independence ◽  
Moby Dick ◽  
Psychological Determinants ◽  
White Males ◽  
Base Analysis ◽  
White Supremacists ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Individual

This transdisciplinary study argues that the fury of President Trump’s base can be understood as a victim complex, one caused by the erosion of the dominance of white males that existed at the founding of America. The preamble of the Declaration of Independence became an iconic articulation of the American dream, unintentionally establishing a contradiction between the ideas that all people are created equal and that individuals have an unlimited right to pursue happiness. Analysis of Ahab of Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick reveals connections between Ahab’s victim complex and the behavior and attitudes of Trump’s base. Analysis of Ishmael’s survival suggests ways the American dream as articulated in the Declaration of Independence needs to be dreamed forward. His survival through interdependence and an embrace of diversity suggests a way to re-vision the American dream so as to incorporate psychological determinants, including the limitations of the ego, in the understanding of freedom and happiness. Revisioning the individual pursuit of happiness as limited by the common good furthers the dream of equality under the law and could help free white supremacists from their entrapment in a victim complex convincing them of their entitlement to dominate others.

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