Page 205 - Šolsko polje, XXVIII, 2017, no. 3-4: Education and the American Dream, ed. Mitja Sardoč
P. 205
abstracts
ŠTUDIJE AMERIŠKIH SANJ V 21. STOLETJU:
AMERIŠKA PERSPEKTIVA
Robert C. Hauhart
Ameriške sanje so bile predmet fascinacije, domnev, analize ter preučevan-
ja vse odkar je James Truslow Adams vnesel sam izraz leta 1931 v svoji kn-
jigi The Epic of America. Navključ svoji novinarski razširjenosti po vsem
svetu, je bil sam koncept različno opredeljen. Preučevanje ameriških sanj
je v tem obdobju pogosto trpelo zaradi terminološke nenatančnosti, od-
sotnosti sofisticirane teoretične utemeljenosti kot tudi zaradi poman-
jkanja empirične strogosti. Pričujoči prispevek poskuša utemeljiti nekaj
glavnih teoretičnih in empiričnih vprašanj, ki se nanašajo na prihodnji
potencial preučevanja ameriških sanj.
Ključne besede: neenakost, enake možnosti, medgeneracijska mobilnost
navzgor, etika uspešnosti, nemirni duh, individualizem, konkurenca
CONFLICTING NARRATIVES OF THE AMERICAN
DREAM:OBAMA’S EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND
TRUMP’S ‘MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN’
Michael A. Peters
This essay describes the crafting of the American dream as a rhetorical
device that utilises narrative resources to tell and retell a story of Ameri-
ca’s history as a philosophical reflection on the core value of social equal-
ity that defines national identity and the future to which all Americans
might aspire. The epic of America defined by James Truslow Adams in
the early 1930s has been utilised by various politicians and public figures
to unify the country and to depict a future that can be rediscovered in the
American past, in the words of the constitution and in the struggles that
came to represent the civil rights movement for racial equality. This essay
examines Obama eloquent speeches that made the American Dream cen-
tral to his elections and the way education figures fundamentally in his vi-
sion for America, contrasting this unifying and positive politics with the
largely divisive view that characterises Trump’s version of “Make America
Great Again!’ based on the politics of envy and playing off sentiments ac-
companying the rise of the alt-right.
Keywords: epic, James Truslow Adams, Obama, equality of educational
opportunity, Trump, rise of alt-right
203
ŠTUDIJE AMERIŠKIH SANJ V 21. STOLETJU:
AMERIŠKA PERSPEKTIVA
Robert C. Hauhart
Ameriške sanje so bile predmet fascinacije, domnev, analize ter preučevan-
ja vse odkar je James Truslow Adams vnesel sam izraz leta 1931 v svoji kn-
jigi The Epic of America. Navključ svoji novinarski razširjenosti po vsem
svetu, je bil sam koncept različno opredeljen. Preučevanje ameriških sanj
je v tem obdobju pogosto trpelo zaradi terminološke nenatančnosti, od-
sotnosti sofisticirane teoretične utemeljenosti kot tudi zaradi poman-
jkanja empirične strogosti. Pričujoči prispevek poskuša utemeljiti nekaj
glavnih teoretičnih in empiričnih vprašanj, ki se nanašajo na prihodnji
potencial preučevanja ameriških sanj.
Ključne besede: neenakost, enake možnosti, medgeneracijska mobilnost
navzgor, etika uspešnosti, nemirni duh, individualizem, konkurenca
CONFLICTING NARRATIVES OF THE AMERICAN
DREAM:OBAMA’S EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND
TRUMP’S ‘MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN’
Michael A. Peters
This essay describes the crafting of the American dream as a rhetorical
device that utilises narrative resources to tell and retell a story of Ameri-
ca’s history as a philosophical reflection on the core value of social equal-
ity that defines national identity and the future to which all Americans
might aspire. The epic of America defined by James Truslow Adams in
the early 1930s has been utilised by various politicians and public figures
to unify the country and to depict a future that can be rediscovered in the
American past, in the words of the constitution and in the struggles that
came to represent the civil rights movement for racial equality. This essay
examines Obama eloquent speeches that made the American Dream cen-
tral to his elections and the way education figures fundamentally in his vi-
sion for America, contrasting this unifying and positive politics with the
largely divisive view that characterises Trump’s version of “Make America
Great Again!’ based on the politics of envy and playing off sentiments ac-
companying the rise of the alt-right.
Keywords: epic, James Truslow Adams, Obama, equality of educational
opportunity, Trump, rise of alt-right
203
