What is the definition of ‘Nation?’

I‘ve done some reading for a project I am working on at the Sandoz Center.

One book I’ve read is “Friend Me: 600 Years of Social Networking in America,” by Francesca Davis Dipiazza, which discusses how people in the United States have formed social networks and how technology has impacted those networks. In the book, Dipiazza defines nation as “a group of people who share land, language, and cultural practices.”

This statement made me think: Is the United States a nation? By this definition, I would say no. There is a group of people who share a geographic space, but these people do not share a language or cultural practices.

The United States does not share a language. Some would say English is the nation’s language. Many have tried to pass laws stating such, but all have failed. We praise ourselves for being a land of immigrants who can keep their language.

There are dozens of languages spoken across the state and CSC’s international students have started offering foreign language classes. Students taking these classes may say that it is for cultural understanding or to help them in business. If we are a nation that shares the same language, why would that it be important to learn a new language?

If we believe that we want cultural understanding and we really want people to understand, shouldn’t we share a language? I have had the experience where people are speaking English until I walk by and then they speak another language.

Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of a common language and cultural understanding? If you want to learn another language because you like to travel – I’ll say maybe. Every foreign country I have been to, most people speak English – though they may not want to admit it. Some of our students may go into international business, but I am guessing most will not.

We also praise ourselves on being a land that allows immigrants to keep their cultural practices. We do not all celebrate the same holidays, eat the same food on those holidays that we do share or even celebrate the same holiday in the same way.

Clothing, housing, and family structures, all vary within our nation. If I were to ask, what is the “culture” of the United States? I would expect to get answers based on TV shows.

I would also ask that if those things  make us “American” and a nation, do other nations do those same things? If so, how can that be the culture of our nation? For example, all nations stand for the playing of their national anthem.

Citizens of most nations are proud to fly their flag and support their military. Many nations have freedom and open elections. People everywhere complain about their government, the rich, the poor, and their work.

As someone who works in the “culture business,” I have found many commonalities across our nation: a spirit of entrepreneurship and exploration, striving to have, do, and be more (isn’t that why you are in college?), and an almost desperate need to remember what has been accomplished individually and collectively.

I don’t know if these are unique to the nation of the United States. People who traveled to this land hundreds and thousands of years ago must have had the same spirit of exploration. They must have been looking for something more than what they had.

Some might say that the people who all agree to live under the same rules or laws make a nation. Then the United States is still not a nation. Laws vary state to state, even town to town, on a variety of topics. People within those places do not always agree to live by the laws of their city, state, or nation. Then are they not part of our nation? Can they make their own nation within the geographic borders of the United States?