Sorry, one last thought… how it is all relevant to writing? I think it all begins with awareness. If you recognize that your centre/ gaze is limited, you’d be more inclined to look for other outputs. You can consciously decide that instead of reaching for your favourite American author, you’d reach instead for… a Scandinavian author for example. Or, read in another language all together! I am currently reading poetry in Spanish (officially my 4th language, out of 6) and it kicks my butt in a serious way. And— indirectly (and probably subconsciously) it is influencing my writing. But it all starts with awareness, curiosity, and then courage to change the gaze! :)
Yes!!! Awareness is so key to utilizing different gazes and creating different outputs. I'm always so grateful for your insightful comments, Imola. You've certainly lived a curious life, by any standards, and I really can't wait to read/watch whatever you come up with.
I often wonder about decentering dominant gazes/archetypes/narratives. Imagine if the aspiration of being a Parisian woman was instead of a Tanzanian woman? If dreamy cuisines/restaurants weren’t Italian ones but Indian? If desired places to experience bursting cultural communities were in Belize and not New York City? I find it boring to read about the dominant ones and yearn for fresh perspectives. I do think an issue is the fine line between cultural appropriation and appreciation when branching out from the dominant ones. But I’m begging for writing to be set anywhere but New York or LA and focused exclusively on race/ethnicity
Wow, love where you took this. Your examples were spot on (Tanzanian instead of Parisian stood out), and your yearning for different gazes, away from the dominant, is so real!
This is so thought provoking. As a Canadian who has nostalgic lived overseas for the past 15 years (in Europe and South Africa) I find the North American cultural bubble quite myopic. It’s worth having conversations like these. Thank you.
I knew as soon as I read this that your introductions to Black Americans generally would be through the entertainment industry—not in a negative, but it is on purpose that Black Americans' introductions to the world take the shape in the form of entertainment. Through my own lens the American gaze will always equate to the white American gaze. Decentering through my lens challenges the white American perspective as default above all else. This is a nuanced topic; I could keep going I don’t like to write whole essay responses in folks’ comments.
Hi Kern, This is a very interesting article. I'm from Los Angeles, live in Edinburgh, Scotland, and have lived in several places around the globe for the past twenty years, and it definitely influences my writing. Because my perspective is so widened, I sometimes think, who is my reader? I'm a Black American writer who doesn't write about Black America - where is my space?
That's such a valuable question, Shondra. Where is your space? But I think part of the article is saying that we should be allowed to create our own space from whatever perspective we choose. Also, Edinburgh, Scotland sounds so interesting. You'll have to tell me how you got there one day.
You’re absolutely right. To add to the mix- I’m disabled, I had a stroke at 38 in Bahrain after childbirth. I’m now over 50. You’re right, and I’m in the process of moving into comfort in creating my space. I’ll be sharing more of my experiences on my substack once I gain momentum. I’m a total newbie!
Ah finally! I love this. I'm an Aussie-Canadian who was born in Canada, and lived in France, England, Australia and returned to Canada three decades after I first left. I've been shocked to see how American-focussed Canada is/has become (or maybe it was always like this, I don't know). When I talk about healthcare, many people here only look to the US, same thing with books etc. It's limiting and sad. When I read in French it changes the way I write in English. Having said all of that, I gravitate towards other immigrants and people who have various experiences and backgrounds we have fabulous discussions. Thanks Kern!
This is so interesting, Kern, from the perspective of what we write. I’m about to release my YA contemporary romance, a genre which is dominated by US high school stories. I’m Australian and I’ve known Australian authors who deliberately set their books in the US to access a bigger audience because apparently US readers don’t like reading stories set elsewhere. But I made a conscious choice to set my story in Australia. I love reading stories set in all different places and I believe the teen energy crosses borders. But yeah, there’s a view that not setting my story in the US will be a barrier to its success. I suppose I’m hoping that more US people might want to gaze beyond their shores to other places. Who, knows, we’ll see!
Dear Kern. Every week you raise issues that seem to resonate with me deeply. I couldn’t agree with you more: our creative output is heavily influenced by our unconscious / conscious input. I was born in ( communist) Hungary, grew up in Israel, lived in London, Madrid, New Zealand and New York before meeting my ex husband in India and settling in Montreal. So my background, you could say, is influenced by many, and various inputs. Perhaps I’m lucky this way. It has allowed me to have an open, and yet critical eye to every place I lived in. And yet, I am repeatedly told by my family how I should think as a “proper Israeli”. This is so condescending. Just because I dare to criticise my people/ country. For so many years I had struggled with finding my true belonging and home, until I realized that not having a clear centre can actually be an advantage. I am open to many viewpoints and won’t hesitate to change my biased view if what I hear/ see makes more sense. Does that make sense?
Oh my goodness, you have just articulated in one post what I've been trying to articulate for years. As a Brit, living in the US, I have this building rage about what you call the American Gaze, because it seems to be the only culture that doesn't allow for other gazes. I wrote this whole piece about how the rest of the world has culture, whereas American culture feels more like a mold-- slowly creeping through rich cultures and overtaking any diversity of perspective-- but I couldn't post it because it felt so bitter. I am in the bitter stage, clinging to my perspective, while I feel like this gaze is forced on me from every angle.
Did you ever see that IG post-- the South African woman on a bridge talking into a phone, talking about race? She was making the point that where SHE comes from, there are certain words that are indicators of a rich culture that is valuable to her, but because these words are seen as terrible in American culture, her own culture is being erased. It was beautiful, and really spoke to this theme that I've been wrestling with (even though she and I couldn't come from more vastly different cultures). The comments were full of Americans telling her that she was wrong, and why she was wrong, and why these words were ACTUALLY bad. Anyway.
Rebecca, thank you so much for feeling seen by this post. Your line "because it seems to be the only culture that doesn't allow for other gazes" will stay with me forever. Also, I never saw that IG post with the South African woman but wow. Imagine feeling like your own culture is erased because of the presence of another culture. There's a word for that, but it's not accurate to precisely what this is. This is something different.
I stumbled upon this article and it resonated with me so strongly, thank you! I was born in Iceland, grew up in Canada from age 10 (having lived there also for a few months when I was 5), then returned to Iceland in my 30s. I have a lot of thoughts about this. I came from an artistic milieu in Iceland, my father was a theatre actor, director and producer, and I loved being in the theatre. I tried to find that same kind of milieu in Canada but somehow it did not exist. I even went to one of the best theatre schools in the country, and it just felt vacuous and empty, like some essential element—passion, identity, roots?— was missing. I ascribed it to two things: one, the fact that there was no real Canadian identity outside of the "cultural mosaic" that really was just a bunch of cultural fragments without a centre to hold them together; two, the proximity of US culture, that devoured EVERYTHING, every attempt at fledgling Canadian artists to blossom into something amazing ON THEIR OWN TERMS. Everything was so saturated in Americanisms, as you say, it crept into every molecule of the culture, and made it impossible for a Canadian cultural identity to form. And every time there was a Canadian artist who did something unique—say Joni Mitchell, or Neil Young, or KD Lang—they were off to the US at the first possible opportunity. At the same time it felt like Canadians who were doing good things in Canada were never appreciated, and perhaps did not appreciate themselves, because in their view it did not measure up to what US artists were doing. Things may have changed—I left in 1988 and lived in Europe for six years before returning to my native land—and I really hope it has, but at the time Canada felt like a cultural wasteland. I craved the roots, the OLD-ness of Europe, the artistic heritage, and that is where I found my bearings as a writer. I doubt I could have done so in Canada. Anyway. Forgive the rant, but this is something I have thought about A LOT over the years. Thank you for the opportunity to vent! 😊
Rants are very welcome here, Alda. And you are so on point with everything you said. I particularly like your point about Canada being a bunch of cultural fragments without a centre to hold them. So accurate!
Thanks for this. I grew up in Canada and have lived most of my life in the UK. I speak other languages and have been lucky to travel a lot. And STILL I have to make an effort not to default to US culture. I try to avoid Netflix. Friends constantly recommend American novels. I write about activism and drug policy, and so much that comes out of the US talks about that country as if it were the whole world. Substack is very US centric. Sigh. And the irony is that with so much stuff coming from the US it’s easy to miss the really original American writers snd artists. It’s a struggle.
Hi. This is a very thought provoking piece. I've read through the comments and now I have even more thoughts. I'm going to try to organize them as best I can. I grew up in New York state (not the city) in a very small town (I graduated high school in 1994 to give some context). I was a senior in high school when I learned the real history of this country (the destruction of an indigenous races, the forced removals, the Indian schools, etc). And I was angry that I'd been lied to, that history had been, excuse the term, but it's accurate here, white-washed. I realized then that the old saying, "To the victor goes the spoils," should have been, "To the victor goes the spoils and the history." No matter where we all live (even within the United States) our gaze is centric to where we grew up, what we were told, what we were taught in schools. I have traveled around the world (I was in the Army but also, I love traveling to new countries especially when I am not part of an invading force - but let me tell you, I loved the food in Baghdad, and no I was not supposed to be eating out on the economy, but that is another story for another day). But never have I been so keenly aware of not only how I grew up was centric to New York, but also as a Northerner. I have lived in South Carolina for the last several years and I had no idea that kids here are taught that the Civil War was the war of Northern Aggression. My husband grew up here and it wasn't until he was in his late twenties that he realized that wasn't true. Then it took several more years and many, many discussions for him to realize that the war wasn't about state rights either. It was about the South's right to enslave people, which yes, their entire economy was built on. So, sure it was about states rights and it was about economy, but it was really about slavery and the right to own another human being and profit off of their labor. So, I do think it's important to shift our gaze, to really look at what we've learned, been taught, etc,. to not only determine if that aligns with our core beliefs, but to also learn how to challenge the systems, yes, government, social, etc., because only then can we see the world for what it really is. And to see the wonderful possibilities that exist.
Interesting question. And my parents are from Grenada, so I grew up in America with a broader lens but still a deep conditioning of the American perspective. I guess the first step is recognizing that the gaze exists at all, and the second is reconciling what we do with it daily.
Interesting article, and yes, we can shift our gaze, but it takes a lot of work. It's very influenced by our environment, as you point out. One of my former colleagues is black, but his father was in the service, and he grew up on army bases in Germany. He used to lament the lack of literature by black authors about something other than being black. His gaze was different, but that was a result of his experience being different.
With regard to distinctions between Canadian and American perspectives, I have a question. I'm a big fan of the various Degrassi series, which I know started and were filmed (at least for most of their run) in Canada. Watching them from an American perspective, were it not for the different police uniforms and the more colorful paper money, there would have been no clues to indicate a Canadian origin. The problems portrayed seemed the same as what one would see in American schools.--including racism. Maybe it didn't come up as often, but I distinctly remember the problems one of the black guys had when dating a white girl (particularly her father's accusation, "Why were you kissing a black boy in front of the house?" in a very what-will-the-neighbors-think tone).
So is Degrassi atypical for some reason? (Maybe because the producers were anticipating a large American audience, which they certainly got.) I'm just curious.
Coincidentally, the show's cast also suggests that Canada has an influence on America that Americans don't always realize. After all, Drake, who had a continuing role in Degrassi prior to his rap career, led the Canadian invasion of the American charts (which a lot of Americans seem to have forgotten--I know people who think Drake is American). Sigh!
I actually didn't watch Degrassi so I'm not familiar with what it portrayed. Racism certainly exists in Canada, along with other similar economic issues. But there are large differences in our cultures, as well, particularly our history. My questioning here is just how diverse can we be in our storytelling if it's dominated by a single gaze?
That's certainly a worthwhile question to raise. I think we both agree that allowing a single vision to dominate is wrong.
I think education can help with this issue. It's normal for schools in every society to emphasize the literature and culture of that society. But it's also important to provide some exposure to other cultures as well.
Fortunately, neither the state of California nor the US government prescribed specific titles to be read in English classes (though the common core standards do have some flag-wavy references to the literature of the United States), so in every way I could, I tried to give students broader exposure, both in my own classroom and in the English department as well. Studying the literature of other cultures helps emphasize both the our common human nature and the different ways it expresses itself through different cultures.
All of that said, American society has considerable variety within it, so that there are lots of American gazes. The school where I taught had students whose families represented over fifty countries, even though the majority of the students themselves were American born. Even casual conversation can lead to cultural exchange. It's easy to foster that.
Of course, there are a lot of places that are more homogeneous places--but not all homogeneous in the same direction. A small town in Rhode Island is probably going to be very different in outlook from a small town in Wyoming.
Sorry, one last thought… how it is all relevant to writing? I think it all begins with awareness. If you recognize that your centre/ gaze is limited, you’d be more inclined to look for other outputs. You can consciously decide that instead of reaching for your favourite American author, you’d reach instead for… a Scandinavian author for example. Or, read in another language all together! I am currently reading poetry in Spanish (officially my 4th language, out of 6) and it kicks my butt in a serious way. And— indirectly (and probably subconsciously) it is influencing my writing. But it all starts with awareness, curiosity, and then courage to change the gaze! :)
Yes!!! Awareness is so key to utilizing different gazes and creating different outputs. I'm always so grateful for your insightful comments, Imola. You've certainly lived a curious life, by any standards, and I really can't wait to read/watch whatever you come up with.
We speak the same language Kern :)
I often wonder about decentering dominant gazes/archetypes/narratives. Imagine if the aspiration of being a Parisian woman was instead of a Tanzanian woman? If dreamy cuisines/restaurants weren’t Italian ones but Indian? If desired places to experience bursting cultural communities were in Belize and not New York City? I find it boring to read about the dominant ones and yearn for fresh perspectives. I do think an issue is the fine line between cultural appropriation and appreciation when branching out from the dominant ones. But I’m begging for writing to be set anywhere but New York or LA and focused exclusively on race/ethnicity
Wow, love where you took this. Your examples were spot on (Tanzanian instead of Parisian stood out), and your yearning for different gazes, away from the dominant, is so real!
This is so thought provoking. As a Canadian who has nostalgic lived overseas for the past 15 years (in Europe and South Africa) I find the North American cultural bubble quite myopic. It’s worth having conversations like these. Thank you.
I definitely believe it's worth having the conversation. Your experience/perspective would be so valuable to this conversation.
Any time!
Not sure how the word “nostalgic “ got inserted there.
I knew as soon as I read this that your introductions to Black Americans generally would be through the entertainment industry—not in a negative, but it is on purpose that Black Americans' introductions to the world take the shape in the form of entertainment. Through my own lens the American gaze will always equate to the white American gaze. Decentering through my lens challenges the white American perspective as default above all else. This is a nuanced topic; I could keep going I don’t like to write whole essay responses in folks’ comments.
Please, feel free to write the novel. Many people do in my comments and I am genuinely interested to know your full thoughts.
Hi Kern, This is a very interesting article. I'm from Los Angeles, live in Edinburgh, Scotland, and have lived in several places around the globe for the past twenty years, and it definitely influences my writing. Because my perspective is so widened, I sometimes think, who is my reader? I'm a Black American writer who doesn't write about Black America - where is my space?
That's such a valuable question, Shondra. Where is your space? But I think part of the article is saying that we should be allowed to create our own space from whatever perspective we choose. Also, Edinburgh, Scotland sounds so interesting. You'll have to tell me how you got there one day.
You’re absolutely right. To add to the mix- I’m disabled, I had a stroke at 38 in Bahrain after childbirth. I’m now over 50. You’re right, and I’m in the process of moving into comfort in creating my space. I’ll be sharing more of my experiences on my substack once I gain momentum. I’m a total newbie!
I am here cheering you on my friend. Good luck on your journey.
And you, Kern. PS Edinburgh is a great place to live. I’ve even connected with some other black expats.
Ah finally! I love this. I'm an Aussie-Canadian who was born in Canada, and lived in France, England, Australia and returned to Canada three decades after I first left. I've been shocked to see how American-focussed Canada is/has become (or maybe it was always like this, I don't know). When I talk about healthcare, many people here only look to the US, same thing with books etc. It's limiting and sad. When I read in French it changes the way I write in English. Having said all of that, I gravitate towards other immigrants and people who have various experiences and backgrounds we have fabulous discussions. Thanks Kern!
This is so interesting, Kern, from the perspective of what we write. I’m about to release my YA contemporary romance, a genre which is dominated by US high school stories. I’m Australian and I’ve known Australian authors who deliberately set their books in the US to access a bigger audience because apparently US readers don’t like reading stories set elsewhere. But I made a conscious choice to set my story in Australia. I love reading stories set in all different places and I believe the teen energy crosses borders. But yeah, there’s a view that not setting my story in the US will be a barrier to its success. I suppose I’m hoping that more US people might want to gaze beyond their shores to other places. Who, knows, we’ll see!
This is the perfect example, Jodie. This is how the gaze impacts our writing and impacts our success as writers. Thanks so much for sharing.
Dear Kern. Every week you raise issues that seem to resonate with me deeply. I couldn’t agree with you more: our creative output is heavily influenced by our unconscious / conscious input. I was born in ( communist) Hungary, grew up in Israel, lived in London, Madrid, New Zealand and New York before meeting my ex husband in India and settling in Montreal. So my background, you could say, is influenced by many, and various inputs. Perhaps I’m lucky this way. It has allowed me to have an open, and yet critical eye to every place I lived in. And yet, I am repeatedly told by my family how I should think as a “proper Israeli”. This is so condescending. Just because I dare to criticise my people/ country. For so many years I had struggled with finding my true belonging and home, until I realized that not having a clear centre can actually be an advantage. I am open to many viewpoints and won’t hesitate to change my biased view if what I hear/ see makes more sense. Does that make sense?
Oh my goodness, you have just articulated in one post what I've been trying to articulate for years. As a Brit, living in the US, I have this building rage about what you call the American Gaze, because it seems to be the only culture that doesn't allow for other gazes. I wrote this whole piece about how the rest of the world has culture, whereas American culture feels more like a mold-- slowly creeping through rich cultures and overtaking any diversity of perspective-- but I couldn't post it because it felt so bitter. I am in the bitter stage, clinging to my perspective, while I feel like this gaze is forced on me from every angle.
Did you ever see that IG post-- the South African woman on a bridge talking into a phone, talking about race? She was making the point that where SHE comes from, there are certain words that are indicators of a rich culture that is valuable to her, but because these words are seen as terrible in American culture, her own culture is being erased. It was beautiful, and really spoke to this theme that I've been wrestling with (even though she and I couldn't come from more vastly different cultures). The comments were full of Americans telling her that she was wrong, and why she was wrong, and why these words were ACTUALLY bad. Anyway.
Thank you for articulating this.
Rebecca, thank you so much for feeling seen by this post. Your line "because it seems to be the only culture that doesn't allow for other gazes" will stay with me forever. Also, I never saw that IG post with the South African woman but wow. Imagine feeling like your own culture is erased because of the presence of another culture. There's a word for that, but it's not accurate to precisely what this is. This is something different.
I stumbled upon this article and it resonated with me so strongly, thank you! I was born in Iceland, grew up in Canada from age 10 (having lived there also for a few months when I was 5), then returned to Iceland in my 30s. I have a lot of thoughts about this. I came from an artistic milieu in Iceland, my father was a theatre actor, director and producer, and I loved being in the theatre. I tried to find that same kind of milieu in Canada but somehow it did not exist. I even went to one of the best theatre schools in the country, and it just felt vacuous and empty, like some essential element—passion, identity, roots?— was missing. I ascribed it to two things: one, the fact that there was no real Canadian identity outside of the "cultural mosaic" that really was just a bunch of cultural fragments without a centre to hold them together; two, the proximity of US culture, that devoured EVERYTHING, every attempt at fledgling Canadian artists to blossom into something amazing ON THEIR OWN TERMS. Everything was so saturated in Americanisms, as you say, it crept into every molecule of the culture, and made it impossible for a Canadian cultural identity to form. And every time there was a Canadian artist who did something unique—say Joni Mitchell, or Neil Young, or KD Lang—they were off to the US at the first possible opportunity. At the same time it felt like Canadians who were doing good things in Canada were never appreciated, and perhaps did not appreciate themselves, because in their view it did not measure up to what US artists were doing. Things may have changed—I left in 1988 and lived in Europe for six years before returning to my native land—and I really hope it has, but at the time Canada felt like a cultural wasteland. I craved the roots, the OLD-ness of Europe, the artistic heritage, and that is where I found my bearings as a writer. I doubt I could have done so in Canada. Anyway. Forgive the rant, but this is something I have thought about A LOT over the years. Thank you for the opportunity to vent! 😊
Rants are very welcome here, Alda. And you are so on point with everything you said. I particularly like your point about Canada being a bunch of cultural fragments without a centre to hold them. So accurate!
Thanks for this. I grew up in Canada and have lived most of my life in the UK. I speak other languages and have been lucky to travel a lot. And STILL I have to make an effort not to default to US culture. I try to avoid Netflix. Friends constantly recommend American novels. I write about activism and drug policy, and so much that comes out of the US talks about that country as if it were the whole world. Substack is very US centric. Sigh. And the irony is that with so much stuff coming from the US it’s easy to miss the really original American writers snd artists. It’s a struggle.
It really does take effort, Carrie. And you're right, as much as I appreciate Substack, it is totally US centric. I wish that would change.
To answer your question, yes, as writers, we should decenter the American Gaze by venturing outside of the centre in what we consume.
Hi. This is a very thought provoking piece. I've read through the comments and now I have even more thoughts. I'm going to try to organize them as best I can. I grew up in New York state (not the city) in a very small town (I graduated high school in 1994 to give some context). I was a senior in high school when I learned the real history of this country (the destruction of an indigenous races, the forced removals, the Indian schools, etc). And I was angry that I'd been lied to, that history had been, excuse the term, but it's accurate here, white-washed. I realized then that the old saying, "To the victor goes the spoils," should have been, "To the victor goes the spoils and the history." No matter where we all live (even within the United States) our gaze is centric to where we grew up, what we were told, what we were taught in schools. I have traveled around the world (I was in the Army but also, I love traveling to new countries especially when I am not part of an invading force - but let me tell you, I loved the food in Baghdad, and no I was not supposed to be eating out on the economy, but that is another story for another day). But never have I been so keenly aware of not only how I grew up was centric to New York, but also as a Northerner. I have lived in South Carolina for the last several years and I had no idea that kids here are taught that the Civil War was the war of Northern Aggression. My husband grew up here and it wasn't until he was in his late twenties that he realized that wasn't true. Then it took several more years and many, many discussions for him to realize that the war wasn't about state rights either. It was about the South's right to enslave people, which yes, their entire economy was built on. So, sure it was about states rights and it was about economy, but it was really about slavery and the right to own another human being and profit off of their labor. So, I do think it's important to shift our gaze, to really look at what we've learned, been taught, etc,. to not only determine if that aligns with our core beliefs, but to also learn how to challenge the systems, yes, government, social, etc., because only then can we see the world for what it really is. And to see the wonderful possibilities that exist.
Interesting question. And my parents are from Grenada, so I grew up in America with a broader lens but still a deep conditioning of the American perspective. I guess the first step is recognizing that the gaze exists at all, and the second is reconciling what we do with it daily.
Yup, and the reconciling part takes a lot of work. Thanks James.
Interesting article, and yes, we can shift our gaze, but it takes a lot of work. It's very influenced by our environment, as you point out. One of my former colleagues is black, but his father was in the service, and he grew up on army bases in Germany. He used to lament the lack of literature by black authors about something other than being black. His gaze was different, but that was a result of his experience being different.
With regard to distinctions between Canadian and American perspectives, I have a question. I'm a big fan of the various Degrassi series, which I know started and were filmed (at least for most of their run) in Canada. Watching them from an American perspective, were it not for the different police uniforms and the more colorful paper money, there would have been no clues to indicate a Canadian origin. The problems portrayed seemed the same as what one would see in American schools.--including racism. Maybe it didn't come up as often, but I distinctly remember the problems one of the black guys had when dating a white girl (particularly her father's accusation, "Why were you kissing a black boy in front of the house?" in a very what-will-the-neighbors-think tone).
So is Degrassi atypical for some reason? (Maybe because the producers were anticipating a large American audience, which they certainly got.) I'm just curious.
Coincidentally, the show's cast also suggests that Canada has an influence on America that Americans don't always realize. After all, Drake, who had a continuing role in Degrassi prior to his rap career, led the Canadian invasion of the American charts (which a lot of Americans seem to have forgotten--I know people who think Drake is American). Sigh!
I actually didn't watch Degrassi so I'm not familiar with what it portrayed. Racism certainly exists in Canada, along with other similar economic issues. But there are large differences in our cultures, as well, particularly our history. My questioning here is just how diverse can we be in our storytelling if it's dominated by a single gaze?
That's certainly a worthwhile question to raise. I think we both agree that allowing a single vision to dominate is wrong.
I think education can help with this issue. It's normal for schools in every society to emphasize the literature and culture of that society. But it's also important to provide some exposure to other cultures as well.
Fortunately, neither the state of California nor the US government prescribed specific titles to be read in English classes (though the common core standards do have some flag-wavy references to the literature of the United States), so in every way I could, I tried to give students broader exposure, both in my own classroom and in the English department as well. Studying the literature of other cultures helps emphasize both the our common human nature and the different ways it expresses itself through different cultures.
All of that said, American society has considerable variety within it, so that there are lots of American gazes. The school where I taught had students whose families represented over fifty countries, even though the majority of the students themselves were American born. Even casual conversation can lead to cultural exchange. It's easy to foster that.
Of course, there are a lot of places that are more homogeneous places--but not all homogeneous in the same direction. A small town in Rhode Island is probably going to be very different in outlook from a small town in Wyoming.
Oh I love the perspective of "there are lots of American gazes." So true. That's an entirely different piece that I can add on to this argument.