The American Jeremiad
A Specifically American Genre
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 14713263 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Vladana Ilić (University of Belgrade, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Publication date | 2020-12-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Etnoantropološki problemi / Issues in Ethnology and Anthropology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0353-1589 • E-ISSN: 2334-8801 |
| Publisher | University of Belgrade - Faculty of Philosophy - Department of Ethnology and Anthropology (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.21301/eap.v15i4.7 |
| OpenAlex | W3118502457 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 14 |
This paper offers an overview of a "specifically American genre" – the American jeremiad, whose origins lie in the Puritan political sermon and which, with certain historical and cultural modifications, exists to this day. This overview, like most studies of this rhetorical form, is based on the work of Sacvan Bercovitch, who established it as a genre and offered the most exhaustive interpretation of its structure and meaning to date. The American jeremiad aims to homogenize the American community, and to steer it towards a common national goal, as reflected in its three-part structure: an evocation of the ideal/the ideal state of the community, a denunciation of its current state, and an affirmation of the goal and a vision of progress. As, according to Bercovitch, the American jeremiad despite historical and social changes retains the cultural hegemony of the symbol of America, later studies have tested this thesis by looking at political speeches, public addresses, American films, etc., through the concepts of the contemporary secular jeremiad, historical, Afro-American, film jeremiads, etc., and almost without exception conclude that this symbol, in one form or another, is alive and well
Aesthetics · Art · Denunciation · Epistemology · Ideal (ethics) · Interpretation (philosophy) · Linguistics · Literature · Meaning (existential) · Political science · Politics · Rhetorical question · Sociology · State (computer science) · Symbol (formal) · Globalization and Cultural Identity · History · Law · Media, Gender, and Advertising · Philosophy · Soviet and Russian History
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| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |