Beyond Economic and Political Borders-Identities in American Homelands

Abstract

Recent years have seen a growing interest in geography as an ideologically loaded discourseabout the world and its inhabitants. The purpose of the present paper is to investigate the complexrelationship between borders (seen as barriers, bridges, symbols) and the concept of homelandsfrom a cultural perspective, as well as their impact on the larger American homeland. Astute attention has been paid lately to three fundamental concepts ‘language’, ‘culture’ and‘identity’. Language is a potent and visible marker of identity, helping the construction of spaces inwhich a sense of belonging can develop. For individuals as well as for communities, language is acommunicative vehicle and it is granted a symbolic value. People stamp the environment with theircultural impress, they give names to geographical locations around them, or attach symbolicsignificance to them- the area in turn shapes them and their language. From here feelings ofattachment and belonging start developing.

Keywords

• dialogue
• homelands
• borders
• language
• identity