Ian Condry on Kristin Solli

This essay is a response to Kristin Solli’s contribution in this book, Global Perspectives on the United States. Drawing on comparisons with experiences vis-à-vis Native Americans on Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, Condry reminds readers of the multiple levels of “Americanization,” a point Solli makes quite effectively. Condry argues that key to Solli’s essay is that the forces of “Americanization” and “Europeanization” can be understood only by attending to the specific localities of interest and desire, a reminder that local particulars make all the difference in interpreting the power of culture, not as a thing, but as something invoked in an effort to do something. It is clear in Solli’s essay that “Americanization” is a process that is not in the hands of Americans and that it is operated by others who are caught in their own complicated circumstances. Solli’s essay reminds us of the importance of fieldwork among a community and an openness to seeing what “American culture” means to them, in their worlds.