The Great Nation of Futurity: The Discourse and Temporality of American National Identity [Hardcover]

The Great Nation of Futurityexamines the rhetoric of American exceptionalism--the idea that the United States is an exemplary nation with a unique, divinely sanctioned role--within Cold War foreign policy discourse. Taking a discourse analytic approach, Patricia L. Dunmire focuses specifically on how images and visions of the future within exceptionalist rhetoric are used to promote and endorse the nation's foreign policy during the Cold War.The Great Nation of Futurityis situated within the discourse and ideology of American exceptionalism which has undergirded the nation's identity throughout its history. It draws out the temporal dimension of the exceptionalist ideology, namely the construal of America as the great nation of futurity, and examines how this identity manifests linguistically and functions rhetorically in Cold War foreign policy discourse. Working within a critical discourse analytic framework, Patricia L. Dunmire examines the space-times construed within foreign policy discourse and demonstrates that these consistently position the United States in a privileged position vis-?-vis the future. This positioning, in turn, sanction a foreign policy approach focused on global future design.PrefaceChapter 1 Futurity National Identity and Foreign Policy DiscourseChapter 2 America's Most Precious ResourceChapter 3 Vistas to the FutureChapter 4 New Vistas of OpportunityChapter 5 Alerting AmericaChapter 6 From the American Century to the End of History: An American Future of Democratic PeaceChapter 7 The Future of American ExceptionalismReferencesPatricia L. Dunmireis a Professor of Rhetoric & Composition at Kent State University where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in argumentation and discourse studies. Using a critical discourse studies approach, her work examines the discursive construal and rhetorical function of projections of the future within political discourse. Her work has been published in severlƒ5