Digital Collage by Shreya Sharma
To attempt to define the American Gaze in its entirety is to provide a full history of American
imperialism, white supremacy, and institutional discrimination. This task, while seemingly a
mammoth one, is also remarkably easy to begin with, for the American State itself provides us
with the basics. For example, a quick look at its presidential history will tell us how the blatant
promotion of “American Values” i.e individualism, equality, freedom, etc has been used to
decimate communities, make fake promises of justice to people of color, and destroy other
nations in selfish pursuit. Of course, the official history of the United States is lacking in many
aspects and should be by no means the only source of any inquiry. The point in suggesting a
look at the official history is instead to shine a light on the fact that the American state is not
unaware of its crimes, it’s that it deems them justifiable.
There are no doubts that the propaganda machine of the American Governments work
unbelievably well. In fact, there is no dearth of literature on how a nexus of corporate media,
government programs, and multi-national companies co-operate to justify America’s military
pursuits in Asia and elsewhere. Chomsky and Herman, in their work on the topic, wrote about
this very phenomenon and how ‘consent’ of the American public for these wars and invasions is
‘manufactured’ through constant yet covert brainwashing. It is also this very brainwashing, this
constant feeding of American ideals and visuals as the prime, that constructs the American
gaze. And as far as definitions are concerned it can be understood as the view of the world that
stems from and operates within American ideas of living, nationhood, and development. To view
something from the American gaze is to assume that the U.S.A is the greatest nation on earth,
the pinnacle of all development, and whiteness the most desirable quality.
The American gaze permeates all imaginable aspects of life: American white feminists come to
believe the Hijab is oppressive, that Muslim women need saving from their own communities,
and that it would be in their best interest if the U.S were to intervene and establish a
“democracy” as per American ideals in the middle east. So when America finally does take up
arms, even the most liberal of feminists who otherwise condone violence, will cheer and
encourage the destruction of nations. Similarly, American movies cast a yellow filter over
scenes shot in the supposed third world to exemplify the “dirtiness” and “poverty” of the place.
And it’s not a coincidence that it’s mostly crime scenes that take place in these shots, for the
next time America imposes sanctions on any such country, the average American will simply
nod and go “they deserve it for sponsoring all those criminals”. This is how the gaze creates
space for violence while simultaneously legitimizing it.
Moving forward, it is also necessary to realize that the American gaze is violent not only
because of the terror it sanctions and justifies but also because of the assimilation it demands.
To be a true American is to exterminate the individual that lives in the community, celebrates
diverse cultures including its own, and partakes in society with an acknowledgment of their
heritage and instead take on the role of an individual who pledges sole allegiance to the
American state, it’s institutions, and operates in manners which resemble their white
counterparts. This means that the price of being a “true American” for people of color is the loss
of one’s own cultural identity and a rather forceful undertaking of a white one devoid of
community and tradition. Writers like Ocean Vuong and Kaveh Akhbar have written and spoken
on numerous occasions about how this idea of Americanness visualizes a nation that is only
available to white and abled bodies. And this availability is not coincidental, it’s deliberate. A
nation built on the oppression of people of color will not give them the means to break their
chains, for its interest lies in keeping them suppressed. The American gaze therefore
dehumanizes and humiliates people of color. It teaches them to view their own selves with
contempt and distaste. Those who migrate to America do their best to shed their “otherness”
and those who’ve been born and raised in America are forced to distance themselves from their
cultures to become Americans and fit the requirements of the gaze. In this sense, we can
consider the “American gaze” synonymous with the “White Gaze”.
Even when the gaze attempts to address diverse cultures and entities, it does so in a way that
reduces them to mere fetishes and stereotypes. The over-sexualization of women of color,
which is central to American/White narratives about their lives, is violent enough in itself that it
leads not only to a decreased level of agency but also to an increased level of crimes against
them. Similarly, Black people are racially profiled as criminals which makes them the targets of
police brutality, and Muslims are seen as terrorists which makes them the public enemy number
one. There are, of course, people from within these oppressed communities who too are guilty
of perpetuating the American gaze. One can hardly deny, for example, Obama’s role in
worsening the war in the Middle East or Kamala Harris’s in placing innocent black people in
prisons- both actions that destroyed the perception and sense of identity of the members of the
communities concerned. This is precisely what makes abolishing the American gaze such a
complex task.
Our understanding of the American gaze as a form of violence is thus necessary to put an end
to it. This is because doing so not only acknowledges the harm it has caused until now but also
helps us shape its public perception. The terminology of “ American gaze” suggests, at best, a
sort of restriction which prevents us from seeing things as a whole because of the ideas of
American supremacy that we’re fed with. And while this should be enough to alarm the public,
the discussion often remains limited to academic discourse. Attaching or associating violence
with it, however, brings into focus the actual trauma that the American gaze has caused and the
alterations in self-perception it continues to enforce. After all, one of the most popular
understandings of violence includes acts that destroy and diminish, and the American gaze
does all of that and more.
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