Where are Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba, etc. in your “American Literature” syllabus?

The following comment appeared recently on one of my YouTube lectures, “Historical Context for American Literature.”

American???? So where are: CANADA, MEXICO, GUATEMALA, CUBA, COSTA RICA, BRAZIL, CHILE ARGENTINA, PERÚ, COLOMBIA, PANAMÁ, URUGUAY, PARAGUAY, EL SALVADOR, HONDURAS, VENEZUELA… ETC ETC ETC. STOP SAYING THE UNITED STATES IS AMERICA!

Here’s how I responded:

Geography and names are fascinating.

I’m using the term “American” as it appears in my university’s catalog, which is the term my discipline traditionally uses.

When I lived in Toronto, my Canadian friends and colleagues often used the term “North America” to mean “The United States and Canada,” but they were not thinking of Mexico or any other countries. Some Canadians teased me by politely but firmly saying “you mean you’re from the United States” whenever I described myself as “American.” But when they rolled their eyes and scoffed, “Typical American!” everyone knew exactly what they meant!

The Modern Language Association (the most influential academic group for language and literature education in the US) has subgroups like “American Literature” and “American Indian Literature,” and there’s a “MLA Prize in United States Latina and Latino and Chicana and Chicano Literary and Cultural Studies” which notably does not have “America” in the title, the MLA’s full title is the “Modern Language Association of America.” And to mix things up even more, the “Modern Language Association of America” sometimes meets in Canada. So there is definitely diversity of thought on the issue.

During the 30 or so years I’ve been teaching, the subject “Freshman Composition” has largely rebranded itself as “First Year Writing,” so who knows, maybe the term “American Literature” will evolve.

Australia has 8 states (and 2 territories) and presumably they’re just as united as my country’s 50 states. And the official title of our neighbor to the south is “Estados Unidos Mexicanos” so from a certain perspective “The United States” doesn’t sound specific enough.

I grew up near Washington D.C., which is part of my country but definitely not a state, and Puerto Rico and Guam and a handful of other territories are also part of my country and also not states.

Fun fact… some of the literature I teach is from 1861-1865, during the American Civil War, a time when the “Confederate States of America” tried to secede from the rest of the country, so for that time period “The United States” would not be accurate at all!

“American” is an adjective I and my fellow citizens have heard all our lives, while “from The States” and “States-ian” both sound comically awkward.

But I’ll totally understand what you mean if you refer to my country as “the USA” — we use that term here, too.

If you’d like to have a pleasant conversation, I’m happy to continue, but I’m really not at all interested in engaging further with all-caps rants.