The Transnational and Global Perspectives of American Studies in the 20th and 21st Centuries.

Recent developments worldwide seem to signal, as some journalists proclaim, the “End of an Era of Transnational Optimism.” Situating the term in its neo-liberal contexts, as one closely allied with global trade, such headlines reflect its current popular usage. But “transnational” has a rich cultural provenance that extends beyond frames of capitalism and state power, and it can offer alternative perspectives on their discontents. Assessing the term’s development in American Studies during and after the “transnational turn” of the 1990s, this article provides an overview of its many facets, and argues that transnationalisms, in the plural, continue to offer critiques of existing paradigms as well as alternatives to prevalent discourse formations