Understood as historical objects, political identities are revealed to be products of power, not nature. South Sudanese have learned to see themselves as tribal because tribes have been invested with political power. Zionist Jews have learned to see themselves as natives of Palestine because their conception of nativity involves exclusive rights to the land. Americans have learned to see themselves as immigrants rather than settlers, which suits their sense of the American nation as a historic rupture from Europe rather than a European colonial outpost.
