This was a student project by Jennifer McKenzie for Kay Bea Jones's ARCH 784 course, Spring 2008. Thomas Friedman's perception of a flattened world presents the opportune moment to revise America's identity. Citizens and governments are more connected than ever, while the United States' relation to its neighbors is predominantly economic. Cross-cultural cohesiveness is globalization's unfulfilled promise. America's revised role as a mediator will transcend her past poses of a politically isolated authority. The sudden exigency for nation building in Afghanistan and Iraq raises questions about American civil society within while presenting challenges to America's political authority on the world stage. The desperation to conserve cultural identity in this comprehensive environment overvalues nostalgic artifacts. Historic preservation reverts to the commodification of traditional forms and symbols. Twenty-first century America needs a new image. White House Redux: NETworks reconsiders America's evolving cultural context within, while provoking a new face to the fused world and repositions the US as a new interlocutory force.
