Over-representation of Americans

[Mattadd]

It's been noted in a couple other threads I've read how humans are over-represented in the Federation, which is true, but Americans also seem to be over-represented. Somebody correct me if I'm missing something but I did some cursory research on human nationalities in Star Trek and I came up with this breakdown:

11-13 Americans:
Kirk, McCoy, Sulu, Riker, Pulaski, Sisko, Janeway, Kim, Paris, Archer, Tucker, and then maybe Wesley Crusher and Chakotay who are both ambiguous.

6-7 Europeans:
Chekov, Scott, Picard, Crusher, O'Brien, Reed and maybe Wesley.

2 Africans:
Uhura, LaForge

2 non-Earth humans:
Yar, Mayweather

1 Asian:
Sato

0-1 Latin Americans:
Maybe Chakotay

0 from Australasia/Pacific

Now IRL obviously it's an American show marketed to Americans so that somewhat explains that, but setting that aside, it seems like there are way too many Americans as a proportion of humans.

In universe, some of this could be explained by the US seemingly taking very little damage from WWIII and being spared from the post-atomic horror. But are we really to believe half of humanity's population lives in the US in the future? That would almost certainly necessitate a much larger death toll than the 600,000,000 killed in WWIII. Other (in-universe) explanations?

 

[Kor]

I think Sulu and Kim aren't so neatly categorized. To the general American audience, even Americanized first-generation Asian-Americans have been seen as the "other" due to race/ethnicity and usually very recent family history of immigration and maintaining non-Western customs and values as well as close-knit immigrant communities separate from the white mainstream.

Sulu in particular was specifically meant to represent all of Asia, just as Uhura was meant to represent Africa. Sulu wasn't given his birthplace of San Francisco until STIV:TVH. To audiences of middle America in the sixties, he would have been seen as "foreign" on some level. And since was played by a Japanese-American specifically, some of that audience probably wouldn't have liked his character due to feelings of animosity remaining from their personal experiences in the Pacific Theater in WWII.

Also, as an indigenous person with full tribal background, Chakotey's socio-cultural identity is also different from the mainstream power structures of either USA American or Latin American.

Kor

 

[Mattadd]

I can accept that Sulu and Chakotay may be culturally different than most Americans and that they give the outside 'representation', but I mean they were US American (maybe for Chakotay) by geography. Right now the US has something like 300 million people out of over 7 billion on Earth. That's a pretty big ratio difference to about 50% of Star Trek main human characters being geographically from the US.

 

[1001001]

Americans built the first warp-capable ship.

And Americans made first contact.

USA! USA! USA!

 

[MacLeod]

One human character is missing from the list Bashir, from the memory alpha article on Bashir this is what RDM had to say on the character's background

"In my mind, Julian was of Sudanese (like Sid), Indian, or Pakistani extraction, but that the family's roots were probably in England, hence the accents."

comments made in 1997.

 

[Mattadd]

Yes I saw that that's why I didn't include Bashir, his nationality was never mentioned in a Canon source.

 

[GabyBee]

Did they ever definitively define Tom Paris as being American? I can't recall if they ever identified where he was born or where specifically he grew up.

 

[Vger23]

I'm sure it was due to the fact that it was an American-made show and marketed primarily toward American consumers.

I don't think it was a conspiracy or racist agenda.

 

[Mattadd]

I'm sure it was due to the fact that it was an American-made show and marketed primarily toward American consumers.

I don't think it was a conspiracy or racist agenda.

No I know that and I said that in my OP. I also said to set aside the IRL reasons and speculate on in-universe reasons.

 

[GabyBee]

I think there should be some "honorary mentions" for half-Human Spock, who was born on Vulcan, and also for Worf, who, despite being Klingon, was raised by Human parents in Russia.

 

[Mattadd]

Did they ever definitively define Tom Paris as being American? I can't recall if they ever identified where he was born or where specifically he grew up.

Good point. I'm not sure if it ever is said in Canon that Paris is American. I guess it was just heavily implied by his obsession with American culture. But he could have been from somewhere else.

 

[Vger23]

No I know that and I said that in my OP. I also said to set aside the IRL reasons and speculate on in-universe reasons.

Fair...you did indeed!

 

[GabyBee]

Also add to the list of non-Earth Seven of Nine (aka Annika Hansen), as she was born on the Tendara colony.

 

[unimatrix7]

Enterprise in particular is just 'Americans in Space,' with all the usual confusion that occurs whenever Americans leave their homeland.

The polite-bemused response of the alien captain in Cold Front ("Nicetomeetyouwhatdoyouwant?") was amusing precisely because I would've reacted the same way if a busload of American tourists parked outside my house and asked to be my friend.

One wonders if the Vulcans would've had such a problem with humanity if they'd landed in Amsterdam instead of a honky tonk in Montana.

 

[The Old Mixer]

One human character is missing from the list Bashir, from the memory alpha article on Bashir this is what RDM had to say on the character's background

"In my mind, Julian was of Sudanese (like Sid), Indian, or Pakistani extraction, but that the family's roots were probably in England, hence the accents."

comments made in 1997.

Yes I saw that that's why I didn't include Bashir, his nationality was never mentioned in a Canon source.

I'd assume his family was from Pakistan, since his dad was Babu.

 

[BK613]

Wasn't Beverly Crusher born on the Moon?

 

[GabyBee]

Wasn't Beverly Crusher born on the Moon?

Yes, although Wesley was born while Beverly was in medical school, so he was presumably born somewhere on Earth.

 

[The Wormhole]

Did they ever definitively define Tom Paris as being American? I can't recall if they ever identified where he was born or where specifically he grew up.

He was living in the vicinity of Lake Tahoe during his teenage years.

 

[MacLeod]

How many of they characters listed above have actually been given a definitive birth place either in an episode or film? Sure some have like Sulu and Yar

 

[KennyB]

I would hope by then were are all finally just Terrans..........when you are so focused on race you will never see past it.