When America talks about itself, the country and media usually start by reducing people to ethnic stereotypes and categorizing ideas by ideological camp. Gregory Rodriguez, Zócalo Public Square’s publisher and founder, and senior fellow at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, has distinguished himself throughout his career by avoiding this trap. Rodriguez has shown that our country’s dynamism lies in how its people and ideas collide in ways that can’t be easily categorized or labeled.

In his new syndicated column, “Imperfect Union,” Rodriguez will explore these collisions, both past and present; investigate the many ways we define Americanness today; and examine how other diverse countries are struggling to cohere. “Imperfect Union” will build on Rodriguez’s previous work on social cohesion, engagement, and identity in his long-running Los Angeles Times column, his book, Mongrels, Bastards, Orphans, and Vagabonds: Mexican Immigration and the Future of Race in America, and other writing from the past two decades in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Time, and The Atlantic.

“Imperfect Union” debuts on Monday, April 14 and will appear every other Monday. Zócalo syndicates its original journalism to over 120 media partners around the country and world.