In the Twentieth-century there was a major shift in the global processes of colonization, due to the drastic changes in warfare as the world transitioned from Imperialism to an age of extremes, backed by nationalist rhetoric, massive industrialization and the competition amongst global powers. War had become a difficult task in achieving victory because of the great costs it entailed, which included the mass production of resources and man power along with the mobilization it required. Because of the large amount of casualties in the "Great War" and World War II, mobilization of the global powers colonized subjects had become a great necessity in the effort to achieve victory. With the introduction of colonized people fighting for their respective mother countries, in total war, people began to identify themselves much differently than they had in the past across the globe. In the aftermath of these wars, colonized subjects once again shifted their views on how they identified themselves and had begun to take strides in becoming decolonized and gaining sovereignty to become recognized as Nations. The costs of total war, mobilization, and the end to modernity ultimately led to drastic shifts in the perceptions of identity across the globe, which led to decolonization and the birth to new nations, and whether or not the assimilation and abandonment of old traditional ways of life, as is the case presented by Leslie Marmon Silko in the novel Ceremony. .
In the novel Ceremony, Silko displayed how the identities of Native Americans who participated in World War II, fighting for the U.S., shifted from the time they were enlisted to their homecoming and how the assimilation and integration of Native Americans and whites had also influenced their changes in identity. In this passage, protagonist Tayo tells about how Native Americans were identified by the outside world while they were enlisted and in active duty, "White women never looked at me until I put on that uniform, and then by God I was a U.