Theories and Practices of U.S. Empire, 1776 to Present
HISTORY 5168
This historically-based, cross-disciplinary course investigates theories and practices of American empire in the
long era of US nationhood, 1776-to present. We will pay special attention to definitional questions--in what sense
can the United States be considered an "empire"? To what extent has it been so considered, and why (or why not)?
In what ways has the empire-building project in the U.S. been "imperial" or/and "colonial"? "Formal" or/and
"informal"? How have fundamental imperial contradictions--the search for unity as opposed to the need to manage
the politics of difference--been experienced? What have been the dynamics of imperial violence and anticolonial
resistance in US history? How have the practices of anticolonial resistance and anticolonial violence shaped the
course of US empire? And what are the politics of collective memory and/or amnesia that have followed in the
wake of these experiences? Such questions will be explored with both a comparative awareness and with attention
to the fields of literature, law, political theory and art history where problems of representing and historicizing US
empire have been addressed. The course takes the form of an intensive seminar, requiring commitment to weekly
readings, informed discussion, and critical writing; it will include a final essay that can either be a research paper
based on the analysis/interpretation of primary sources, or a historiographical essay.
Course Attributes:
Section 01
Theories and Practices of U.S. Empire, 1776 to Present
