Unit name | American Empire |
---|---|
Unit code | HIST30043 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | H/6 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
Unit director | Dr. Julio Decker |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | Department of History (Historical Studies) |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit explores the significance of Empire and imperialism for nineteenth- and twentieth-century American history. Following a chronological order, it explores ideas about American exceptionalism used in continental and overseas expansion. The reading and discussion privileges two perspectives: on the one hand, the mutual dependence of domestic cultural, social and economic processes and imperial expansion is investigated in detail. On the other hand, the course includes transnational and inter-imperial connections, exploring how the American Empire built on and related to imperial predecessors and colonial models such as the British Empire.
Aims:
On successful completion of the unit students will have:
1. Developed an in-depth understanding of the concepts and practices that shaped American imperialism
2. developed a high level of competency in identifying complex historical arguments and use selected secondary sources for their essays
3. a high degree of competency in working with an increasingly specialist range of primary sources
4. an ability to formulate independent lines of thought and to express these with a high level of accomplishment.
Weekly 2 hour seminars
3500 word essay (50%) and 2 hour exam (50%). Both assessments test ILOs 1 to 4.
Richard H. Immerman, Empire for Liberty. A History of American Imperialism from Benjamin Franklin to Paul Wolfowitz, 2010.
Paul Kramer, The Blood of Government. Race, Empire, the United States & the Philippines, 2006.
Charles Maier, Among Empires. American Ascendancy and Its Predecessors, 2006.
Alfred W. McKoy; Francisco A. Scarano (eds.): The Colonial Crucible. Empire in the Making of the American State, 2009.
Frank Ninkovich, The United States and Imperialism, 2001