Lectures

Week 1
July 26

11 am

Introduction

No tutorial

1 pm

Week 2
Aug. 2

11 am

Theories of empire

Introduction & assessment explained

1 pm

Westward “expansion”

Week 3
Aug. 9

11 am

Interpreting American foreign policy & American “Exceptionalism”

What is an Empire?

1 pm

China and the Open Door

Week 4
Aug. 16

11 am

Domestic culture at the end of the 19th century (inc. screening of short film Savage Acts)

What is an Empire? A question of perspective.

1 pm

Spanish-American-Cuban-Filipino War

Week 5
Aug. 23

11 am

Teddy Roosevelt’s Big Stick: Gender and Race in Foreign Policy

Does culture matter?

1 pm

The U.S. State: Internationalist, Isolationist or Imperialist?

Week 6
Aug. 30

11 am

The U.S. State: Internationalist, Isolationist or Imperialist? II

U.S. State: Republican, Democratic or Imperial?

1 pm

Good Neighbors?

Week 7
Sep. 6

11 am

Militarism and the Memory of WWII

U.S. State: Republican, Democratic or Imperial? (II)

1 pm

A Good War?

Week 8
Sep. 13

11 am

How to Read Donald Duck

What is the relationship between domestic U.S. society and empire?

1 pm

The Cold War – and the “American Century” – Begins

Week 9
Sep. 20

11 am

War in Korea; torture

No tutorials this week – essay preparation. Tutors and coordinator available for consultation.

1 pm

Covert action under Eisenhower: CIA

AVCC Common Week

No classes

Week 10
Oct. 4

11 am

Film: Atomic Cafe, dir. Jayne Loader and Pierce Rafferty (1982)

“Soft” power?

1 pm

Guest lecture: Sounds and Noises of Empire

Week 11
Oct. 11

11 am

Cold War, Civil Rights, Human Rights, Black Power, Decolonization in Africa

An American Orient? U.S.-Middle East relations since WWII

1 pm

The American War in Vietnam

Week 12
Oct. 18

11 am

Twilight of the Cold War

Debate preparation

1 pm

War on Terror

Week 13
Oct. 25

11 am

Wrap up;essays returned; exam distributed and instructions

American Empire: A Force for Liberty or Tyranny?

1 pm