Culture and U.S. Empire

Catalog description

How have U.S. policymakers obtained public consent for their foreign policies? What sorts of ideas expressed in U.S. popular culture and public discourse have helped convince enough Americans that their nation's foreign policies were wise and just? How have ideas expressed in American culture supported and critiqued U.S. empire from within? In this seminar, we will examine the relationship of American culture to the U.S. imperial project by looking at how cultural narratives about race, gender, sexuality, class mobility, and American exceptionalism have not only shaped Americans’ interactions with other peoples, but have also rationalized the spread of U.S. power.