HIST 405-01, The Imperial Idea, Fall 2010

Abstract

The past two decades have witnessed an explosion of scholarly interest in European imperialism as a cultural and intellectual phenomenon. This course examines some of main currents of this trend, focusing on the modern period and the British empire, which has drawn the lion's share of attention. The course will begin by examining how leading intellectuals in Europe and its colonies engaged the idea of empire; the authors we will read include John Locke, Adam Smith, Edmund Burke, Thomas Carlyle, J. S. Mill, George Orwell, and Frantz Fanon. After this, the course will turn to critical studies of empire emanating from those engaged in literary discourse theory and postcolonial studies. Readings on these topics will include Edward Said's Orientalism, Dipesh Chakrabarty's Provincializing Europe, Uday Mehta's Liberalism and Empire, and Jennifer Pitt's A Turn to Empire. The course will conclude by examining Niall Ferguson's Colossus, which ignores all the criticism and calls for the United States to take up the discarded mantel of European empires. The portrayal of empire in art and film will also be explored.