The editors of the influential 1989 anthology, The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures, notoriously claimed that the "first post-colonial society to develop a `national' literature was the USA." Despite the originary status here assigned to the U.S., the U.S. is persistently imagined as a nation or as a former British colony but not as an empire. Indeed, the stability of America's self-conception as a nation depends upon the eschewal of its imperial history and impulses. This discussion course provides an overview of the literary and cultural legacies of a specific period of U.S. imperialism. It is designed to focus primarily on the continuing impact of the late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century transoceanic wars (against Hawaii, Cuba, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Phillippines) that established the U.S. as a global power. Yet we will also address both the possibilities and limitations of applying models of colonialization to the histories and literatures of U.S. racial minorities. Possible authors and filmmakers include: Amy Kaplan, Marlon Fuentes, Gayatri Spivak, Homi Bhabha, Ronald Takaki, Jessica Hagedorn, Angel Shaw, Oscar Campomanes, Carmelita Tropicana, Inderpal Grewal, Le Ly Hayslip, Coco Fusco, Gloria Anzaldua, and Haunani-Kay Trask. Requirements: one oral presentation, one or two short reader responses, one short paper, and one long paper. Prerequisite: a 100-level English course, except 150. Enrollment limit: 25 (expected: 15). (Post-1900 or Criticism)

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