| Writing assignment #2, 5 pages, due by the beginning of class on Thursday, March 13 | |
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Our second writing assignment will undertake another investigation of common knowledge about American empire. Please interview two people around 20-ish, and two people around 50-ish. I.e., four people across two generations. Be sure to keep them anonymous (just initials) in your papers, but also be sure to be mindful of some basic demographics: such as class, gender, race, ethnicity, education level, urban/suburban/small town/rural, type of employment experience, travel experience, and whatever else you feel will help you better understand their particular perspective on American empire. The starting question to ask is whether they have ever even heard of the concept of an American empire.” From there, you can ask follow-up questions. Immediately obvious ones are: If not an empire, what has been and what is the United States in the world? From there, you can adapt some of the following questions: If an empire, when do they think the American empire started, and how and why? Where do they think the American empire is in the world and also in the United States, and in what forms? What do they think the American empire has done, and how and why ... at varying historical intervals: In the nineteenth century? In the twentieth century? What do they think is the difference between the American empire and previous empires? And rival empires? A crucial question: Where do they think they have acquired their impressions of American empire? These are simply some possible questions. There are many others, depending on the course of your interviews. For instance, we haven’t covered much yet, but we will: soft power, economic leverage, cultural imperialism, et cetera. And we will be thinking more about cultural attitudes undergirding imperialism, such as white supremacy and racism. Meanwhile, we have done some thinking about, for instance, future talk, legitimation, manufacturing virtue, et cetera. You will want to listen very carefully to your interviewees. Above all, you always want to ask open-ended questions, to see how people respond. I.e., no leading questions. You want your follow-up questions to be responsive in turn to their responses. After the interviews, it will be your task to analyze their responses, in light of all the other material that we have covered about American empire, starting with Suzy Hansen and Daniel Immerwahr. You will definitely want to consider not only their impressions of American empire, but — as importantly — their impressions of where they have acquired those impressions. Schooling? Media? Travel experience? You may want to look at your notes about our discussion of Suzy Hansen, and to think about your own papers for writing assignment #1. The immediate and central question is: How much and what kinds of “knowledge” do ordinary people from two generations have of American empire? Any generation gap? If so, or if not, why so or why not? Don’t forget to analyze blindspots. You don’t want to point them out; that would be unkind. You want to listen to people. But you can ask judicious indirect questions when you notice people’s blindspots, to get a better sense of those blindspots. There might be problematic single stories to consider as well. As always it should be obvious that there is no single right or wrong answer to this question. Rather, you will be evaluated on your ability to develop a forceful yet nuanced argument structuring your analysis, to pinpoint main themes to organize your analysis into coherent paragraphs, and to provide specific evidence from your interviews, the course readings, and your lecture notes. Be sure to endnote/footnote the precise source of any quotations, derivative ideas, or uncommon facts. There is no need to do any additional outside research. The four interviews shall be the heart of this paper. No interviewee names. Just four sets of initials, which you can use in the analysis throughout your papers. Have fun with the interviews, and the analysis. Sample endnotes: |