BERGAMO
Overview
Date/time interval
Syllabus
Course Objectives
At the end of the course, students will have knowledge of some essential aspects of the contemporary history of the U.S. (with specific reference to the second post-war period), and in particular a basic understanding of the role the U.S played in the international arena.
The course will be focused on the international and imperial dimension of U.S. history during the 20th century, the so-called American century. The goal is to stimulate the students’ ability to identify the multiple connections between the United States and all the countries on which it has exerted its economic, military, social and cultural influence. Thus, Latin America will work as a source of broader insights and will provide the students with several examples that are relevant beyond the region.
Course Prerequisites
General knowledge of US history. Students are expected to have read an outline of US history. A recommended reading is Arnaldo Testi, Il secolo degli Stati Uniti, Il Mulino, 2017.
As an alternative, students can read the introduction (pp. vi-xii) and pp. 159-367of Mario Del Pero, Libertà e Impero Gli Stati Uniti e il mondo (1776-2011), Laterza, 2017.
Teaching Methods
The instructor will give lectures and power point presentations and will constantly stimulate class discussions and students’ questions. Active participation will be crucial for the success of the class and will be highly appreciated. The class will be conducted in seminar format: 1. lectures in English; 2. discussion sessions; 3. presentations of about twenty minutes (optional) prepared by the students under the supervision of the lecturer.
Classes will be supported by slides, audiovisual material and Internet navigation through digital archives to show primary sources online. All activities will be in English
Assessment Methods
Learning outcomes will be assessed through a final oral exam, or a written exam, at their own choice, in order to assess knowledge of the specific notions acquired in class and from the required texts. Students will have the opportunity to have further assessments during the class and before the exams, such as short in class presentations or a written test. The textbook must be studied accurately, and in no case attendance or in-class presentations can replace the book.
Contents
The course will allow students to reflect on meaningful moments of U.S. history, starting from what has conventionally recognised by historians as the beginning of “the American century”: the Cuban-Spanish American war of 1898. Specific attention will be given to the expansion of U.S. culture on the international and transnational arena, also through e gendered perspective (as demonstrates, for instance, the case of the politics of reproduction in the island of Puerto Rico).
A core topic, therefore, will be the role played by the United States in international affairs during the 20th century, with specific reference to Latin American countries, from Central America to Chile. This area will provide several case studies on hard and soft power, i.e. the use of coercion by the U.S. but also the attractiveness of its model of modernity and development.
The course, focused on the imperial dimension of U.S. power, will synthetically analyse some crucial issues of the international history of the United States and the economic, political and social factors that underlie and explain those relations. The course will be entirely in English.
Online Resources
More information
STUDENTS WHO DO NOT INTEND TO APPEAR FOR THE EXAMINATIONS THEY HAVE REGISTERED FOR MUST UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THE LIST ON TIME- TOTALLY USELESS EMAILS THE NIGHT BEFORE !
The course will take place during the III term
The textbook for the course is Joshua Freeman, "American Empire. The Rise of A Global Power, The Democratic Revolution At Home, 1945-2000", The Penguin History of the United States (Series edited by Eric Foner) New York, 2013.
For class discussions and presentations, instead, if not proposing texts of their interest, students can choose one of these readings:
Thomas F. O'Brien, Making the Americas : the United States and Latin America from the age of revolutions to the era of globalization University of New Mexico press , 2007
Victoria De Grazia , Irresistible empire : America's advance through twentieth-century Europe / Harvard University press, 2006
MARIANO MARCO (ed), Defining the Atlantic Community. Culture, Intellectuals, and Policies in the Mid-Twentieth Century, Routledge, 2015.
Daniel Immerwahr . How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States, Starus and Giroux 2019.
A. G. Hopkins, American Empire: A Global History, Princeton University Press 2018.
David W. Ellwood Una sfida per la modernità. Europa e America nel lungo Novecento , Carocci, 2021.
Benedetta Calandra, Il corpo del Caribe. Le politiche sulla riproduzione tra Puerto Rico e Stati Uniti (1898-1993). Ombe corte 2020.
Jennifer Nelson, Sterilization, birth control and abortion, “American Women’s history,”, 2020.
Johanna Schoen, Choice and coercion: women and the politics of sterilization in north Carolina, 1929-75, “Journal of Women’s history”, 2001.