AMST 130 - What’s after white empire-and is it already here?

From the Philippine-American War (1898-1910) to the global uprisings of May 2020, white supremacy and US imperialism have marched hand-in-hand, buttressed by cultures of violence and literal guns and tanks. Yet cracks in the walls of racism and empire have also always existed, with hopeful gestures of solidarity and activist movements pushing forward with new possibilities and imagined futures. In this discussion-based course, we will look for the common threads that link David Fagen (Black U.S. army soldier who defected and joined the Philippine nationalists in 1899) to the Vietnam antiwar movement (1955-1975) to Grace Lee Boggs (Chinese American philosopher activist based in Detroit, 1915-2015) along with many other individuals and events. Among the significant questions we will consider are: How can we change the separatist mindset of “zero-sum” and move toward solidarity on a world scale? What lessons can be drawn from the global COVID pandemic and the Russian war in Ukraine? How can we replace a culture of violence with a culture of peace? Fall semester only. (4 Credits)