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Key research themes
1. How did political and military power drive American export expansion and imperial trade policies in the late 19th and early 20th centuries?
This research theme investigates the role of U.S. political and military power in facilitating American export growth and imperial expansion from the 1870s through the interwar period. It specifically interrogates how territorial annexation, dominion status, protectorates, and diplomatic strategies enabled sudden growth in export markets, contrasting approaches such as protectionism versus free-trade imperialism. Understanding this nexus unpacks the mechanisms by which imperialism directly influenced the American economy in a formative era.
Key finding: Provides first-time quantitative evidence that U.S. imperial policies — including annexation, dominion, and gunboat diplomacy — increased exports to these markets more than threefold compared to other territories, using a... Read more
Key finding: Situates U.S. imperial expansion during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era as driven by a combination of economic crises, imperial rivalries, and political insecurity, leading to military interventions (e.g., Spanish-American... Read more
2. What were the cultural and ideological underpinnings of American territorial expansion and settler colonialism in the 19th century?
This theme explores the cultural narratives, religious ideologies, and settler-colonial logics that shaped U.S. territorial expansion during the nineteenth century. It involves analyses of the ideological mechanisms—such as Manifest Destiny, religious rhetoric, and settler-colonial perceptions of indigenous peoples—that informed expansionist agendas both within continental North America and abroad. These foundational narratives justified and sustained imperial ventures while shaping American identity and historical memory.
Key finding: Demonstrates that nineteenth-century American Christian pilgrimage to Palestine was ideologically linked to U.S. territorial expansionism and settler-colonial ideologies such as Manifest Destiny. Pilgrimage narratives equated... Read more
Key finding: Analyzes McKinley’s 1899 speech revealing the intertwining of religious piety, American exceptionalism, and moral justifications (Christianizing mission) underpinning U.S. imperialism. The speech constructs the Philippines’... Read more
Key finding: Details how expansionist ideology manifested early in the republic and was deeply intertwined with racial, religious, and economic logics, including the displacement of Native Americans and the role of Manifest Destiny.... Read more
3. How has the historiography and conceptual framing of American expansion, particularly westward movement, influenced understanding of U.S. imperial history and its geographical narratives?
This theme examines how historical scholarship, cultural narratives, and educational curricula have focused on westward continental expansion as the defining narrative of American expansion. It critiques this emphasis by revealing broader directional expansions, such as southward movements into Latin America, and explores how historiography and pedagogy have shaped (and limited) perceptions of U.S. territorial growth, often marginalizing other territorial acquisitions and populations such as Hispanic/Latino histories. The theme thus deals with the politics of historical memory and the framing of American expansion.
Key finding: Argues that U.S. historiography and education have fixated almost exclusively on westward expansion, marginalizing the equally or more significant southward expansion toward Latin America. This framing shapes social studies... Read more
Key finding: Calls for methodological broadening of nineteenth-century studies beyond Anglo-centric and metropolitan narratives, emphasizing multi-sited, polyvocal approaches that recognize imperial entanglements and peripheral voices... Read more
Key finding: Analyzes historiographical debates on the 19th-century Bonneville expedition, showing tensions in interpreting military versus private scientific motives behind westward exploration. Reflects how historiography influences... Read more