Imperialism: The Long View and the Big Picture

Video introduction

Imperialism is an economic and political system of war and conquest by great powers, but it is also the lived experience of the conquered and subjugated. This almost always entails the murder, rape, theft, enslavement, and myriad humiliations of the dominated and colonized. Empires have committed genocide, eliminating entire peoples, and ethnocide, erasing the nationality, language, and culture of the conquered. And the conquered have resisted, risen up, rebelled, and often succeeded at least for a time in escaping the grip of empires. Even so, new imperial or neocolonial systems often reimpose their domination in new ways, leading to further resistance and rebellion.

In eight weekly sessions guided by Dan La Botz, we will look at imperialism in the long view, from the ancient world to today. We will examine the experience of imperialism and the theoretical justifications for it, as well as anti-imperialist movements and their arguments. We will look at imperialism as economic phenomenon, as political strategy, as cultural experience, and as psychological affect. We will discuss imperialism and gender and imperialism and the environment.

See the initial syllabus for further details.

Dan La Botz is a retired historian of the United States and Latin America and a longtime political activist on the left. He holds a Ph.D. in U.S. History from the University of Cincinnati and has taught at several universities, most recently in the City University of New York School of Labor and Urban Studies. He is the author of a dozen books and scores of journalistic and academic articles on labor movements, social movements, and politics in the United States, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Indonesia. He is a co-editor of the journal New Politics.