From the ‘discovery’ of America and the settling of colonies in New England to US Independence, from the myth of the melting pot to the rise of modern industry and technology, US history has often been recounted as if determined by a narrative of progress. This frame has strongly influenced the way that American identity has been established through founding myths and how narratives of American democracy, both at home and abroad, have shaped the way that the US thinks about itself as a nation.
In this class, we will explore various historical events and narrative patterns, paying particular attention to the way that the shaping of myths determined the American path. We will examine how certain narratives established the parameters of what it meant to be an American, who was allowed to be included in that definition, and how others have been silenced and excluded systematically. We will look at how the self-fashioning of the US as a global player has influenced its foreign policy through the exporting of democracy, mass consumerism, and American culture.
Overall, in this seminar, we will reflect on the way historical myths are created, narrated, and perpetuated and we will question these very narratives by including different perspectives and varied points of view from which history can be told.
- Trainer/in: Sebastian M. Herrmann
- Trainer/in: Eleonora Ravizza