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“Territorial empire has mattered for the USA, even when most individuals on the U.S. mainland are solely vaguely conscious of its colonial historical past.”
![Daniel Immerwahr on the US Colonial Legacy in Asia Daniel Immerwahr on the US Colonial Legacy in Asia](https://thediplomat.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/sizes/td-story-s-1/thediplomat_2023-07-26-184234.jpg)
For an empire, the USA hides it effectively. In his 2019 guide, “Learn how to Conceal an Empire: A Historical past of the Larger United States,” Daniel Immerwahr advised the story of the USA past its continental borders. A lot of that “Larger United States” lies in Asia. The US of 2023 doesn’t typically mirror on itself as a colonial energy, however the proof of American colonialism blankets Asia: from the scars of huge conflicts in Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, to army bases dotted throughout the area, to the dominance of English.
Within the following interview, Immerwahr – the Bergen Evans Professor within the Humanities at Northwestern College’s Historical past Division – displays on the USA’s colonial previous, and colonial current, in Asia.
What accounts for the “hidden” nature of the USA’ abroad imperium? Is that this merely a matter of historic and geographic distance that locations it past the nationwide consciousness, or are there different components at play?
A particular characteristic of the USA’ territorial empire is the way it’s been stored like a secret. And why has that been? It’s not geographic distance. Different nations had distant colonies – India is way from Nice Britain – that that they had no issue taking note of. And Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, two U.S. territories, are fairly near its mainland. It’s additionally not “historic distance”: colonialism isn’t over for the USA, which has 5 inhabited territories in the present day.
My sense is that three issues are vital. First, the USA was born of a revolt in opposition to empire, so anti-imperialism has been a part of its dominant tradition. Second, the expertise of settler colonialism – violently dispossessing Native Individuals – loomed so giant within the cultural creativeness of the nation that abroad empire turned onerous to fathom. Third, the USA achieved world energy in the course of the age of decolonization, which inspired its leaders to dissociate themselves from colonialism. All this inspired the USA to brush its colonies below the rug.