ATS3908 American empire: The United States from colonies to superpower
Faculty of Arts
ATS3908 American empire: The United States from colonies to superpower is a level 3, 6-credit-point, undergraduate unit from the Faculty of Arts, offered in 2020 in Semester 2 at Clayton. It has no prerequisites.
- Credit points
- 6
- Offered in 2020
- Semester 2
- Clayton
- Workload
- 144 hours
- per semester
This is the 2020 handbook entry. See the 2027 entry.
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Requisites
Before ATS3908
No prerequisites or corequisites besides the enrolment rules below.
After ATS3908
No unit lists ATS3908 as a prerequisite in the 2020 handbook.
Enrolment rules
Prerequisite: Twelve credit points of second-year Arts units.
Prohibition: ATS2908
Overview
This unit examines the history of the US in the world, asking how a federation of former colonies on the eastern seaboard became a continental and then international power. It examines the linkages between continental expansion in the nineteenth century and expansion abroad in the twentieth, and investigates the extent to which this expansion was justified in terms of race and gender. A major theme of this unit is empire. Does this term apply to the history of American expansion? Why have Americans been so resistant to the idea that they have forged an empire? We also examine concepts such as manifest destiny, national exceptionalism and Americanisation.
Offerings in 2020
| Teaching period | Campus | Mode |
|---|---|---|
| Second semester | Clayton | On campus |
Learning outcomes
When you finish this unit, you should be able to:
- 1
Have a good understanding of the US foreign relations from the nineteenth century to mid twentieth century
- 2
Have an understanding of the importance of race and gender in shaping American interactions with other peoples and nations.
- 3
Have an understanding of the different factors which shape foreign policy and imperial projects.
- 4
Have an understanding of the importance of culture - including popular culture - to historical research
- 5
Be familiar with the research skills and methods of cultural, political and diplomatic historians.
- 6
Have experience in working with a range of textual, visual and material historical resources
- 7
Have further developed their oral and written communication skills
- 8
Have improved their ability to conduct historical research independently.
Workload and teaching
- Tutorials12 hours
- Lectures12 hours
Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. A unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.
Where it fits
ATS3908 is part of 2 areas of study in the 2020 handbook.
Contacts
- Chief Examiners
- Dr Noah Shenker
- Unit Coordinators
- Dr Noah Shenker
Common questions
What are the prerequisites for ATS3908?
ATS3908 has no prerequisites, but enrolment rules apply.
When is ATS3908 offered?
In 2020, ATS3908 runs in Semester 2 at Clayton.
How much work is ATS3908?
The handbook expects about 144 hours of study across the semester. No students have rated its difficulty yet.
Which majors and minors include ATS3908?
ATS3908 is part of History.