Week 5 - Jiaqi Huang

Jiaqi Huang
A02
Week 5: Imperial University 

This week’s reading, reveal the extent of American imperialism on domestic and foreign grounds and its censorship. Piya Chatterjee and Suanina Maira collaborate in The Imperial University: Race, War, and the Nation-State, and shows us how Americans can/are use/ing “the logics of racism, warfare, and nationalism” to disassemble the outline (U.S. imperialism) which created our institution (government, higher education…).

A main idea in this book: imperialism ideology is performed through “liberal” motivations. When I learned about Manifest Destiny in high school, it was through a whole different perspective compared to today thus I never questioned it while studying for tests nor did I ponder pass the fact it was a vocabulary term. Obviously, I was not convinced that it was moral or justifiable (as it is another name for U.S. imperialism) knowing my own country’s experience is not generation exclusive and foreign imperialism has damaged our ancestry forever (e.g. relationship between China and Hong Kong). However, if I was not Chinese or some “saved” minority and instead, a majority citizen, how could I not respect (although psychotic, the U.S. conquest/dominance demonstrates the will self-preservation of a country made by forsaken colonies) my own ancestries’ power? Would I need to punish those who disregard my supremacy when it was my country who “saved” you? What if I believed Manifest Destiny should continue?

My last paragraph was written with fear and Professor’s reminder of dialectical reasoning. Maybe that person was part of Hamamoto’s example, or maybe they are the head of some important intuition or the man down the street. Those who protest can continue with difficulty and those who flourish by this hidden agenda can continue. It is hard to believe that America will not stop at cultural conquest, but continue to ask for identity too…

When this silent crisis finally condemns America, I would like the first addressment be towards the government. Government influence is like the roots of a tree, hidden, and then the Imperial University, the trunk, and finally all the other branches of society. I believe that education can be used without consequences. Until then, the minorities of America will continue to be punished under the guise of normality.

Question: When did domestic imperialism approach public education?  

Major American news outlet concerned about Chinese censorship. Censorship can be aloud or silent. 

Sources:

1. Hamamoto, D. Y. (2003). Empire of death and the plague of civil violence. In Boggs, C. (Ed.), Masters of War: Militarism and Blowback in the Era of American Empire (pp. 272-296). New York, New York: Routledge.
2. Chatterjee, P., & Maira, S. (2014). Imperial University: Academic Repression and Scholarly Dissent. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
3. "Chinese Media Censorship." The New York Times 13 Jan. 2013: n. pag. Print.