Dissertation Information for Kariann Akemi Yokota NAME: - Kariann Akemi Yokota
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- History
SCHOOL:
- University of California, Los Angeles (USA) (2002)
ADVISORS: - Michael Salman
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - Don Toshiaki Nakanishi - Herman Ooms
MPACT Status: Fully Complete
Title: Post-colonial America: Transatlantic networks of exchange in the early national period
Abstract: n the years following the Revolution, Americans teetered between the promise of a glorious future as an independent nation and a culture of insecurity reflecting their colonial past. Proud of their newly won independence, many former colonials aspired to the standards of Great Britain. Inhabiting the margins of the transatlantic world, they were self-conscious about the fact that some Europeans considered their nation inferior due to its lack of cultural refinement.
Hierarchies based upon levels of civility often revolved around the possession and production of refined objects. This dissertation analyzes the lingering effects of the colonial past on the formation of American national identity by paying close attention to the social significance of material culture. A widespread sense of the inequity between Britain and the United States was embodied in the exchange of refined and unrefined objects. In general, Americans traded raw materials of nature for "cooked" objects manufactured in Britain.
Participants in the transatlantic networks of merchants, intellectuals, missionaries and naturalists who were involved in the movement of objects were particularly cognizant of the difference in status and power between the United States and the former mother country. They remained dependent upon their British counterparts and worked to maintain connections established during the colonial period. This reliance was a practical necessity and a vehicle for Americans to establish their independent national presence on the world stage. Yet Americans knew their relationships with British counterparts were not yet equal. While recognizing the integral ways that the United States is different from twentieth century post-colonial societies who emerged from European imperial rule, there are some generative connections to be made such as the effect of continuing inequality and dependence between nations legally defined as separate and equal.
This dissertation follows lines of inquiry about the early national period that foreground the importance of continuities with the past during this transitional and uncertain age. Instead of viewing this era as the beginning of the nation, this study considers it as the fruition of a waning world. Seen in this way, the cultural politics of the young American nation are a post-colonial politics.
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calculated 2008-08-18 13:11:43
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