German 695D - S-Bodies&Law:GermLit&Thought

This is a graduate course on the history of empires in the modern era. Our approach will be conceptual, comparative and historical. By investigating key debates in the growing field of imperial studies, we will address three broad questions about imperial formations: (1) is it possible to identify common imperial modes with reference to state-society relations; (2) can we explain the diversity of imperial forms in meaningful ways; and (3) how did empires deal with larger historical processes of change with the advent of modernity after the sixteenth century? Integrating cutting edge research from Russian, European, Latin American, Ottoman, Asian and Chinese fields, the class promotes new ways of writing imperial histories that are comparative and global in nature. It also provides an opportunity to rethink world history between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries in terms of similar historical patterns and diverse outcomes.