Discussion

For this session, we zoom out from America to consider perspectives from the outside, looking in. As a global superpower with complex geopolitical relationships, America is as much a part of those living beyond its borders as for those living within them. The reading here looks at a few examples of artists and writers who have written about America from an external critical perspective, bringing to bear their own misgivings, anxieties and interpretations of the country through the looking-glass, so to speak.

Hamid Dabashi’s excerpt looks at how a New York Times bestseller demonises Iran and glorifies the US and imperialism.

Pablo Neruda’s poem ‘The United Fruit Company’ looks at American imperialism’s most overt manifestation: commerce and industry. Here, America’s continental neighbours seek to reconcile their exploitation by the U.S federal government through their country’s natural exports.

Reading

---

Follow Our Blog

Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.