When We Were Kings

My Questions on the film:

1. At the beginning of the film, the focus flashes from Ali, Zaire performance musicians, and other related images, to footage of the Ku Klux Klan among other images of suffering in Africa and Pre-civil rights America. What do you think was the purpose of introducing the film this way?


2. Ali makes it clear he's fighting on Team Africa. What is Foreman fighting to represent? Did he have a choice? As an American, do you see Foreman as the antagonist?


3. *SPOILER?* What do you think was Foreman's "succubus"? Why did he lose? Assuming this fight is more than just a boxing match, what is the succubus in the greater picture?


4. Today, do we have celebrities who hold as much iconic and political weight as Muhammad Ali? If so, whom? If not, why is that?


5. I have to ask, why "When We Were Kings"? Why not, for example, "We Will Be Kings"?

All the World's A Fair

1. Would the supporters of the world's fair agree with Randolph Bourne's vision of a transnational America? why or why not?

-How was the world's fair used as a government tool?

-How did the world's fair meet the agenda of the U.S. government?

2. What is a "symbolic universe" as described by Robert Rydell?

-What kind of people would you find at the world's fair?

-What about the other members of society?

-Is their social world comprehensible?

3. what message was the U.S. sending out to the rest of the world?

4. "The sheer number of fairgoers testified that the expositions struck a responsive chord in the lives of many American" (pg 107)

What kind of responsive chord do you think Rydell is talking about?

Trans-National America

1) How does Bourne's concept of Americanism differ from those of his contemporaries during the time of this essay's publication?

2) I found a particular quote from this essay very interesting. "We [Americans] act as if we wanted Americanization to take place only on our own terms, and not by the consent of the governed (101)." Can you think of any modern examples of this?

3) According to Bourne, what is America's relationship with England? How does he feel about this relationship?

4) How are the Early colonists similar to the immigrants of this time? How are they different?

5) How has the ruling class treated immigrants? Why does Bourne believe that this is the wrong approach?

6) Bourne uses the South to justify his argument. What is his argument? How does the South as an example prove his point? (pg 103)

7) What does Bourne fear will happen to immigrants in America? Do you think his fears have become reality?

8) Is Bourne in favor of Nationalism? Why or why not?

Our America

1) Marti writes that the governments of Latin America should not be imitated from foreign governments, but that they should be created to suit the needs of a country. Given your knowledge of Latin America’s political history, would you say that Marti’s conviction was recognized?

2) What does Marti mean by “the natural man”? Why does he seem to hold him in high esteem?

Jose Marti: Our America

1) What is Marti's attitude toward the United States and/or Europe?

2) Why does Marti constantly use the rhetorical device known as antithesis (i.e. two opposing ideas)?

3) Do you think Marti was successful in his initial request to create new ideas? Why or why not?

4) Marti refers to Latin America as a woman, while depicting "her neighbor" as a man. What effect does this have on the image of Latin America at this time?

Jose Marti Our America Questions

1) On page 290, Jose Marti expresses his thoughts about how he believes that any form of government that exist in a land should be from the land. Would you say this is Marti being a nationalist or that he doesn't want any foreign involvement in Cuba? Why?

2) On page 291, what is Marti's main problem between the educated and uneducated?
Also, what are his beliefs on proper education?

Soldiers of Fortune Discussion Questions

1. How does this story reflect or resemble ideas we have seen in prior narratives, including Columbus' journals, John Smith's account, and the Panama Canal documentary? Think about how the native Mexicans are viewed by the Anglo newcomers, like Clay and Van Antwerp and how Anglos like Clay intervene in South American affairs for their own benefit.
2. How does the news that Miss Langham will be coming to Mexico affect the way Clay now views the land which he is in command of?
3. Does the fact that this story is written in third person enhance its effectiveness as a literary piece by enabling us to read different viewpoints or does it inhibit our ability to fully connect with any of the characters on whom the narration tended to focus?

Soldiers of Fortune

Hi Class..
Here are my questions for discussion from "Soldiers of Fortune":

Review the paragraph that begins on the left of p.66 and ends on the right for the first two questions.

1) Miss Langham talked about the approval of Mr. King. She says "her own mind approved, and as as her heart was not apparently ever to be considered, who could say that it did not approve as well?" After reading the rest of the story, why does the author say her heart was not considered? In some cases how can this idea be tied into today's society?

2) Miss Langham describes King as a good man and spoke of his accomplishments, but why does she say he "may never do a great thing"?

3) Do you believe Clays speech to the workers was similar to Theodore Roosevelt's "The Strenuous Life" speech? Why or why not? (pg. 80)

4) Does Clay have a valid argument against the opposition? How can this scenario be tied into other historic events? (pg. 88)

Streeby, Roosevelt, & Twain

What part does God and Christianity play in the idea of American exceptionalism, in the "natural right" (Streeby, p.50) of Americans to expand to foreign lands? Do you believe what Twain says, paryodying that, "Christendom has been playing it badly of late years, and must certainly suffer by it... so eager to get every stake that appeared?" Based upon your knowledge of the various wars mentioned in the readings, (the Vietnam War, the Cold War, the US-Mexico War, et al.) do you believe that the "white races," as referred to by Roosevelt, were expanding upon every nation that seemed less civilized or in need of intervention because of "unchecked control", or were they choosing the nations specifically, purely for the benefit of its own economic growth and racial expansion?

As read in Roosevelt's address to the Methodist Episcopal Church, "control" is the "prerequisite condition" for the "moral and material advancement of the peoples who dwell in the darker corners of the earth." (p.56) Given the result of European and American expansion into foreign nations, (take for example, the nation of Sudan that Roosevelt mentions; its recent succession of South from North Sudan, combined initially by the British out of either lack of understanding the region or because it was easier to lump them together and control them as a whole) is this a valid statement by Roosevelt, or were the expansions morally and materially deteriorating to the natives of those lands? In short, who was the primary benefactor of imperialism: the natives or the "intruders," as Roosevelt refers to them?

Is the term "expansionism" merely a euphemism for "imperialism"?

What role did the social and antiwar movements, as well as the "movements of people of color working both outside and inside the academy," (Streeby p.53) play in the emergence of "revisionist scholarly work" that took a critical, rather than compliant, look at the expansion of the United States around the world?

“Empire” by Shelley Streeby

1. Why does the word “empire” have a negative connotation in terms of the United States and its foreign policy?

2. How did the effects of the U.S.-Mexican War become an important catalyst in causing the later conflict known as the Civil War?

3. Many people who favored the U.S.-Mexico War believed in manifest destiny. Democratic Review editor John O’ Sullivan argued that it was “our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions” (page 51). Why was manifest destiny not associated with the imperialism of building an empire?

4. How did the Cold War enable historians to view the interventions of the United States around the world as not being imperialistic?

The Many Voices of Roosevelt

Hey everyone,
Here are my questions based on the three readings, enjoy!

1. In his address of "The Strenuous Life" given in 1899 , Roosevelt preaches that the "highest form of success, comes not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger" (57). How does Roosevelt use rhetoric to advocate the importance of leading a life of "toil", verses the life of a "timid man"?

2.Three years following his speech of "The Strenuous Life", Roosevelt gives his "Administration of the Island Possessions" address in 1902; In the speech, can you identify any areas areas of the text where he uses the ideas from"The strenuous Life? How is this connection crucial to the message he is trying to get across?

3. Seven years later, Roosevelt gives his speech, "The expansion of the White Races" in 1909 at a church, how is his language different compared to the previous speeches? Do you think it has to do with the his audience? What message is Roosevelt sending about the expansion of the white race?"

4. In the small blurb before the speech of "The Strenuous Life", it states that, "This is perhaps the most important essay in the canon of the American empire". Do you guys believe this? Do the ideas presented by Roosevelt, still apply to your society today?