Islands of Empire: Sounds and Silences

A mural painted on a cement wall in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico greets you with, “Welcome to the oldest colony.” In five words, this small portion of the mural speaks to a legacy of empire and colonialism. This course brings Puerto Rico in dialogue with other past/present U.S. colonies and neocolonies such as Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guam, Philippines, and Hawai’i and their diasporas. Listening to spoken word, murals, music, oral histories, podcasts, and other mediums of sound and silence, we examine themes of race, sovereignty, colonialism, and empire across new geographic re-imaginings.