International Security Studies welcomes Yale historian Alvita Akiboh for a discussion of her new book, Imperial Material: National Symbols in the US Colonial Empire (University of Chicago Press). Imperial Material tells the story of how objects laden with US national symbols—flags, money, and postage stamps—became an arena in which contests over national identity played out. In these overseas colonies, seemingly mundane objects became central for both US imperialists who sought to establish and maintain US colonial rule and for people living in the colonies who made claims to belonging, resisted US rule, and used these symbolic objects to articulate their own understanding of their relationship to the United States.
Akiboh is assistant professor of history at Yale University, specializing in the history of US overseas colonies in the Caribbean and Pacific. Her research has been supported by the American Historical Association, the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, and the Smithsonian National Postal Museum and National Museum of American History. Akiboh will be joined by Director of International Security Studies and Elihu Professor of History and Global Affairs Arne Westad.
