Imperial Narratives: Incomplete representations of the U.S. Pacific Territories in U.S. History Textbooks and Standards

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Abstract

This qualitative study investigates how high school-level state standards and textbooks represent the U.S.’s Pacific Island state and territories, nationalism, and empire. The research questions that guided this study include: (1) How frequently do high school U.S. history curriculum standards and textbooks reference Pacific Islander content (histories, cultures, peoples, current issues)? (2) What can U.S. history textbooks and curriculum standards say about the U.S.’s sense of nationalism and national identity? (3) Do U.S. history textbooks and curriculum standards present the U.S. as an empire? (4) Do U.S. textbooks and State-defined textbook standards portray the U.S. as a Pacific nation, as the federal government has defined itself? The paper uses qualitative content analysis to review high school-level U.S. history standards from the 50 states, the five U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia and a sample of 23 textbooks from the states and territories that approve lists of textbooks for public education institutions. Findings reveal that while the textbooks and standards refer to the U.S.’s imperialist expansion efforts in the Pacific, including its acquisition of a selection of Pacific Island nations as a state (Hawai’i) and territories, this discussion is not comprehensive as it does not mention each territory, minimally discusses the Indigenous Peoples associated with those territories, and relegates the importance and relevance of the few Pacific Islands it mentions to the past (specifically, World War II).

Author

• Lauren Atalana Marsiglia, Northwestern University