Pacific Visions: The Influence of Stereotypes on U.S. Foreign Policy (day)

For many Americans, Asia and Asians have always been the unknowable “other.” Hence, the 20th Century prism through which many Americans viewed developments in Asia was distorted, often reflecting the wishes, hopes and biases of American observers. Stereotypes ranged from the negative (China and Japan as the “Yellow Peril”) to the benign (China as potentially Christian). Such misperceptions are bad enough, but when used as the basis for U.S. foreign policy, the results have been disastrous. Students will study the roots of these biases, as well as the consequences of flawed U.S. foreign policy. Students will also examine whether such views have changed much in this still new century.