Frank Schumacher

- Associate Professor

- Director, Program in International Relations

Frank Schumacher
Dr. phil., University of Cologne, 1997
Telephone: 519-661-2111 ext. 84987
Email: fschuma@uwo.ca
Office: Lawson Hall 2235
Office Hours: Wednesdays 12:15 pm - 1:15 pm and Fridays 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Research Interests

Professor Schumacher specializes in international and global history with a focus on the role of the United States in world affairs, the history of empires and colonialism, and the global history of genocide and mass violence.

Current Projects

Much of my current research and publication projects explore tensions between globalism and nationalism, histories of the U.S. Empire, cultural and intellectual histories of imperial anxieties and decline, and narratives of trauma, chaos, and security in international relations.

1. The United States and Globalization Projects

I am currently co-editing a handbook on the United States and globalization(s) with colleagues from the University of Leipzig/Germany; as part of this transatlantic collaboration we held our first workshop with a stellar cast of international contributors in July 2024; after a second workshop in 2025, the handbook will be published by De Gruyter Brill in 2026. For further information on concept and the program of the latest workshop: https://research.uni-leipzig.de/~sfb1199/events/10-12-07-2024_sfb_authors-workshop-handbook-american-globalization-16-05-2024/

2. Theodore Roosevelt: Global American

This second book project is equally grounded in transatlantic cooperation. It is the product of an international conference I co-organized at the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies, Middelburg/Netherlands during my tenure as Roosevelt Visiting Professor in May/June 2023. For the conference report and program: https://www.roosevelt.nl/en/activities/conferences/theodore-roosevelt-and-the-progressive-era/

The contributions to this volume co-edited with my colleague Gaetano Di Tommaso from the Roosevelt Institute in the Netherlands, explore global contours of U.S. history through the life, times, and memories of Theodore Roosevelt (TR) at home and abroad. They assess the significance of national and international global imaginaries, outlooks, and perspectives to understanding the rise and place of the United States in the world and explore how TR’s ‘world-making’ influenced discourses of globalization(s), globalism, and nation in the United States and abroad. At the same time, these cutting-edge essays also write global histories of the Progressive Era by examining how international audiences perceived TR and frequently appropriated him in their own settings, to advance their own agendas in contestation or support for the United States. We expect publication of this volume in late 2025.

3. Theodore Roosevelt: ‘World-Making’ and the Struggle for Comprehensive Security

This book provides an intellectual and conceptual history of national and international ‘security’ in the United States during the Progressive Era through the life and times of Theodore Roosevelt; in contrast to much of the literature in critical security studies, this study suggests that ‘modern’ concepts of U.S. national security were neither invented during the Cold War nor the product of World War Two but originated during the Progressive Era.

During those decades TR and his network advanced comprehensive concepts of ‘security’ which encompassed environmental, resource extractive, demographic, ethno-cultural, socio-economic, constitutional, fiscal, and military dimensions. A broadened conception of international security also accompanied those expansive definitions. ‘Security’ concerns were thus frequently used between the 1880s and World War One to justify a range of ‘carrot and stick’ policies to contain domestic fracture and secure the global primacy of the imperial nation. This historical re-examination de-exeptionalizes ‘security’ and highlights its formative and foundational longevity to the history of the modern American state.

4. Imperial Fall: The United States and Decline

This new look at ‘security’ concepts made me realize how deeply empire-building and narratives of decline were intertwined in U.S. history. I have thus just begun a new project to trace the conceptual and discursive narratives on decline in the United States since the 18th century.

I am not interested in the question if the United States is in decline or not; it is an intellectual history of the U.S. as imperial nation and my project explores the political, strategic, and cultural production of three major strands of conversations about decline over the last two and a half centuries; some of these strands celebrate the potential decline of great powers, like the British Empire or the USSR as opportunity for the United States to rise to primacy; alternatively, they also manifest deep anxieties about either the self-destructive impact of empire-building on the United States or its displacement by global power competitors.

Teaching

My courses are designed to foster a positive, energetic, and inspiring learning environment in which students experience the joy of learning and a strong sense of accomplishment. I integrate diverse instructional methods, draw on multi-disciplinary perspectives, and place great emphasis on student involvement and lively discussion in my seminars.

I supervise M.A. and Ph.D. students whose research is related to the role of the United States in world affairs, the history of empires, and the global history of mass violence. I welcome inquiries from students interested in graduate work at Western.

Select Publications

Books

  • (2006) Kolonialkriege. Militärische Gewalt im Zeichen des Imperialismus --Colonial Wars: Military Violence in the Age of Imperialism--, ed. with Thoralf Klein (Hamburg: Hamburger Edition)

  • (2003) Culture and International History, ed. with Jessica Gienow-Hecht (Oxford/New York: Berghahn Press).

  • (2001) Kulturtransfer und Kalter Krieg. Westeuropa als Bühne und Akteur im Amerikanisierungsprozeß – Cultural Transfer and Cold War. Western Europe as Stage and Actor in the Process of Americanization--, ed. with Ursula Lehmkuhl and Stefanie Schneider (Erfurt: Erfurter Beiträge zur Nordamerikanischen Geschichte).

  • (2000) Kalter Krieg und Propaganda: die USA, der Kampf um die Weltmeinung und die ideelle Westbindung der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, 1945-1955 –Cold War and Propaganda: the United States, the Struggle for World Opinion, and the Westernization of the Federal Republic of Germany, 1945-1955--(Trier: WVT-Verlag).

Book Chapters

  • (2019) "Reclaiming Territory: The Spatial Contours of Empire in U.S. History", in: Matthias Middell, Steffi Marung (eds.), Spatial Formats under the Global Condition (Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter): 107-148.

  • (2015) „Anspruch und Wirklichkeit in Geschichte und Gegenwart der Aussenkulturpolitik der USA“, in: Kurt-Juergen Maass (ed.), Kultur und Aussenpolitik. Handbuch fuhr Studium und Praxis (Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlag).

  • (2013) „Cultural Turn in the History of U.S. Foreign Relations“, in: Timothy J. Lynch (ed.), The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Military and Diplomatic History (New York: Oxford University Press): 281-286.

  • (2013) „The Philippine-American War and the Creation of American Empire in Asia”, in: Antonio S. Thompson, Christos G. Frentzos (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of American Military and Diplomatic History, 1865 to the Present (New York: Routledge): 45-52

  • (2010) „Leben mit der Bombe. Kernwaffen und Kalter Krieg, 1945-1962“, in: Damals (ed.), Der Kalte Krieg (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaf): 25-32.

  • (2010) “Kulturtransfer und Empire: Britisches Vorbild und US-amerikanische Kolonialherrschaft auf den Philippinen im fruehen 20. Jahrhundert“, in: Claudia Kraft, Alf Luedtke, Juergen Martschukat (eds.), Kolonialgeschichten. Regionale Perspektiven auf ein globales Phaenomen (Frankfurt a.M.: Campus Verlag): 306-327.

  • (2010) „Wars for Empire: The United States and the Conquest of the Philippine Islands, 1899-1913“, in: Georg Schild (ed.), The American Experience of War (Paderborn: Schoeningh Verlag): 155-178.

  • (2009) “The American Way of Empire. Die USA im Zeitalter des Imperialismus, 1865-1914”, in: Margarete Grandner, Marcus Graeser (eds.), Nordamerika. Geschichte und Gesellschaft seit dem 18. Jahrhundert. Edition Weltregionen Bd. 18 (Wien: Promedia Verlag): 74-94.

  • (2007) “’… nobody was seriously damaged’. Die U.S. Armee und der Einsatz von Folter im philippinisch-amerikanischen Krieg, 1899-1902”, in: Susanne Krasmann, Jürgen Martschukat (eds.), Rationalitäten der Gewalt. Staatliche Neuordnungen vom 19. bis zum 20. Jahrhundert (Bielefeld: transcript Verlag): 97-116.

  • (2007) “The United States: Empire as a Way of Life?” in: Robert Aldrich (ed.), The Age of Empires (London: Thames and Hudson): 278-303.

  • (2006) „‚Niederbrennen, plündern und töten sollt ihr...‘ Der Kolonialkrieg der USA auf den Philippinen, 1899-1913“, in: Thoralf Klein, Frank Schumacher (eds.), Kolonialkriege. Militärische Gewalt im Zeichen des Imperialismus. (Hamburg: Hamburger Edition): 109-144.

Journal Publications:

  • (2016) "Embedded Empire: The United States and Colonialism", in: Journal of Modern European History 14:2 (2016): 202-224.

  • (2015) "Debating Empire: Discourses of Liberty and Exceptionalism in Progressive Era America", in: Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era 14:2 (April 2015): 274-277.

  • (2015) with Karen Priestman,“Reflections on Exceptionalism: A Preliminary Assessment of Teaching the Shoah in Canadian Universities”, in: Zeitschrift für Genozidforschung 14:1-2 (2015): 236-256.

  • (2009) “Das Imperium as historischer Auftrag. Geschichts-Bilder auf der Weltausstellung von St. Louis, 1904”, in: Comparativ. Journal of Global History and Comparative Social Studies 19:5 (2009): 66-84.

  • (2009) “The American Way of Empire: The United States and the Search for Colonial Order in the Philippines”, in: Comparativ. Journal of Global History and Comparative Social Studies 19:1 (2009): 53-70.

  • (2006) “’Marked Severities’. The Debate over Torture during America’s Conquest of the Philippines, 1899-1902”, in: Amerikastudien/American Studies 51:4 (2006): 475-498.

  • (2006) „Colonization through Education: A Comparative Exploration of Ideologies, Practices, and Cultural Memories of ‘Aboriginal Schools’ in the United States and Canada”, in: Zeitschrift für Kanada-Studien 26:2 (2006): 97-117.