Frank Schumacher

- Associate Professor

- Director, Program in International Relations

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


Research Interests

Professor Schumacher specializes in international, global, and transnational 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.


Teaching Philosophy

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.   


Major Research Projects

I am currently completing a book-length biographical essay on Theodore Roosevelt which examines the fascinating and multi-faceted life of America’s 26th president and seeks to explain his enduring bi-partisan appeal to the political discourse in the United States.

My second book project Embedded Empire: the United States and Colonialism, 1898-1946 explores how American settler-imperial habits and inter-cultural transfers of European and Japanese imperial ‘know-how’ shaped the administrative, legal, military, scientific, economic, and cultural dimensions of the U.S. colonial empire.

Finally, I am engaged in two projects in the field of comparative genocide studies. The project Resisting Mass Murder: Opposition, Non-Compliance, and Subversion in Modern Genocides, examines case studies of opposition to and refusal of participation in mass killings. The project Greed and Genocide: Economic Benefit and Mass Murder in Modern History studies economic advancement and greed as driving forces for mass murder.

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.