The Empire Sweat Shop came about as a result of working with the flags in Altered States, when I learned that the first iteration of the American flag – the stripes & top left corner field – was based on the flag of the East India Trading Company. I don’t know why this surprised me; we accuse the American government of responding to corporate interests over the interest of citizens all the time, so it’s hardly out of character. But as I got deeper into my flag research, I became aware of gaping great holes in my basic knowledge of history around the subject of empire. For a process that defines so much of who we are and how we live, we are remarkably ignorant about colonial history. We learn more about dinosaurs and Greek gods than the rise & collapse of empire.
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