Is the Federation in Star Trek really an empire any different from the Klingons, Romulans, or even the Mirror Universe Terran Empire?  

As part of TrekWars@OSU, Anarres Project co-director Dr. Joseph Orosco interviews Dr. Leigh McKagan, who teaches history at Virginia Tech University.  Dr. McKagan completed her dissertation examining the ways in which ST: Voyager repeats certain elements of classic European imperial narratives.  We talk about how Star Trek may keep alive ideas, such as linear progress and the hero's journey, that maintain empire as a political and social system, and how Star Trek may also resist imperial ideology.    

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