I'm designing a syllabus for a cultural history course on U.S. empire in the decades surrounding 1898, and I'm hoping for some help with primary sources. I'm looking for examples of "domestic" American culture being formed or influenced by imperial enterprises in the Philippines, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Hawai'i, and/or Haiti.
An example of what I'm looking for would be the popularization of hula and slack-key guitar in the mainland U.S. a few decades after the annexation of Hawai'i. I'd pair that with indigenous-centered readings on annexation and a mainstream Hollywood silent film about hula.
I'd love to hear from Latin Americanists in particular -- does anything like this come to mind for your area? A dance or dish or song that swept the U.S. mainland in the wake of military activity in that place? Thanks!
i'm not sure if this will be exactly what you're looking for, but a far reaching product of the US affiliation with Puerto Rico can be found in Bernstein's West Side Story, which centers around the conflict in New York between Puerto Rican immigrants and Americans. the music of the show is Bernstein's interpretation of Puerto Rican music.
an American composer who was heavily influenced by his time spent in Latin America (primarily Cuba, Puerto Rico and Brazil) was Louis Moreau Gottschalk. he worked a few decades before your 1898 date, but is pretty notable for this. his music was fairly popular in the US, especially during the Civil War, I believe, despite his being out of the country. for primary source material, you might look at this.
the last thing, for Hawai'i. i just did a little JSTOR search, and there's an article called "Textualizing Hawaiian Music" by Amy K. Stillman (a specialist in this) in the journal American Music (the most reputable journal of American music studies), and on p. 74 she points to your exact year, 1898, as a launching point for the popularization of Hawaiian music. that sounds like it'd be really relevant to you.
this class sounds really fascinating! good luck!