Spring 2020

Early Modern Europe in a Global Context (1500–1800)

Listed in: European Studies, as EUST-127  |  History, as HIST-127

Faculty

Jutta G. Sperling (Section 01)

Description

(Offered as HIST 127 [EU/P/TC/TE] and EUST 127) This course introduces students to the history of Europe in the age of imperialism and colonization. It analyzes the emergence of "modernity" as a result of conquest and colonization, the globalization of commerce, the Atlantic slave trade, and the genocide of indigenous peoples. We will investigate instances of resistance to European imperialism and carefully examine the society that produced global capitalism. Among the topics we will address are the Italian Renaissance and the invention of perspective; the German Reformation and the emergence of interiority; gender, family, and the rise of domesticity; early modern science; new forms of visuality as methods of knowledge production; the emergence of racism; the French and Haitian Revolutions; religious syncretism; instances of hybridity and resistance in the imperial "contact zone." This course is essential for an understanding of the many contradictions and contestations we still live with. We will analyze primary sources, academic literature, and visual materials. There will be a mix of short lectures, discussions, group work, and in-class assignments.

Spring Semester. Visiting Assistant Professor Sperling.

Keywords

Attention to Issues of Gender and Sexuality, Attention to Issues of Race, Attention to Writing, Transnational or World Cultures Taught in English

Offerings

2022-23: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Spring 2020