Course description
This course offers an introduction to the intersections between gender, race, and power, framed historically, artistically, and theoretically. Broadly conceived, the course approaches questions of gender, race, and power through an intersectional lens, recognizing the interdependencies that resonate across the definitions of and resistances to these categories of identity. The professor’s area of expertise (e.g., Renaissance Europe) will establish the early contours of the course’s trajectory, with the second half of the seminar devoted to the resurfacing of Renaissance entanglements with questions of gender, race, and power in our world today. The pairing of primary texts (literary, visual, and theatrical) with critical theories of intersectionality, sociology, globalization and global history, and institutional forms of power will serve as the necessary bridge between premodern and modern case studies.

Among the questions we will pursue in the course are: How does power handle difference? How does history remember “Otherness”? And what occurs when cultures attempt to interpret one another? This course ventures into the Renaissance past (ca. 1300–1700) to interrogate these and other related questions, exploring how the histories and mythologies of race, difference, and diplomacy were constructed, fictionalized, and disseminated in early modern European encounters with the Atlantic and Pacific worlds. The course’s interlocking terms will frame our witnessing of the early modern mind at play in imagining the prospects and precarities associated with unknown lands and “discovered” (that is, simply located) peoples. We will study how Renaissance thinkers, travelers, and translators came to know and represent the world around them. The histories of expansionism, colonization, tourism, science, capitalism, and slavery will inform our readings and visual analysis of the relationship between forms of power and vehicles of influence over time.

Our texts trace itineraries and imaginaries that stretched the far corners of the globe. Among the questions we will ask are: How have definitions of “gender,” “race” and “power” evolved over the centuries? What categories of human diversity did Renaissance authors and authorities invent in order to harness political power both at home and abroad? Who decides when worlds become “Old” and/or “New,” and what are the consequences of such terminology? What questions about ethical observation do travel writing and tourism raise? How are these questions fundamental not to avoid in today’s world? Where do the literary histories of race and power intersect with the political histories of imperialism and nationalism? How are Renaissance voices remembered to advance notions of patriotism and hypernationalism today? What voices “speak back” to colonial history with an account of their own?

Learning Outcomes
Students in this course will:
• Contextualize historical definitions of gender, race, and power and their evolutions across the ages;
• Demonstrate their understanding of contemporary theoretical approaches to these areas of study;
• Evaluate the formal characteristics of primary examples from the fourteenth through twenty-first centuries;
• Articulate convincing evidence-based reasoning in written coursework;
• Conduct research on the relevant scholarly traditions that accompany our course matter.

Teaching and Evaluation Methods
All course readings will be scanned and made available to students on Moodle. There are no required texts for purchase. Students are responsible for ensuring access to course readings in class on a daily basis, whether by bringing their computer, tablet, or hard copy printouts. Students may not consult readings or other course materials on their phones. No phone use in class is permitted.

Coursework will consist of daily reading assignments, active participation in in-class discussion and collaborative exercises; daily reflection blog posts; two “lead a reading” textual analytical presentations; three short written responses (max. 2 pages); and one final paper (8-10 pages) and presentation.

Grade Distribution:

Attendance and Active Participation 25%
Daily Blog Posts 10%
“Lead a Reading” Presentations (x2) 20%
Three Short Written Responses 20%
Final Paper + Presentation 25%

Syllabus: Weekly Readings and Calendar
* readings subject to change

Orientation Week

Week 1: Terminologies, Then and Now

Class 1
- Introductions: syllabus and course review
- Kwame Anthony Appiah, “There is no such thing as western civilization.” Abridged version of BBC Lecture on “Culture.” The expanded text can be listened to in its original presentation format from 2016 here.
- Stefan Kubiak, “Why is Kwame Anthony Appiah’s proposal to dismiss the concept of ‘The West’ premature?” (2016)
Class 2
- Robert Sussman, “Early Racism in Western Europe,” in The Myth of Race: The Troubling Persistence of an Unscientific Idea (pp. 1–14)
- Stuart Hall, The West and The Rest: Discourse and Power (1992)

Week 2: Boccaccio and the Mediterranean (part one)
Class 1
- Giovanni Boccaccio, Decameron: preface; Introduction; Day One, story 1; Day One, story 3; Day One, story 10
Class 2
- Giovanni Boccaccio, Decameron: Day 2 Introduction; Day Two, story 4; Day Two, story 7; Day Two, story 9

Week 3: Boccaccio and the Mediterranean (part two)
Class 1
- Giovanni Boccaccio, Decameron: Day Five Introduction; Day Five, story 1; Day Five, story 8; Day Six Introduction; Day Six, story 7;
Class 2
- Giovanni Boccaccio, Decameron: Day 10 Introduction; Day 10, story 8; Day 10, story 10

Week 4: Petrarch “in” Jerusalem
Class 1
- Francis Petrarch, Introduction by T. Cachey + Itinerary to the Sepulcher in the Holy Land: pp. 83–115
Class 2
- Francis Petrarch, Itinerary to the Sepulcher in the Holy Land: pp. 116–161

Week 5: Columbus and What he Thought he Found (part one)
Class 1
- Christopher Columbus, The Four Voyages: Introduction by Cohen (1969) + “First Voyage”
Class 2
- Christopher Columbus, The Four Voyages: “Second Voyage”

Week 6: Columbus and What he Thought he Found (part two)
Class 1
- Christopher Columbus, The Four Voyages: “Third Voyage”
Class 2
- Christopher Columbus, The Four Voyages: “Fourth Voyage”

Midterm Break (no classes)

Week 7: Race, Religion, and Rights in the Atlantic World: Las Casas and Sepúlveda
Class 1
- Greer, Mignolo, and Quilligan, “Introduction,” in Id., ed. Rereading the Black Legend: The Discourses of Religious and Racial Difference in the Renaissance Empires (2008) (*read through top of page 15)
- Bartolomé de las Casas, A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies: Introduction, Synopsis, Prologue, Preface, Hispaniola, The Kingdoms of Hispaniola, New Spain
- Original illustrations by Theodore de Bry from the 1598 publication of Las Casas’ A Short Account
Class 2
- Bartolomé de las Casas, Short Account: The Province and Kingdom of Guatemala, The Kingdom of Venezuela, Mainland Florida, The Kingdom of New Granada, Conclusion
- Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, “On the reasons for the just war among the Indians”

Week 8: Race, Religion, and Rights in the Atlantic World: Las Casas and Montaigne
Class 1
- Bartolomé de las Casas, In Defense of the Indians […] Against the Persecutors and Slanderers of the Peoples of the New World Discovered Across the Seas: Preface by editor, Introductory Letter by de la Vega, Summary of the defense, Preface to the defense, + Chapters 3, 10 (to bottom of p. 87, “…does not belong to the Church”), ands Chapter 26, 28, 42 (stop at p. 271 “…other men are led”
Class 2
- Michel de Montaigne, “Of Cannibals” and “Of Coaches” from Id., Essais

Week 9: 1492 Remembered, Retold: Carpentier (part one)
Class 1
- Alejo Carpentier, The Harp and the Shadow, pp. 1–39
Class 2
- Alejo Carpentier, The Harp and the Shadow, pp. 40–78

Week 10: 1492 Remembered, Retold: Carpentier (part two)
Class 1
- Alejo Carpentier, The Harp and the Shadow, pp. 79–119
Class 2
- Alejo Carpentier, The Harp and the Shadow, pp. 120–159

Week 11: Colonialism, Tourism, Agency, Voice: What is Home? Where is Home? (part one)
Class 1
- Jamaica Kinkaid, A Small Place (pp. 1–37)
Class 2
- Jamaica Kinkaid, A Small Place (pp. 38–81)

Week 12: Colonialism, Tourism, Agency, Voice: What is Home? Where is Home? (part two)
Class 1
- Ariel Handel, “What’s in a home? Toward a critical theory of housing/dwelling,” Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space (2019): 1–18
- Danez Smith, “Dear White America” (2014)
- Donovan Livinston, “Lift Off” (Address to the graduates of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, 2016).
- Amanda Gorman, “The Hill We Climb, If Only We Dare It” (video link), text available here, inauguration poem after 2016 US election
Class 2
- Terri E. Givens, Radical Empathy: Finding a Path to Bridging Racial Divides (2021): Prologue + Ch. 2 “Getting to Radical Empathy” (pp. 23–38)
- Chimamanda Adichie, “The Danger of a Single Story” TEDGlobal 2009 talk

Exam Week
Final paper due.

Bibliography
* readings subject to change

Required Readings
Boccaccio, Giovanni. Decameron, trans. Wayne Rebhorn. New York: Norton, 2013.
Carpentier, Alejo. “Baroque and the Marvelous Real,” from Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community, ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. 89–108. Duke: Duke University Press, 1995.
Carpentier, Alejo. The Harp and the Shadow [1979]. San Francisco: Mercury House, 1990.
Columbus, Christopher. The Four Voyages, trans. J. M. Cohen. New York: Penguin, 1992.
Givens, Terri E. Radical Empathy: Finding a Path to Bridging Racial Divides. Bristol: Policy Press, 2021.
Greer, Margaret R, Walter D. Mignolo, and Maureen Quilligan, “Introduction,” in Id., ed. Rereading the Black Legend: The Discourses of Religious and Racial Difference in the Renaissance Empires. 1–24. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008.
Handel, Ariel. “What’s in a home? Toward a critical theory of housing/dwelling,” Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space (2019): 1–18.
Kinkaid, Jamaica. A Small Place. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1988.
Las Casas, Bartolomé de. A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, trans. Nigel Griffin. New York: Penguin, 1992.
Las Casas, Bartolomé de. In Defense of the Indians […] Against the Persecutors and Slanderers of the Peoples of the New World Discovered Across the Seas, trans. Stafford Poole, C.M. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1974.
Montaigne, Michel de. Essais, trans. Donald M. Frame. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1958.
Petrarch, Francis. Petrarch’s Guide to the Holy Land: Itinerary to the Sepulcher of Our Lord Jesus Christ, ed. and trans. Theodore J. Cachey, Jr. South Bend, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2002.
Sepúlveda, Juan Ginés de. “On the reasons for the just war among the Indians” [1545]. Digital resource: https://sites.miamioh.edu/empire/files/2022/12/1545-Sepulveda-On-the-Just-Causes-for-War-against-the-Indians.pdf.

Suggested Readings
Abulafia, David. The Discovery of Mankind: Atlantic Encounters in the Age of Columbus. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008.
Greenblatt, Stephen. Marvelous Possessions: The Wonder of the New World. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991.
Lampe Armando. “Las Casas and African Slavery in the Caribbean: a Third Conversion,” in Bartolomé de Las Casas, O.P.: History, Philosophy, and Theology in the Age of European Expansion, ed. David Thomas Orique O.P. and Rady Roldán-Figueroa. 421–36. Leiden: Brill, 2019.
Mignolo, Walter D. The Darker Side of the Renaissance: Literacy, Territoriality, and Colonization. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2003.
Nunn, Nathan and Nancy Qian. “The Columbian Exchange: A History of Disease, Food, and Ideas.” The Journal of Economic Perspectives (2010): 163–88.
Quijano, Anibal. “Coloniality and Modernity/Rationality” [1992]. Cultural Studies 21.2 (2007): 168–178.
Quijano, Anibal and Immanuel Wallerstein. “Americanity as a concept, or the Americas in the Modern World-System.” International Journal of Social Sciences 134 (1992): 549–557.
Shohat, Ella and Robert Stam. Unthinking Eurocentrism: Multiculturalism and the Media. New York: Routledge, 1994.
Wynter, Sylvia. “1492: A New World View,” in Id., Race, Discourse, and the Origin of the Americas: A New World View. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992.

Last updated: July 4, 2024