AMST 235 - Captives, Cannibals, and Capitalists in the Early Modern Atlantic World

This course will interrogate the way scholars study large-scale violence in its many forms between human communities. Throughout class discussions we will consider the ways in which warfare has been recorded and analyzed in early America. While warfare and major political conflicts will be discussed, the class will also engage the meanings of violence by investigating intra- and inter- cultural violence within and between colonial America’s many ethnic, political, and religious groups. The chronological focus of the course, circ. 1500-1800, also permits our examination of the idea of American exceptionalism. Is there a specific form or pattern of violence or warfare that can be called “American?” If so, does this type of violence remain present in our contemporary society? Offered occasionally. (4 Credits)