B4822 - Indigenous Americas, Colonialism, and Globalization (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students will be aware of the political, economic, and cultural dimensions of the European colonization of America and of its relationship with the early modern globalization. Students will be able to recognize the active role played by indigenous groups and individuals in the shaping of the emerging global world. At the end of the course, the student will be able to contextualize the European conquest of America within a global historical and cultural framework, as well as to independently engage in the critical analysis of historical sources and early modern ethnographic records. The students will also be able to deploy such analytical skills to professional activities linked with the popularization and public use of historical and anthropological knowledge.

Course contents

Please note that classes will start on Monday, September 23, 2024

 This course examines the cultural processes that took place during the European colonization of the Americas. Focusing primarily on the Mesoamerican cultural area, the first part of the course will begin with an introduction to Mesoamerican civilizations, especially the Nahua or "Aztec" world. We will then continue with the events leading up to the Spanish conquest of Mesoamerica, emphasizing the active role played by the indigenous peoples.

A second part of the course will be devoted to the study of the unprecedented processes of cultural interaction and hybridization that took place in New Spain during the 16th century. Special attention will be given to the analysis of textual sources produced in the context of European-indigenous interactions, such as those that led to the creation of the Codex Florentinus by the Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún and a group of indigenous intellectuals. The analysis will focus on how indigenous voices can be glimpsed in those incipient forms of ethnographic record that witness the early emergence of anthropology as a constitutive facet of early modern European colonial experience.

The third part of the course will examine the role that the colonization of the Americas and related phenomena, such as the so-called Columbian Exchange, played in shaping early modern globalization as well as subsequent forms of Western colonialism.

Each part of the course will conclude with a class devoted to the collective discussion of some of the relevant articles (Syllabus 1, 2, and 3).

Please note that classes will start on Monday, September 23, 2024

Class timetable (subject to minor changes):

Monday, September 23, 2024: 1. Introduction.

Tuesday, September 24, 2024: 2. Mesoamerica and the Nahuas

Wednesday, September 25, 2024: 3. Cultural production and transmission in the Nahua world.

Monday, September 30, 2024: 4. The Conquest of Mesoamerica

Tuesday, October 1, 2024: 5. Competing views of the Conquest

Wednesday, October 2, 2024: 6. Discussion Syllabus 1

Monday, October 7, 2024: 7. New Spain

Tuesday, October 8, 2024: 8. A Mestizo World

Wednesday, October 9, 2023: 9. Colonial Knowledge

Monday, October 14, 2024: 10.Florentine Codex

Tuesday, October 15, 2024: 11. Discussion Syllabus 2

Wednesday, October 16, 2024: 12. The colonization of the Americas and Early Modern Globalization

Monday, October 21, 2024: 13. Ethnogenesis and racial categories

Tuesday, October 22, 2024: 14. The anthropology of colonialism

Wednesday, October 23, 2024: 15. Discussion Syllabus 3/Final discussion

Readings/Bibliography

Students attending classes will be asked to read the articles or book chapters of the syllabus that will be collectively discussed in class (see previous section). All the articles and book chapters of the syllabus are available in the ‘teaching materials’ sections of the website, only accessible to Unibo students with institutional credentials. At the end of the course, attending students will write a final paper on a topic previously agreed with the teacher, employing both the syllabus of weekly readings as well as a more specific set of bibliographical references that each student is required to create.

To prepare the final exam, students not attending classwork must read the Syllabus’ articles plus two books chosen in the following list:

Abulafia, David, The Discovery of Mankind. Atlantic Encounters in the Age of Columbus. New Haven: Yale University Press 2008.

Boone, Elizabeth, Descendants of Aztec Pictography The Cultural Encyclopedias of Sixteenth-Century Mexico. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2020.

Earle, Rebecca, The Body of the Conquistador: Food, Race and the Colonial Experience in Spanish America, 1492–1700. Cambridge University Press 2012.

Gruzinski, Serge, The Mestizo Mind: The Intellectual Dynamics of Colonization and Globalization. Routledge 2002.

Matthew, Laura, and Michel R. Oudijk (eds.), Indian Conquistadors: Indigenous Allies in the Conquest of Mesoamerica. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2007.

Mignolo, Walter, The Darker Side of the Renaissance. Literacy, Territoriality, & Colonization. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2005 (2nd edition).

Pagden, Anthony, The Fall of Natural Man. The American Indian and the Origins of Comparative Ethnology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982.

Restall, Matthew, Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest. Updated edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021.

Ríos Castaño, Victoria, Translation as Conquest. Sahagún and Universal History of the Things of New Spain. Madrid-Frankfurt: Iberoamericana-Vervuert, 2014.

Townsend, Camilla, Malintzin's Choices: An Indian Woman in the Conquest of Mexico. Albuquerque: Univ of New Mexico Press, 2006.

Teaching methods

Teaching method will be based on both frontal lessons and collective discussions.

During frontal lessons the teacher will introduce general topics and connected scholary debates, then discussing in detail some specific example based on textual or visual sources in order to introduce the students to actual source-reading activity. Students will be encouraged to comment and ask questions.

Every week a certain amount of time (approx. 2 hours) will be specifically devoted to collective discussion of the readings and of the themes exposed during the frontal lessons. Students will be strongly encouraged to actively take part in the discussion.

Assessment methods

Students who attend at least 75% of the lessons are considered to be attending.

Students attending classwork will write a final paper on a topic agreed with the teacher and based both on the references listed in the reading list and on further specific bibliography selected by the student.

The grade assigned to the paper will be based on:

- selection of the topic and its relatedness with the course content

- ability to identify relevant bibliography

- critical analysis

- clarity in structure and aims

- language proficiency

Students that do not attend classwork will have to pass an oral exam, with questions aimed to verify the student's knowledge of the themes treated in the program's texts. The questions will be aimed at testing the student's ability in exposing with an appropriate language some of the topics tackled by the books, as well as his/her skills in making connections between different texts in order to build an argument.

Proper language and the ability to critically speak about the books' content will lead to a good/excellent final grade

Acceptable language and the ability to resume the books' content will lead to a sufficient/fair grade.

Insufficient linguistic proficiency and fragmentary knowledge of the books' content will lead to a failure in passing the exam.

Exam sessions are scheduled for the following months of the 2025 solar year:

March 2025, June 2025, July 2025, September 2025, October 2025, November 2025, December 2025. All these sessions are open to all students enrolled in the a.y. 2024-2025.

Teaching tools

During frontal lessons the teacher will do ample use of power point presentations containing maps, as well as a good deal of textual and visual sources commented upon during the lesson.

After class, the powerpoint files will be uploaded in the teaching material section of the website, so that students will be able to download them.

Students who require specific services and adaptations to teaching activities due to a disability or specific learning disorders (SLD), must first contact the appropriate office: https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students .

Office hours

See the website of Davide Domenici