Wintersession HIST 1730 (WRIT) Cannibals & Barbarians: Ethnography and the Other in the Early Modern World

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1 Wintersession HIST 1730 (WRIT) Cannibals & Barbarians: Ethnography and the Other in the Early Modern World January 2 to January 19 10:00 am 12:00 pm, 2:00 3:00 pm, Monday-Friday jeremy_mumford@brown.edu This class will examine depictions of the Other people represented as exotic, alien, romantic, or dangerous during the early modern period ( ). It focuses on documents from the period, some of them rare early editions in the John Carter Brown Library: vivid, enigmatic accounts are both portraits of a world alien to the writer, and also mirror the writer s own culture. Classwork includes close reading, analytical writing, and creative writing. WRIT

2 CLASS READINGS We will read a series of ethnographic texts by travelers and other authors in Europe, Africa and Asia: vivid, enigmatic accounts which are both portraits of a world alien to the writer and mirrors of the writer s own culture. Examining tropes such as cannibal, barbarian and noble savage through an interdisciplinary framework drawn from history, anthropology and literature, we will trace the origins of both racist ideology and universal human rights. We begin with two texts which we ll read in preparation for the first class meeting: an ancient Roman historian s description of the barbarian Germans and a sixteenth-century German s description of the man-munching Tupinambá of Brazil. On the first day of class we ll explore these two authors, including a dramatic reading, and investigate their similarities and differences. Each class day will we will meet for two hours in the morning and one hour in the afternoon. With some exceptions, each day will feature a new author, from a different time and place; in preparation for class you will read that author and some biographical information, and we ll discuss the author in class, read their work aloud, and in some cases examine rare early editions of that author in the John Carter Brown or Hay Libraries. WRITING Every day will include some (ungraded) in-class writing, either about or in the style of that day s author. Your most important work will be two pieces of creative writing: 1. a new ethnographic account, imagined by you, in the voice of a real historical author, and 2. an ethnographic account in the voice of a imaginary author you will create, reconstructing that author s life, interests, costume, etc. Over the first weekend, between classes 4 and 5, you will choose an ethnographic author based on your own interests and write a three-page description of that author s life, work, style and concerns, in comparison with one or more of those we have discussed together. Creative writing, part 1. On class 7, you will submit an original, imagined ethnographic account, written by you in the voice of the author you analyzed; these pieces of creative writing will be workshopped in class by the students. You ll revise it and turn in a final version on class 9. Creative writing, part 2. Written work over the last five class days will focus on creating a new ethnographic author, from a specific time and place, writing a biographical sketch, and writing an imagined ethnographic account in the voice of that author. For this assignment you will have the option of working in a group. We ll read / perform these authors works in the final class. GRADING Analytical writing exercise (2-3 pages) 20% Creative writing exercise #1 (2-3 pages) 20% Creative writing exercise #2 (5-6 pages) 30% Overall participation 30%

3 CREDIT HOURS This course will meet 4 hours each day for 13 days (52 hours total), plus two hours a week on research in the John Carter Brown Library. Students should expect to spend about 32 hours a week on reading and writing. Reading to complete before the start of the course should take about 20 hours. (Total credit hours: 174.) ACADEMIC SUPPORT Brown University is committed to full inclusion of all students. Please inform me early in the term if you have a disability or other conditions that might require accommodations or modification of any of these course procedures. You may speak with me after class or during office hours. For more information, please contact Student and Employee Accessibility Services at or SEAS@brown.edu. Students in need of short-term academic advice or support can contact one of the deans in the Dean of the College office. BOOKS TO BUY Hans Staden, An Account of Cannibal Captivity in Brazil [1557] trans. Neil L. Whitehead and Michale Harbsmeier (Duke University Press, 2008) ($24.95) Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Agricola and Germania, trans. Harold Mattingly (Penguin Classics, 2010) ($12.37) El Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Royal Commentaries of the Incas and General History of Peru [1615] ed. Karen Spalding (Hackett, 2006) ($19.00) Allan Greer, ed., The Jesuit Relations: Natives and Missionaries in 17th-Century North America (Bedford, 2000) ($19.55) Roger Williams, A Key into the Language of America [1643] (2010) ($10.99) Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality [1753], trans. Donald A. Cress (Hackett, 1992) ($9.50) David Deal and Laura Hostetler, trans., The Art of Ethnography: A Chinese "Miao Album" (Washington, 2006) ($25.00) Abu Zayd al-sirafi and Ahmad Ibn Fadlan, Two Arabic Travel Books: Accounts of China and India and Mission to the Volga, Tim Mackintosh-Smith and James Montgomery, ed. and trans. (NYU, 2014) ($39.98) Other readings will be online or available in class. SCHEDULE OF CLASSES Required reading ahead of first class: Hans Staden, An Account of Cannibal Captivity in Brazil, trans. Neil L. Whitehead and Michale Harbsmeier (Duke, 2008) Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Germania (a.k.a. On the Origin and Situation of the Germanic Peoples ) (c. 98 CE) in Agricola and Germania, trans. Harold Mattingly (Penguin Classics, 2010)

4 Tuesday Jan Introductory meeting Discussion of Staden and Tacitus Wednesday Jan An Arab Traveler in Russia Ahmad Ibn Fadlan, Mission to the Volga, in Two Arabic Travel Books Thursday Jan A Jesuit Account of the Peoples of the Earth José de Acosta, Natural and Moral History of the Indies [1590] Friday Jan 5 4. A Spanish/Aztec Vision of the Aztecs: Oratory and Violence Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain [ ] Submit Analytical Writing assignment (3 pages) Monday Jan 8 5. A Spanish/Inca Vision of the Incas: Renaissance Commonwealth El Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Royal Commentaries of the Incas and General History of Peru [1609] Tuesday Jan 9 6. Chinese officials and Thai barbarians The Art of Ethnography: A Chinese "Miao Album" Wednesday Jan A French Christian in Africa Jean Barbot, Barbot on Guinea: The Writings of Jean Barbot on West Africa [ ] Thursday Jan French Jesuits in Canada Submit first draft of Creative Writing assignment #1 Jesuit Relations: Natives and Missionaries in 17th-Century North America, Chaps 1-4 and A Native Saint. 9. Friday Jan 12

5 An English Baptist in Rhode Island Roger Williams, Key into the Language of America [1643]. Tuesday Jan An Arab traveler in India and China Submit revised draft of Creative Writing assignment #1. Abu Zayd al-sirafi, Journey to China and India [915 CE], in Two Arabic Travel Books Wednesday Jan Italian Jesuits in India and China Matteo Ricci, The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven Roberto de Nobili, Preaching Wisdom to the Wise: Three Treatises Thursday Jan Noble Savages in the Enlightenment Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality [1753] 13. Friday Jan 19 Final Presentations Submit and perform Creative Writing assignment #2 (final project)