HILA 3261
The Great Encounter and Making the Modern World
Course Description
The course explores the Great Encounter between Indigenous people, Europeans, and Africans in America from 1492. Topics include: crises of knowledge and ethics sparked by the radical novelty of the Encounter; Columbian Exchange and the remaking of nature; tensions of difference and identity; silver, slavery, and dispossession in making a global economy; discovery and cultural devastation in modern life. This is history with philosophical intent.