HIST 200/D (Winter 2024): INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY [CONJURING THE CARIBBEAN]
This first-year seminar introduces students to the practices of historical inquiry through the history of the supernatural arts in the Black Caribbean through the nineteenth century. By examining histories of conjuration such as brujería, vodou, and obeah, the course will orient students to methods and debates in the cultural, intellectual, and legal histories of Africa's diaspora in the Caribbean between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. Students will learn to analyze primary and secondary sources, develop their written and oral communication skills, and acquire a basic understanding of historical research methods. Topics will address questions of power, authority, and struggle through the themes of slavery and emancipation, medicine and the body, criminalization and punishment, rebellion and revolution.
- Teacher: BRADLEY CRAIG