1995 Toni Morrison and Gabriel García Márquez met for the first time in Mexico City and spoke about their writings, editors, lives and literary influences. This course is a comparative study of the religious dimensions in their writings and lives with special attention to the themes of colonialism and liberation, homeland and quests, rememory and myths, Africa and Latin America, goodness and evil, slavery and freedom. More attention will be given to Morrison’s works and García...
How does Mexico's rich cultural past shape contemporary Mexico and the US in the face of today's pandemics, protests and other challenges of the borderlands?
This course provides students with the opportunity to explore how the study of pre-Hispanic and Colonial Mexican and Latina/o cultures provide vital context for understanding today's changing world. The emphasis is on the mythical and social origins, glory days and political collapse of the Aztec...
Based around a series of traditionalist guest speakers, this course interrogates the study of religion in general and of Native American traditions in particular in light of indigenous religious experiences, perspectives and histories. Questions of appropriation, repatriation and religious freedom will be approached through legal as well as cultural frameworks.
Confronting vexed historical meanings and present-day uses of the past is the special charge of public historians. This course explores the theme of slavery through the lenses and methods of public history, a field of historical inquiry and applied knowledge production that stresses past-present connections, community engagement, collaborative work, and audiences beyond the academy. As a foundational element in the structure of U.S. society, slavery has made a lasting imprint on social, cultural, political, and...
Harvard’s beginnings included a promise to educate both “English and Indian youth,” but from its outset Harvard’s endowment included Native lands expropriated through war, theft, and coercion. This class will conduct original research on these histories, seeking to contribute a new understanding of Harvard’s institutional development and its historic and continuing impact on Native American peoples. We will work hands-on with Harvard’s archives, developing research skills in navigating...
Though American Indian people make up 1.7% of the U.S. population, their importance outweighs the census numbers. Native American history and politics define critical issues in law, energy, land management, and government, while the culture industries inevitably confront the curious hold that indigenous people have on American culture. American conquest and colonialism invite connection and comparison across a global scale, particularly in settler states such as Canada, Australia...