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The Conquest of America posted by duggu on 12/4/2007

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Abstract/Syllabus

Courseware/Lectures

Test/Tutorials

Highlights of this Course

This course features a complete set of lecture notes and extensive bibliography of required and optional readings.

Course Description

In this course the conquest and colonization of the Americas is considered, with special attention to the struggles of native peoples in Guatemala, Canada, Brazil, Panama, and colonial New England. In two segments of the course-one devoted to the Jesuit missionization of the Huron in the 1630s, the other to struggles between the government of Panama and the Kuna between 1900 and 1925-students examine primary documents such as letters, reports, and court records, to draw their own conclusions. Attention focuses on how we know about and represent past eras and other peoples, as well as on the history of struggles between native Americans and Europeans.

Syllabus

Class Participation (25% of Grade)

You are expected to attend every class and to participate in class discussions. In addition, material will be introduced in lectures and class discussions that does not appear in the readings: you will be responsible for this material in written assignments and the final. Class discussion will account for at least an hour each week.

Papers (50%)

There will be several papers, spaced out over the course of the semester, and as is required for all HASS-Ds, the total pages will exceed 20. Two of the papers will involve the study and interpretation of primary documents. The papers will be due on Lec #4 (Mini-Essay on Las Casas); Lec #7 (Short Research Paper on the Colombian Exchange); Lec #16 (Essay based on the Jesuit Relations Reader); Lec #20 (Comparative Essay); Lec #25 (Essay based on Kuna reader).

Final Exam (25%)

To be given as regularly scheduled exam during exam week.

Calendar

SES #	TOPICS	KEY DATES
1	Introduction The Americas before Columbus
2	The Spanish Conquest
3	Discuss Las Casas The Great Debate on the Nature of the Indians
4	Native Commentaries Colonial Exploitation and Rule	Las Casas Paper Due
6	Class Presentations on the Colombian Exchange
7	Missionizing the Americas	Colombian Exchange Paper Due
8	(Partial) Film: The Mission. Discuss Readings
9	Resistance and Rebellion in Colonial Latin America
10	Film: Black Robe
11	Colonization of North America, Fur Trade, New France
12	Discuss Jesuit Relations
13	Discuss Film: Black Robe
14	Film: Wilderness
15	Discuss New England Environment and Economy
16	Discuss War Captivity	Jesuit Relations Paper
17	Discuss 18th and 19th Century Frontiers Indians and the U.S. Film Showing: Civilization
18	Independence, Frontiers and Extraction in 19th Century Latin America
19	Films: Spirit of Kuna Yala, Just us Kuna
20	Historical Research Discuss Kuna Materials	Comparative Essay Due
22	Discuss Kuna Materials
23	Indian Activism and Organizing
24	Film: Out of the Forest Discuss Film and Kayapo
25	Discuss Kayapo	Kuna Paper Due
26	Brazilian Films, Discuss Kayapo
27	Indians: Images and Ideology
28	Films, Wrap-up

Readings

Below are required readings for the course by class session, as well as a bibliography of supplementary readings of interest.

Required Books

Cronon, William. Changes in the Land. Hill and Wang Publishers, 2003.

Taylor, Alan. American Colonies. USA: Penguin, 2002.

Wallace, Anthony. The Long, Bitter Trail. Hill and Wang Publishers, 1993.

Readings by Session

SES #	TOPICS	READINGS	READING QUESTIONS
1	Introduction The Americas before Columbus
2	The Spanish Conquest
3	Discuss Las Casas; the great debate on the nature of the Indians	Carmack, Robert, Janine Gasco, and Gary Gossen. "Mesoamerica and Spain: 'The Colonial Period in Mesoamerica.'" The Legacy of Mesoamerica. Prentice Hall, 1995.; and de las Casas, Bartolomé. Short Account Of The Destruction of the Indies. Translated by Nigel Griffin. USA: Penguin, 1999. Taylor. Chaps. 1-3.
4	Native Commentaries Colonial Exploitation and Rule	Wolf, Eric. "Iberians in America." Europe and the People without History. University of California Press, 1997. Reprint.
5		Sweet, David. "The Ibero-American Frontier Mission in Native American History." The New Latin American Mission History. Edited by Erick Langer, and Robert H. Jackson. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995, pp. 1-46. Taylor. Chap. 4.	(PDF)
6	Class Presentations on the Colombian Exchange
7	Missionizing the Americas	Jesuit Relations Reader. Part A. First two texts: "What One Must Suffer in Wintering with the Savages." (LeJeune 1635, Doc. XXIII).; and "Instruction for the Fathers of our Society who shall be sent to the Hurons." (Brebeuf 1637, Doc. XXIX). Taylor. Chap. 5 and Chap. 16 through p. 382. (Rest of chapter recommended.)
8	(Partial) Film: The Mission. Discuss Readings		(PDF)
9	Resistance & rebellion in colonial Latin America	Jesuit Relations Reader. First Part, all: "What one must suffer in Wintering with the Savages." (LeJeune 1635, Doc. XXIII). "Instruction for the Fathers of our society who shall be sent to the Hurons." (Brebeuf 1637, Doc. XXIX). "Relation of what occurred among the Hurons in the year 1635." (Brebeuf 1635, Doc. XXV). "Relation of what occurred in the Mission of the Society of Jesus, in the Land of the Hurons, in the year 1637." (LeMercier 637, Doc. XXIX). "How Father Jogues was taken by the Iroquois, and what he suffered." (Lalemant 1647, Doc. LXIII).
10	Film: Black Robe		(PDF)
11	Colonization of North America, Fur Trade, New France	Jesuit Relations Reader. Part 2 Richter, Daniel. Ordeal of the Longhouse. Omohundro Institute of Early American History, 1993, pp. 57-74. Wallace, Anthony F.C. "The Cult of Death." Death and Rebirth of the Seneca. Vintage Books, 1972, pp. 93-107. Wogan, Peter. "Perceptions of European Literacy in Early Contact Situations." Ethnohistory 41 (1994): 408-29. Churchill, Ward. "And they did it like dogs in the dirt…:an indigenist analysis of Black Robe." From a Native Son. South End Press, 1997, pp. 432-437. Taylor. Chaps. 6, 8 (7 optional). Cronon. Chaps. 1-3.	(PDF)
12	Discuss Jesuit Relations		(PDF)
13	Discuss Film: Black Robe
14	Film: "Wilderness
15	Discuss New England Environment and Economy	Bowden, Henry Warner. "Northeast Indians, English Missions." American Indians and Christian Missions. University of Chicago Press. Reprint 1985. Rowlandson, Mary. "The Captivity of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson." (download from Project Gutenberg.) Taylor. Chap. 17.	(PDF)
16	Discuss War Captivity
17	Discuss 18th and 19th Century Frontiers Indians and the U.S. Film Showing: Civilization	Taylor. Chap. 18. Wallace, Anthony F. C. "The Cult of Death." Death and Rebirth of the Seneca. Vintage Books, 1972. (All)	(PDF)
18	Independence, frontiers & extraction in 19th century Latin America
19	Films: Spirit of Kuna Yala, Just us Kuna	Kuna Reader. Part 1.
20	Historical Research Discuss Kuna Materials		(PDF)
22	Discuss Kuna Materials	Kuna Reader. Part 2.
23	Indian Activism and Organizing
24	Film, "Out of the Forest"; discuss Kayapo		(PDF)
25	Discuss Kayapo	Turner, Terence. "The Role of Indigenous Peoples in the Environmental Crisis: The Example of the Kayapo of the Brazilian Amazon." Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 36, 3 (1993): 526-545. ———. "An Indigenous People's Struggle…" Journal of Latin American Anthropology 1, 1 (1995). ———. "Defiant images: The Kayapo Appropriation of Video." Anthropology Today 8, 6 (Dec 1992).
26	Brazilian Films, Discuss Kayapo
27	Indians: Images and Ideology
28	Films, Wrap-up		(PDF)

Kuna Readings

Part 1

Articles from the Panama Journal, 1910. Article 1 (PDF), Article 2 (PDF)
Excerpts from Anna Coope. Sky Pilot of the San Blas Indians. Baltimore, Maryland: World Wide Missionary Society, Inc., 1917 & letter from President of Panama to Anna Coope. (PDF 1), (PDF 2)
Excerpts from An Oral History by High Chief Carlos López.

Part 2

Letters to, from, and concerning the village of Nargana, January-June 1919. (PDF)
Excerpt from a published report by The Intendente of San Blas, July 1919. Excerpt 1 (PDF), Excerpt 2 (PDF)
Documents concerning the burning of Ticantiqui, November 1919. (PDF)
Table of exports from San Blas, 1920. (PDF)
Letters and documents to, from, and concerning the 2nd Detachment, Tupile and Playón Chico Villages, 1919-1923. (PDF)
Oral history about the pacification of Tupile, High Chief Carlos López. (PDF)
Two letters from The Intendente to the President of Panama, 1922. (PDF)
Metaphors sung by Chief Cimral Colman to Represent Dangers from Outside. (PDF)
Documents concerned with the Kuna rebellion of February-March 1925. Document 1 (PDF), Document 2 (PDF), Document 3 (PDF)
Star & Herald Articles. Article 1 (PDF), Article 2 (PDF), Article 3 (PDF)
Sample list of punishments. (PDF)
List of fines imposted on Indians who participated in revolt. (PDF)
Narrative of Killing of a Policeman. (PDF)
Terms of Agreement between San Blas Chieftans and Panama government authorities. (PDF)

Supplementary Readings

A brief selection of recent, useful books chosen for readability, interest, and ease of access, mostly in paperback editions, as well as for quality of scholarship. Good alternative works not listed here are also available in almost all categories.

Overviews

Carmack, Gasco, and Gossen. The Legacy of Mesoamerica. Prentice Hall, 1996.

Gruzinski, Serge. The Mestizo Mind. Routledge, 2002.

Burkholder, Mark, and Lyman Johnson. Colonial Latin America. Oxford, 1990.

Kicza, John, ed. The Indian in Latin American History. S.R.I., 2000. Revised edition.

Richter, Daniel. Facing East from Indian Country. Harvard, 2001.

Calloway, Colin. First Peoples. St. Martin's, 1999.

Reference Works (with excellent articles on all topics covered on this list)

Handbook of North American Indians. Smithsonian Institution, 17 volumes, 1978-2001.

The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas. Cambridge.

Vol. 1, North America, 1996.
Vol. 2, Mesoamerica, 2000.
Vol. 3, South America, 1999.

The Cambridge History of Latin America. Cambridge. 11 volumes, 1985-1995.

The Spanish Conquest

Restall, Matthew. Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest. Oxford, 2003.

Kamen, Henry. Empire: How Spain Became a World Power, 1492-1763. Harper, 2003.

Hemmings, John. The Conquest of the Incas. Harcourt and Brace, 1973.

Prescott, William. History of the Conquest of Peru & History of the Conquest of Mexico. [1843/1847]. Cooper Square Press, 2000.

Gruzinski, Serge. The Conquest of Mexico. Blackwell, 1993.

Restal, Matthew. Maya Conquistador. Beacon, 1998.

Las Casas and the Critique of Spanish Conquest

de las Casas, Bartolomé. The Devastation of the Indies. [1552]. Johns Hopkins, 1974.

Hanke, Lewis. All Mankind is One. Northern Illinois, 1994.

Colonial Exploitation, Native Survival

Stern, Steve. Peru's Indian peoples and the Challenge of Spanish Conquest. Wisconsin, 1982.

Lockhart, James. The Nahuas after the Conquest. Stanford, 1992.

Katz, Friedrich, ed. Riot, Rebellion, and Revolution. Princeton, 1988.

Stern, Steve, ed. Resistance, Rebellion, and Consciousness in the Andean Peasant World. Wisconsin, 1987.

Restall, Matthew. The Maya World. Stanford, 1997.

Lovell, George. Conquest and Survival in Colonial Guatemala. McGill-Queen's, 1992.

Schroeder, Susan, ed. Native Resistance and the Pax Colonial in New Spain. Nebraska, 1998.

Colonial Missionization

Griffith, Nicholas, and Fernando Cervantes, eds. Spiritual Encounters. Nebraska, 1999.

Gutiérrez, Ramón. When Jesus Came, the Corn Mothers Went Away. Stanford, 1991.

Burkhart, Louise. The Slippery Earth. Arizona, 1989.

Clendinnen, Inga. Ambivalent Conquests. Cambridge, 1987.

Langer, Erick, and Robert Jackson, eds. The New Latin American Mission History. Nebraska, 1995.

New France And Jesuit Missionization

Axtell, James. The Invasion Within. Oxford, 1985.

Greer, Allan, ed. The Jesuit Relations. St. Martin's, 2000.

Anderson, Karen. Chain Her by One Foot. Routledge, 1991.

Parkman, Francis. The Jesuits in North America. [1867]. Nebraska, 1997.

Blackburn, Carol. Harvest of Souls. McGill-Queen's, 2000.

Trigger, Bruce. The Children of Aataentsic. McGill-Queen’s, 1987.

The Ecology Of Colonization

Crosby, Alfred. Ecological Imperialism. Cambridge, 1986.

Silver, Timothy. A New Face on the Countryside. Cambridge, 1990.

Merchant, Carolyn. Ecological Revolutions. North Carolina, 1989.

Muir, Diana. Reflections in Bullough's Pond. University Press of New England, 2002.

Melville, Elinor. A Plague of Sheep. Cambridge, 1994.

Krech, Shephard. The Ecological Indian. Norton, 1999.

Colonial War and English Missionization

Anderson, Fred. Crucible of War. Knopf, 2000.

Lepore, Jill. The Name of War. Knopf, 1998.

Malone, Patrick. The Skulking Way of War. Johns Hopkins, 1991.

Chet, Guy. Conquering the American Wilderness. Massachusetts, 2003.

Axtell, James. The Invasion Within. Oxford, 1985.

Indian Slavery and White Captivity

Gallay, Alan. The Indian Slave Trade. Yale, 2002.

Brooks, James. Captives and Cousins. North Carolina, 2002.

Colley, Linda. Captives. Pantheon, 2002.

Demos, John. The Unredeemed Captive. Knopf, 1994.

Faery, Rebecca. Cartographies of Desire. Oklahoma, 1999.

Namais, June. White Captives. North Carolina, 1993.

———, ed. A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison. Oklahoma, 1992.

Rowlandson, Mary. The Sovereignty and Goodness of God. [1682]. Bedford, 1997.

France, England, and the Iroquois

Wallace, Anthony. The Death and Rebirth of the Seneca. Random House, 1969.

Richter, Daniel. The Ordeal of the Longhouse. North Carolina, 1992.

Fenton, William. The Great Law and the Longhouse. Oklahoma, 1998.

The Indian Frontier, Late 18th and Early 19th Centuries

Merrell, James. Into the American Woods. Norton, 1999.

White, Richard. The Middle Ground. Cambridge, 1991.

Calloway, Colin. The American Revolution in Indian Country. Cambridge, 1996.

McLoughlin, William. Cherokee Renascence in the New Republic. Princeton, 1986.

Wallace, Anthony. Jefferson and the Indians. Harvard, 1999.

Perdue, Theda, and Michael Green, eds. The Cherokee Removal. St. Martin's, 1995.

Spain, Panama, and The Kuna

Gallup-Diaz, Ignacio. The ‘Door of the Seas and the Key to the Universe’: Indian Politics and Imperial Rivalry in the Darién, 1640–1750. Princeton University, 1999.
Gutenberg project, electronic book.

Howe, James. A People Who Would Not Kneel. Smithsonian, 1998.

20th Century Indigenous Organizing in Latin America

Lee Van Cott, Donna, ed. Indian Peoples and Democracy in Latin America. St. Martin's, 1994.

Langer, Erick, and Elena Muñoz. Contemporary Indigenous Movements in Latin America. S. R. I., 2003.

Warren, Kay, and Jean Jackson, eds. Indigenous Movements, Self-Representation, and the State in Latin America. Texas, 2003.

Maybury-Lewis, David, ed. The Politics of Ethnicity. Harvard, 2002.

Warren, Kay. Indigenous Movements and Their Critics. Princeton, 1998.

Indigenous Struggle in 20th Century Brazil

Ramos, Alcida. Indigenism. Wisconsin, 1998.

Seth, Garfield. Indigenous Struggle at the Heart of Brazil. Duke, 2001.

Study Materials

Elements in "Black Robe" Borrowed from Frances Parkman and The Jesuit Relations

Algonkians visiting Quebec are amazed at a clock, which they call Captain Clock.	Reactions to clocks, writing, etc. and Jesuit manipulations mentioned (Thwaites VIII: 109).
Governor Champlain warns the Jesuit superior of physical & social demands that will be made on Father Laforgue travelling with Indians.	Details in Brebeuf, "Instructions for the Fathers of Our Society Who Shall Be Sent to the Huron" (Thwaities XII: 116-123; Parkman 1867: 142)
Champlain has ceremonial meeting with Algonkian, introduces Laforgue and other Jesuits with phrase, "These are our fathers."	Meeting and words "These are our Fathers" in Thwaites V: 251; Parkman 1867: 135-136.
Father Laforgue & lay companion set out in autumn from Quebec to Huron territory in 1634, accompanied by a party of Algonkian.	Three parties of priests and hired men set out in summer, escorted by Huron (Thwaites VIII: 69-95; Parkman 1867: 135-145; Trigger 1976: 490-494).
Laforgue suffers discomfort and culture shock among Algonkian, especially in smoke-filled hut with sleeping Indians and dogs	Details from Lejeune 1634, "What One Must Suffer in Wintering with the Savages." (Thwaites VII: 35-65; Parkman 1867: 114-116) concerning Montagnais.
Laforgue is plagued by a dwarf Montagnais sorcerer named Mestigoit.	Among Montagnais, Fa. LeJeune plagued by shaman whose brother is named Mestigoit (Thwaites VII: 54-65; Parkman 1867: 108-109, 116). Among Huron, missionaries struggle against dwarf shaman named Tonneraouanont (Thwaites XIII-XIV; Parkman 1867: 180-182; Trigger 1976:529).
On the journey, Laforgue uses writing to overawe Algonkian; Indians convinced he is a sorcerer. Europeans criticized for stinginess and covetousness; Laforgue preaches on the afterlife.	Jesuit Relations describe these encounters, mostly as they occurred at the Hurom mission (Thwaites 1896-1901, passim; Parkman 1867: 177-178).
Laforgue is abandoned by his Algonkian guides.	Three of French on 1634 voyage abandoned at different moments (Thwaites VIII: 81-85; Parkman I867: 141-143; Trigger 1976: 492).
Attack by Iroquois. Laforgue is captured when he comes out of hiding.	Father Isaac Jogues, Jesuit saint, captured by Iroquois when he comes out of hiding (Thwaites XXX1: 16-109; Parkman 1867: 305-334)."
At Iroquois village, captives run gauntlet. Laforgue's thumb is cut off with shell. Iroquois debate whether to torture and kill him or trade him back to the French.	Jogues and companions run gauntlet; Jogues's thumb cut off; Jogues subject of debates among Iroquois.
Laforgue and companions escape Iroquois.	Jogues escapes down Hudson River, to Europe, back to Quebec and eventual martyrdom.
As the Indian leader Chomina dies, he sees a vision of a fearsome female spirit who awaits him in the afterlife.	Parkman (1867: 69-70,72) makes much of a terrifying female spirit mentioned by the Jesuits (Thwaites VI: 75).
Just before reaching Huron village, Laforgue is abandoned by last surviving companions	Fa. Brebeuf left by companions just short of his goal in Huronia (Thwaites XXXI: 91; Parkman 1867: 143-144; Trigger 1976: 493).
In Huron village, an epidemic rages. Baptism is interpreted by Huron as either cause or cure of illness.	During 1630s in Huron missions, epidemics are blamed on baptism (Thwaites VII, XI,XIII, XIV; Parkman 1867: 204-214, Trigger 1976: 499-602)

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