Writing and Resistance in Indigenous America (1500–1700)

Material extraction, forced religious conversion, and physical brutality were but a few of the oppressive acts imposed on the Indigenous populations of the Americas by Western colonialism. However, those under Iberian and British Rule—in Peru, Mexico and New England—found ways to resist and negotiate the terms of domination by adopting, and therefore adapting, European forms and norms. This class takes an interdisciplinary approach that combines historiography, literature, and art, to analyze the mechanisms of Indigenous resistance within the developing structures of colonialism: race, religion, geography, and gender. We will read a variety of texts that originate from Aztec, Inca, Algonquian, Spanish, Brazilian, and British contexts. All readings available in English, but students are welcome to read any in the original language.