"Cannibals", "Barbarians" and "Noble Savages": Travel and Ethnography in the Early Modern World

This seminar will trace the growth of European images of the “other” in early modern Africa, Europe and the Americas. Using the tropes of “cannibal”, “barbarian” and “noble savage”, it explores evolving theories about human nature, human difference and race. Alongside critical analyses drawn from several disciplines, the main readings will be primary sources. These vivid, enigmatic accounts are both portraits of a world alien to the writer, and also mirror the writer’s own culture.