Race, Ethnicity and Identity in the Atlantic World

Explores question of identity in Atlantic world from sixteenth to nineteenth century, focusing on three types of identity: 1) ethnicity; 2) race; 3) nationality. How are such identities created and maintained? Are they "natural" or "artificial"? How do they change over time, and why? Throughout the seminar, we'll consider both internal/external boundaries, how social actors - particularly subalterns - see themselves and how they are imagined by outsiders. Finally, we will examine how identity is expressed in a wide variety of media - codices, paintings, maps, oral histories, diaries, etc. - and how scholars make use of such sources.