The Gulf of Mexico

Undergraduate / Graduate

In this course we review the rich history, anthropology, and archaeology of the Gulf of Mexico, a critical body of water that has been a crossroads of cultures and ecologies for millennia. By looking at the human world through a maritime rather than a terrestrial lens, the course asks: What roles do seas, oceans, and waterways play in human life? What sort of histories have connected peoples bordering the Gulf, from the pre-colonial era to the present? What happens when we frame history through maritime routes rather than through national borders? What is the history of cartographic naming practices and what power do they have?