Atlantic Slave Wars

Undergraduate

This course explores how the violence of imperial expansion and transatlantic enslavement remade the history of Europe, Africa, and the Americas. European imperial conflicts extended the dominion of capitalist agriculture. African battles fed captives to the transatlantic trade in slaves. Masters and their subalterns struggled with one another continuously. These clashes amounted to a borderless slave war: war to enslave, war to expand slavery, and war against slaves, precipitating wars waged by the enslaved against slaveholders, but also among the enslaved themselves. Examining how conflicts in one part of the world travel and take root in another enhances our understanding of the relationship between European, African, and American history. Through discussion, focused exercises, and paper-drafting workshops, the course introduces students to several general problems in the study of slavery and its political violence, while honing students’ historical research and writing skills. In addition to reading and discussing assigned texts, course participants pursue independent research projects, analyzing questions, sources, and interpretive strategies in consultation with their peers. Enrollment limited to first-year students. HU TTh 2:35pm-3:50pm