Course Description

The history of colonization is marked by concerted efforts at cultural, and even literal, genocide. Perhaps inevitably, the legacy of colonization continues to distort our interactions across cultural boundaries; when faced with people who dress differently than we do, who have different religious and moral philosophies, or merely different diets than our own, we might be inclined to respond with distrust or even violence. In this course, we will try to develop a conversation between Western culture and some of the cultures it has marginalized to better understand the sources and consequences of such conflicts.  We will examine how disparate cultures regard one another, paying particular attention to those areas of real or perceived differences in values which provoke significant tension; in the process, we will also consider whether there is such a thing as a value that is objectively “true.”  Finally, because this is a first-year seminar, we will devote time to developing skills in reading, locating and evaluating sources, creating effective arguments, and growing comfortable contributing to class discussion.   

Texts

El Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Royal Commentaries of the Incas and General History of Peru (abridged)

Françoise de Graffigny, Letters from a Peruvian Woman

Mary Rowlandson, The Sovereignty and Goodness of God

Sarah Winnemucca, Life Among the Paiutes: Their Wrongs and Claims

Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Shorter selections from Montaigne and a few secondary scholarly sources

Requirements

Two brief analytic essays; a research project (broken down into a variety of assignments); presentation on an instance of cultural relativism; strong attendance and participation in seminar discussion.

About the Instructor(s): Renée Faubion

Renée Faubion earned an M.A. in Slavic literature from the University of Kansas and a Ph.D. in

American and British literature from UNM. She has received four awards for excellence in

teaching. Her primary interest is in gender studies, including how gender performance and

expectations shape responses to cultural phenomena such as serial murder and gothic

literature.