HIST

This introductory course centers the lived experiences of people of African descent in the Americas and the wider Atlantic World during the period between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. We will examine the histories of slavery and freedom, gender and sexuality, marronage, revolt, and revolution through the perspectives of enslaved and free people of African descent who lived through this turbulent time and profoundly shaped the histories of North America, the Caribbean, and South America.

Antisemitism is a recurring feature of social and political life. While its persistence through time is clear to see, consensus over what constitutes antisemitism has frayed dramatically in the twenty-first century. This course invites students to critically examine a range of different approaches to the study of antisemitism, from Marxism to postcolonialism and from critical theory to queer theory. Students will also examine competing definitions of antisemitism and the politics that animate them. In investigating the intersections of antisemitism with race, whiteness, gender and class, students will also explore the changing relationship between opposition to antisemitism and anti-racism.