Antje Flüchter (Bielefeld University)
Cultural encounters seem to have become a daily routine in our globalized world. They can shake our certainties, question our feeling of identity and change us. Therefore they evoke mixed feelings: excitement, interest, but also anxiety. However, cultural encounters are not a modern phenomenon, but part of human history from the beginning. This course will explore selected examples for early modern encounters; it will embed them into the history of European expansion (ca. 1500-1800) as well as in the culture of early modern Europe. We will tackle this topic on several levels:
We will discuss the characteristics of the selected early modern encounters in different world regions (Sir Thomas Roe, English Ambassador at the Indian Mughal Court, John Smith and Pocahontas in Virginia, and Captain Cook’s Death in Hawaii, Jean Léry about Canibalism in South America). The concept of cultural encounter conceals huge differences between the specific contexts of the encounter (trading & settling, exploring, diplomacy and court ceremonial, etc.), between the configurations of power relations in these different contexts, and the people involved (noble diplomats, Indian chiefs, poor mercenaries and rich merchants, erudite scholars and unlettered sailors, etc.). We will look for both differences and shared patterns in these different contexts and thus use historic encounters as a laboratory for up-to-date questions. Moreover, we will use the individual cases to explore different conceptual, theoretical and methodological tools that help us understand and interpret an encounter.
February 28th:
The Virginia Colony: John Smith, Powhatan, and Pocahontas
HULME, P. 1986. John Smith and Pocahontas. In: HULME, P. (ed.) Colonial Encounters. Europe and the Native Caribbean, 1492-1797. London 137-173.
+ source paper
March 1st:
Sir Thomas at the Mughal Court (17th century): Negotiating a Transcultural Ceremonial
JUNEJA, M. 2013. Monica Juneja interviewed by Christian Kravagna. In: KRAVAGNA, C. (ed.) Transcultural Modernism. Berlin; New York: Sternberg Press
+ Source paper
March 2nd:
Captain Cook’s Death: The Dispute between Marshal Sahlins and Gananath Obeyesekere
BOROFSKY, R. 1997. Cook, Lono, Obeyesekere, and Sahlins. Current Anthropology, 38, 255-282.
+ Source paper
March 3rd:
Jean de Léry about Canibalism
LESTRINGANT, F. 1991. The Philosopher's Breviary. Jean de Léry in the Enlightenment. Representations, 33, 200-211.
+ source paper