NES 3691 - Race and Slavery, Old and Modern

(crosslisted) COML 3006, FGSS 3693, ILRLR 3691
(GB) (ALC-AS, CA-AS) (CU-ITL)

Spring. 3 credits. Student option grading.

P. Vaziri.

What does it mean to live in the aftermath of slavery? How has the human history of slavery contributed to the production of “natural” values that we take for granted—such as community, property, citizenship, gender, individuality, and freedom? This course explores the history of enslavement throughout the human past, from the ancient world to the modern era. We will pay particular attention to the relationship between slavery and the construction of racial blackness. We will explore various institutionalized forms of servitude throughout time and space, from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic worlds, from eunuchism to concubinage, from slavery in the Roman Empire to “modern slavery” and sex trafficking. Readings will be in English and will engage a variety of dynamic sources: theoretical, historiographical, anthropological, religious, legal, literary and multimedia.