Module HIST3861: CRITICAL ENCOUNTERS: NATIVES AND SPANIARDS IN THE NEW WORLD

Department: History

HIST3861: CRITICAL ENCOUNTERS: NATIVES AND SPANIARDS IN THE NEW WORLD

Prerequisites

• None.

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To assess the impact of the discovery and conquest of the New World on European (particularly Spanish) perceptions of the other.
• To analyze indigenous reactions to the Spanish invasion.
• To familiarize students with some of the most recent approaches to the study of the conquest and colonization of the New World, along with the debates among historians regarding different interpretations of these events.
• To encourage students to read critically some of the canonical texts of the discovery and conquest.

Content

• While China, Africa, and India had been slowly incorporated into the European imagination, America constituted a 'New World' which had to be incorporated into the Europeans’ geographical, historical, and anthropological understanding.
• We will examine the rhetorical and iconographic strategies utilized by explorers, missionaries, and men of letters in their attempts at bringing this new world into European consciousness.
• At the same time, we will look at native resistance and adaptation to the Spanish conquest, and at the transformation and hybridization of the native cultures of Spanish America (Caribbeans, Aztecs, Mayas, and Incas).
• This module also offers students the opportunity to confront the methodological difficulties which historians have to face when studying indigenous societies.
• Topics will include the impact of the New World on the Old; the birth of the cannibal; interpretations of the conquest; the invention of the Indian; Spanish cruelty; the trauma of the conquest; the creation of a mestizo society; the debates on the significance of slavery in the Spanish world ; the "spiritual conquest"; and the role of race and gender in the creation of colonial Spanish American societies.

Learning Outcomes

• An awareness of the ways in which the discovery and conquest of the New World has been constructed and deconstructed in history.
• Familiarity with new historical approaches that have fundamentally transformed our understanding of the history of Spanish America's native peoples after the conquest.

• Subject specific skills for this module can be viewed at: http://www.dur.ac.uk/History/ugrads/ModuleProformaMap/

• Key skills for this module can be viewed at: http://www.dur.ac.uk/History/ugrads/ModuleProformaMap/

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Student learning is facilitated by a combination of the following teaching methods:
• lectures to set the foundations for further study and to provide the basis for the acquisition of subject specific knowledge. Lectures provide a broad framework which defines individual module content, introducing students to themes, debates and interpretations. In this environment, students are given the opportunity to develop skills in listening, selective note-taking and reflection;
• seminars to allow students to present and critically reflect upon the acquired subject-specific knowledge, methodologies and theories, and to identify and debate a range of issues and differing opinions. The seminar is the forum in which students are given the opportunity to communicate ideas, jointly exploring themes and arguments. Seminars are structured to develop understanding and designed to maximise student participation related to prior independent preparation. Seminars give students the opportunity to develop oral communication skills, encourage critical and tolerant approaches to reasoned argument and historical discussion, build the students' ability to marshal historical evidence, and facilitate the development of the ability to summarise historical arguments, think in a rapidly changing environment and communicate in a persuasive and articulate manner, whilst recognising the value of working with others and, occasionally, towards shared goals.
• Assessment:
• Unseen Examinations test students' ability to work under pressure under timed conditions, to prepare for examinations and direct their own programme of revision and learning, and develop key time management skills. The unseen examination gives students the opportunity to develop relevant life skills such as the ability to produce coherent, reasoned and supported arguments under pressure. Students will be examined on subject specific knowledge.
• Summative essays remain a central component of assessment in history, due to the integrative high-order skills they develop. Essays allow students the opportunity to recognise, represent and critically reflect upon ideas, concepts and problems; students can demonstrate awareness of, and the ability to use and evaluate, a diverse range of resources and identify, represent and debate a range of subject-specific issues and opinions. Through the essay, students can synthesise information, adopt critical appraisals and develop reasoned argument based on individual research; they should be able to communicate ideas in writing, with clarity and coherence; and to show the ability to integrate and critically assess material from a wide range of sources.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

One or more short assignments submitted in writing or delivered orally and discussed either 1:1 or in a group context.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University