Jicarilla Apache beliefs about death
Themes: Native American worldview -- sacred history (mythology)
Source: Morris E. Opler, "Myth and Practice in Jicarilla Apache Eschatology" - I got nearly unanimous approval from the students with this article, because it is fascinating.
Source: Morris E. Opler, "Myth and Practice in Jicarilla Apache Eschatology" - I got nearly unanimous approval from the students with this article, because it is fascinating.
European images of Africans in medieval and Renaissance art
While African figures were used to represent the exotic, the newly Christian, or the infidel in European art during the medieval and Renaissance periods, they were not portrayed as chattel. This would change with the ushering in of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. This site is helpful to illustrate European views of Africans before the paradigm shift in thought that would occur as a result of the slave trade.
Caliban in Shakespeare's The Tempest (1610-11)
Examining the character Caliban, a non-European, New World monster, is a great way to begin talk about English ideas of "the Other" at the time of the settlement of Jamestown. I have them read only Acts 1 and 2 to get the point across, and, I probably shouldn't share this, but I let them read it online here. I also set up discussion of the character types by having them examine the commedia dell'arte tradition, popular in Elizabethan theatre.
West African kingdoms and the slave trade, 1500-1850
This is the flag from the Dahomey empire, which achieved its height during this period. Ninety percent of its economy was based on slave trading during the height of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and this flag reveals how its constructed militaristic self-image. I show the students a clip from Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s "Wonders of the African World" video series in which he visits the palace of the kings of Dahomey and learns about the empire's role in the slave trade. Discussing West African politics in this period gives students a more nuanced understanding of the factors that made the slave trade possible.
"Dreaming Ancestors in Eastern North Carolina": Examining traditions of ancestor veneration and dream interpretation among African-Americans in Eastern North Carolina
Themes: African-American traditions -- West Africa -- Religious syncretism -- Trans-Atlantic slave trade: cultural impact
Summary:
Very interesting article I found recently on JSTOR, by Nancy J. Fairley, Journal of Black Studies (2003). I haven't assigned it to the students yet, but am planning to in January when we get into the 19th century. Contact me if you need assistance accessing the article.
Summary:
Very interesting article I found recently on JSTOR, by Nancy J. Fairley, Journal of Black Studies (2003). I haven't assigned it to the students yet, but am planning to in January when we get into the 19th century. Contact me if you need assistance accessing the article.
Puritan images of childhood
Themes: Colonial America -- Puritans -- Childhood in America
Summary:
Puritans viewed life as short and there was no time to be wasted in searching your soul to determine whether you were one of the 'elect' of God. The belief in mankind's total depravity was the heart of Puritan worldview, influenced by theologian John Calvin. Puritans viewed the control of children crucial in maintaining what they perceived to be their "City Upon a Hill," the Massachusetts Bay settlement that they believed had eschatological importance as the New Jerusalem. This portrait contrasts strikingly with family portraits from a century later during the Revolutionary period, which show children playing with toys and brimming with childhood personality, echoing the spirit of independence and lack of deference that pervaded colonial American society by the end of the 18th century.
Sources:
John Cotton, "Milk for Babes: Drawn out of the Breasts of Both Testaments" -- I heart that title. :-)
Edward Griffin, "When I was a Child I Thought as a Child" (sermon)
Summary:
Puritans viewed life as short and there was no time to be wasted in searching your soul to determine whether you were one of the 'elect' of God. The belief in mankind's total depravity was the heart of Puritan worldview, influenced by theologian John Calvin. Puritans viewed the control of children crucial in maintaining what they perceived to be their "City Upon a Hill," the Massachusetts Bay settlement that they believed had eschatological importance as the New Jerusalem. This portrait contrasts strikingly with family portraits from a century later during the Revolutionary period, which show children playing with toys and brimming with childhood personality, echoing the spirit of independence and lack of deference that pervaded colonial American society by the end of the 18th century.
Sources:
John Cotton, "Milk for Babes: Drawn out of the Breasts of Both Testaments" -- I heart that title. :-)
Edward Griffin, "When I was a Child I Thought as a Child" (sermon)