Bad Things: Archaeologies of New World Vices

Catalog description

Drinking, smoking, prostitution, gambling, chocolate, and witchcraft – this may sound like a lot of fun, but are these bad things? Since the first European contact in the Americas, colonists were introduced to new substances, practices, and worldviews and brought their own vices to new territories. This course will use material culture to analyze the everyday lives of these New World inhabitants who were so good at being so bad; we will also discuss how colonial discourse and histories affect our lives today.