Science, Medicine, and Empire in the Atlantic World ((3))

Catalog description

This course will introduce students to the major themes of, and approaches to, the entangled histories of empire and science and medicine in the early modern Atlantic world (1500-1800). Students will examine the role of science and medicine in creating, upholding, and governing empires. It asks how scientific and medical concepts were used as tools by various Atlantic empires, including the Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, British, and French empires. Students will also investigate how imperial expansion and participants around the Atlantic, including Amerindians, free and enslaved Africans, and women, transformed and shaped emerging scientific and medical ideas. This course provokes students to consider the social and cultural milieus and historical actors that constructed and produced scientific knowledge in myriad colonial encounters. This course will also challenge older narratives associating western imperial ventures with the spread of modern medicine and scientific progress. (Transatlantic/STEM/pre-1700)