What is enlightenment?” asked the philosopher Immanuel Kant in 1784. Writers in the decades leading up to his famously unanswerable question—a period that knew itself as “the” Enlightenment—often believed they were shining the new "light" of reason, experiment-based scientific knowledge, and toleration on the old darkness of superstition and political oppression. The result? A radically new understanding of–and interest in–what it means to be human. But was "the Enlightenment" all it claimed to be? What were its limitations, contradictions, and unique possibilities? Why did “the” Enlightenment—whose scientific advances included a new understanding of light itself—also give rise to the first gothic novels, set in a shadowy past?  Most important for our purposes, how did English-speaking poets (Rochester, Pope, Finch, Wheatley), playwrights (Wycherley), satirists (Swift) and writers of romance (Haywood) engage core Enlightenment values, such as equality, independence of mind and body, and the rightful pursuit of happiness? How can their often comic writing help us to understand our present-day quest for freedom, justice, and joy? How has it contributed to the AI-dominated nightmare we try to navigate today?  Midterm, final including an essay, several unannounced quizzes, plus a comprehensive reading journal that charts your own quest for enlightenment through the insights of some fascinating works of literature. Kant, by the way, decided that “’have the courage to use your own understanding’ is the motto of the enlightenment.” Here’s a chance to see if you do!
Days: MO WE  02:00-02:50 PM

The Early Caribbean will explore the history of the Caribbean from the arrival of humans 8,000 years ago through the abolition of slavery in the 19th century. The course will explore the arrival and evolution of indigenous cultures, the colonization by Europeans and the economic and racial systems that emerged as a result. It argues that the Caribbean is the birthplace of the colonial project that would come to envelop the globe. The class will show how for several centuries the Caribbean was at the center of European economics and geo-political rivalries. It will explore the lived experiences of slavery, resistance to the institution, and abolition. It will chronicle the ways in which people of African descent resisted racial subjugation and built cultures based on their African ancestry and the new environments where they were transplanted. We will also study the experience of Black, White, and Indigenous women during the birth and expansion of the colonial project. The curriculum will draw into relief the ways in which people across all levels of society resisted colonial impositions in efforts to craft new lives in the Caribbean. Students will be presented with primary documents that highlight the ways in which the people who lived in period conceived of the Caribbean and understood themselves within its structures.

Days: MO WE  10:00-10:50 AM