Themes in Indigenous History –The Red Atlantic: Trans-Atlantic Journeys by Indigenous Peoples

History 3511A –

Themes in Indigenous History –The Red Atlantic: Trans-Atlantic Journeys by Indigenous Peoples

Winter 2027

Michel Hogue

Course Description:

Stories of early encounters between Indigenous peoples and Europeans often tend to focus on the trans-Atlantic journeys undertaken by Europeans. But what about the journeys made in the opposite direction by Indigenous peoples who travelled from North America to Europe?

The history of journeys by Indigenous peoples to Europe began in the sixteenth century with the traffic in slaves and captives back to Europe, but grew to include trans-Atlantic voyages by sailors, labourers, travellers, performers, and diplomats who incorporated these journeys as part of their political strategies. This course seeks to recreate some of the journeys undertaken by diverse Indigenous peoples from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. It situates their journeys in their cultural, political, and social contexts, both in North America and Europe and to understand the local and global significance of their actions. In the process, it seeks to return a measure of agency and complexity to the personal stories of those who embarked on such voyages.

In so doing, the class takes its cues from sociologist Paul Gilroy’s notion of the Black Atlantic, which put Africans at the center of Atlantic world history. While the numbers of Indigenous peoples who crossed the Atlantic represents a small fraction of the number of Africans who made similar journeys, Cherokee scholar Jace Weaver argues that Indigenous peoples, resources, and ideas traveled the Atlantic with regularity. Building on this insight, we will examine how Indigenous peoples were key players in this Atlantic World.

Course Format:

The class will combine formal lectures with in-class discussions and workshop activities based on the assigned readings or other supplementary materials.  The class will be organized around a series of case studies that will ask you to engage with primary source materials written by and about these travelers.

Assignments:

The grades for this course will be (tentatively) assessed as follows:

Participation                                                30%

Written assignments                                  70%

Questions? Please contact me at michel.hogue@carleton.ca