HIST 3908A: A History of Cowboys in the Americas

HIST 3908A: A History of Cowboys in the Americas
Fall 2023

Introduction: The course explores the history of actual cowboys as well as the history of the imaginary cowboy in a variety contexts across the hemisphere. The former existed widely in the Americas from the early days of European invasion, wherever cattle might be grazed and tended to by young men on horseback. The latter, probably best known in popular culture by way of Hollywood film, reflect a sharp turn away from historical reality and instead have tended to promote and reinforce varieties of racist patriarchy and white supremacy. Sounds appalling, right? Yet such programs were enormously popular in the United States and Canada and even dominated television until about 1970. From more recent years, think of films such Dances with Wolves (1990) or Avatar (which is basically Dances with Wolves…in Space, 2009), or the popular TV series Yellowstone (2018-).

You will learn about historical cowboys, beginning with the material cultures of young men of mixed racial origins living on the fringes of society, riding slightly tamed wild horses and eating a lot of beef. Later industrialization fenced the various frontiers and the lowlife cowboy was reinvented as the paragon of white male virtuousness.

One of the challenges of the course is how to reconcile the historical cowboy with his imaginary substitute who never really existed anywhere except on screen and in the minds of captivated audiences.

Class Format: We will meet once each week for three hours. This includes lectures as well as discussion of assigned readings and at least two films.

Aims and Goals: The course speaks to the origins of the cowboy countries (e.g., Argentina, Chile, Mexico, USA…even the Canadian west). More than that, with a particular focus on the United States in the later weeks, we examine the relationship between empirical history and, spoiler alert, what people actually believe. We consider how you might tease evidence of this from texts such as novels and film.

Assessment: Mid-term, paper, final exam.

Texts: Walter Van Tilburg Clark, The Ox-bow Incident; James P. Owen, Cowboy Ethics; Richard W. Slatta, Gauchos and the Vanishing Frontier. These book will ordered through the campus bookstore but are also but for purchase online at major booksellers.

Questions? Please feel free to email me at: mark.anderson@carleton.ca