This module will introduce students to a range of long-eighteenth and
early-nineteenth century texts in which there is sustained reflection
and commentary on the individual, the polity, and an emerging conception
of society and the economy. In doing so, this module raises broader
philosophical questions about the construction of identity, character
and virtue, political realism and idealism, and relativism and
individualism. The module also involves students in reflecting on the
changes in styles of painting, architecture and fashion and linking this
to the core themes. The emphasis of the module is on how, as
historians, we should approach some of the major pieces of writing of
the period, both the more and the less philosophical. Consequently, a
core component of the module is encouraging a close reading of the
texts, coupling this with raising questions about the importance of
historical context in generating and reflecting critically on such
readings. The module is structured thematically, taking conceptions of
the individual, then the polis, then society; but within those themes it
is structured chronologically, allowing students to have a sense of the
increasing interaction of different lines of argument. The module
depends on students reading primary texts and the assessment and
examination focuses on these texts.
This 15 CATS second-year module option investigates global interactions in the early modern world (1400-1800) through the figure of the go-between. Each of the men and women discussed in weekly two-hour seminars – diplomats and traders, mestizos and missionaries, converts, slaves, and captives – offer a window onto a world in which societies and life trajectories were increasingly shaped by trans-regional connections, and where all kinds of borders were regularly being crossed. By following individuals as they met and mingled across the globe, you will deepen your understanding of the role of human agency in the macro-processes of religious change, commercial expansion, imperial conquest, and economic integration that marked the early modern period.