History 364: Sugar, Sex, & Slavery: The History of the Black Atlantic

Africa, the Americas, and Europe came together during the 15^th century in ways that drove the world economy and engendered enormous cultural change. The collision of cultures, in their fracturing and recreation, gave birth to new religions, intellectual discourses, culinary and musical forms, as well as new ways of acquiring and wielding power. In the often-uncomfortable spaces created by the intersection of imperialism, capitalism, and race, competing narratives of political and economic growth were tempered by the realities of violence, coerced labor, and racial taxonomies. The people who ceaselessly toiled in sugarcane and cotton fields as well as the people who kept them there created voodoo, gumbo, jazz, and the political and social revolutions that forever affected the three corners of the Black Atlantic. Reading assignments of primary and secondary sources, discussion, a research paper and its presentation to the class are required. Offered every other year.