The Race Makers: How the Enlightenment Invented the Most Dangerous Idea in History
FREN 301
Fall 2023
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
SISP 303 |
The concept of race was first "invented" during the 18th century by anatomists, natural historians, and, ultimately, the century's classifiers. While this seminar is constructed as something of an intellectual history seminar, it will also delve into the lives and (often messy) psychologies of several of the people who helped develop the idea of race during the eighteenth century. We will become familiar with a French king and the signatory of the Code Noir (Louis XIV), the Swedish inventor of the term Homo sapiens (Linnaeus), the theorist of human degeneration from a white prototype (Buffon), the most famous philosopher of the eighteenth century (Voltaire), the theorist of human stage theory (Robertson), a skull-measuring naturalist (Blumenbach), and an American president, in Thomas Jefferson. The class will also examine 16 manuscripts that were submitted to a contest on the source of "blackness" organized by the Bordeaux Royal Academy of Sciences in 1739. The goal of this course is to provide students with an understanding of the origins of race that will inform their reactions to this question as both a historical concept, and an ongoing problem that affects all of us in the present. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS RLAN |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (HRAD-MN)(STS) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 75% - 89% |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
François Bernier "Nouvelle division de la Terre"
Jean-Bapiste Labat "Nouveau Voyage aux Isles d'Amérique"
Buffon, Histoire naturelle
Voltaire, Traité de métaphysique (selections)
Hume, "On National Characters"
Kant, selections from his Anthropological Writings
Linnaeus, Systema Naturae
Thomas Jefferson, "Notes on the State of Virginia"
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Examinations and Assignments:
Oral Presentations
2 papers + Term Paper
Response Log |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
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Any student who has completed FREN 215 (with a minimum grade of B) or has placed out of FREN 215 through the placement test may sign up for this course. However, since it is at the 300-level, the section especially encourages students who have taken one other class beyond 215 to sign up for the seminar. See the professor if you have questions. Readings, written assignments and class discussions will be in French. Only COL students my take this course CR/U. All others must take it for a letter grade. Students who are not admitted to the course through pre-registration are strongly encouraged to submit an enrollment request and attend the first class. |
| Instructor(s): Curran,Andrew Times: ..T.R.. 10:20AM-11:40AM; Location: RLAN106; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 15 | | SR major: 10 | JR major: 3 | | |
| Seats Available: 1 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 0 | JR non-major: 0 | SO: 1 | FR: 1 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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