About

Course Description

This course will examine how the rational, scientific framework that ostensibly defines Western modernity has interpreted various forms of radical difference. Beginning with the conquest of the New World in the fifteenth century, we will consider historical and contemporary examples of how Western thinkers have sought to explain seemingly “irrational” ways of being, thinking, and acting. We will focus especially on the social sciences, analyzing the various “scientific” tropes through which scholars have made sense of radical forms of otherness. Some of the themes we examine are: indigenous life as the state of nature, religion and/as capitalism, witchcraft and/as social order, voodoo, and djinn visitation. Throughout the course we will ask: how do we interpret and analyze beliefs, practices, and life-worlds radically different from our own?

Since this is a writing-intensive senior seminar, students will research a relevant topic that will culminate in a senior research paper of 20 pages. The course is structured to facilitate writing as a collaborative process: students will work in writing groups of 3-4 students and will submit numerous drafts to me and to other students for commentary.

Course Meetings: M/W 5-6:45, Social Science 2 Room 363

Office Hours: Wednesdays 2-3:15 and by appointment

Office: 309 Social Science 1

Mailbox: 361 Social Science 1

Email: mfernan3@ucsc.edu

Download the syllabus here: Syllabus 2014