1

biombo/byobu/folding screen, Mexico City, early 16!" century (h<ps://(unframed.lacma.org/2012/01/12/the-

influence-of-japanese-art-on-colonial-mexican-painEng)

Strum, IHON 112 Spring 2021: list of readings and conceptual structure of class

All IHON classes explore the following ‘enduring quesEons’ -- quesEons which go beyond
parEcular academic disciplines:

• How do socie,es, or groups, or individuals construct value -- collec,vely or individually

held meanings, ideas, and beliefs (whether implicitly or explicitly held)?
• How do par,cular vantage points within socie,es and cultures (above or below, inside or
outside) shape lived experience, and percep,ons of what is true or valuable?
• How, and in which circumstances, and within which limits, do humans make choices, and
act in accordance with them?
• How do humans relate to, and engage with perceived 'Others'? (other persons, other
groups, other socie,es, other animals, nature).

∞∞

catalog course descrip<on

IHON 112 engages in a dialogue with a wide variety of voices and texts from across the globe
against the backdrop of the gradual emergence of a modern world-system around 1500 -- a
development which not only connects socie,es in Europe, Asia, and Africa with the Americas,
but which also increasingly connects rural with urban areas, and creates global metropoles
where new iden,,es and dis,nc,ve cultures emerge. This concep,on of a world-system
informing IHON 112 means that the course not only includes voices from colonized and
formerly colonized peoples, and examines the ways these voices and texts have responded to
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and resisted violence and exploita,on, but also sets European texts back into the global
contexts to which they were responding. Thus, a goal of the course is to open dialogues
between texts from different places, ,mes, and situa,ons, resis,ng ahistorical no,ons of
“na,on” and “culture” that tend to keep these intellectual, ar,s,c, religious and poli,cal
exchanges separate from each other.

∞∞

introduc<on to the course

The IHON 111-112 sequence is intended to draw students into the global human conversa,on,
by introducing them to fundamental reference points in this conversa,on: from the Hebrew
Bible, to the Mayan crea,on story the Popul Vuh, to the contemporary texts, from across the
globe, which comprise IHON 112. In IHON’s Mission Statement, Director Tyler Travillian writes
that in the IHON 111-112 series, texts “are introduced not as fixed reference points, with seZled
meanings, but rather as both problems and as resources: as problems, insofar as each one of
these texts has complex and some,mes troubling legacies; as resources, in that aZen,on to the
classical texts from different tradi,ons which can help us think about present-oriented ethical
concerns, including those of diversity, jus,ce, and sustainability, against more encompassing
historical, philosophical, theological, and aesthe,c horizons. With this approach, we ask
students to test their assumpEons and advance their knowledge (PLU, Academic Iden,ty
Statement, ¶2).”

Accordingly, we’re beginning our course by first exploring some presupposi,ons for the seminar
work we’ll do together. Then we’ll aZempt to reflect on some common assump,ons we may
bring to our subject maZer.

reading both cri<cally and recep<vely

First, we’re going to use a great 20de century novelist (Virginia Woolf) and a great 20de century
cri,c (Albert Murray), to think about presupposi,ons for a seminar course like this, which is not
based on impar,ng ‘knowledge’ (which, as we already learned from Socrates, may or may not
be what it claims to be), but on s,mula,ng open-ended inquiry.

challenging pre-interpreta<ons: ‘naturalized’ concepts and colonizing the past

Then -- before we embark on our actual voyage -- we’re going to explore and test some of our
assump,ons about the period (1492 to the present) which we’re exploring: things which may in
some cases prevent us from actually seeing the texts and the period in front of us. The late
scholar of Iberia María Rosa Menocal wrote that, “...as with most history, the narra,ves are
trapped and olen tripped up by knowing how it all comes out.” In the case of this class, we are
olen ‘trapped’ and ‘tripped up’ by assuming that categories of thought which have become so
customary in the last several centuries that they now seem natural to us, were therefore always
fundamental categories of human thought. The concepts, ‘na,on,’ ‘race,’ and ‘culture’ are three
such no,ons. But, like all other human inven,ons, these no,ons have histories -- were built by
certain people for certain purposes. We’re therefore going to start with the philosopher Kwame
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Anthony Appiah’s brief explora,on of who invented these various no,ons, and why. Grasping
the histories of these terms will allow us to apply them more precisely, and to trace their
forma,on in the texts we’ll be exploring. They also might help us answer a perplexing ques,on
about the modern period: how new, universal no,ons of poli,cal liberty and universal rights can
somehow co-exist -- at least for a ,me -- with modern slavery.
Rosa María Menocal alerts us to another problem which tends to ‘trip us up,’ when we look
backwards in history: ‘knowing how it all comes out,’ combined with our propensity to assume
that there’s a reason it came out that way, causes us to assume the current dispensa,ons of
power, wealth and influence were also always that way. One of the most powerful of these is
the tendency to read European wealth, power, and the assumed sense of cultural superiority
which olen accompanies those things, far back into history -- an tendency which influen,al
European historians and writers from the 18de century onwards have themselves helped to
produce. But does this assump,on actually make sense? To explore this assump,on, we’re
going to read a chapter by the contemporary Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari, which
compares the power and wealth in different parts of the world around the ,me of the Conquest
(1500), and several centuries alerwards, and a chapter by the science writer Charles Mann,
which uses contemporary research to upend common European and US-American assump,ons
about what the Americas looked like before Columbus arrived.

our star<ng point

I hope that these various prefatory texts will not only help prepare to engage in discussions, but
will also help us avoid some of the most obvious ways our thinking is ‘tripped up’ and ‘trapped’
by our own pre-interpreta,ons, when we begin exploring the texts of this class -- beginning with
1492 and the Spanish Conquest of the Americas. That is: I hope we will be able to see not just
‘what happened,’ but also ‘what might have happened’ -- or even, did happen, although we may
not grasp it yet! For -- if one listens to some indigenous, as well as other dissen,ng voices --
even the meaning of something as seemingly obviously as the Spanish Conquest itself might not
yet be seZled history. While both defenders and cri,cs of the Conquest, from 1492 to the
present, are olen sure about what it means, we will encounter indigenous texts -- from the
Brazilian So’to people’s Watunna, to an announcement from the women represen,ng the rebel
Zapa,sta movement in rural Chiapas, Mexico -- which will insist that a ‘conquest’ in fact never
occurred. (at least in the terms in which many of us tend to imagine it, right up to the present)
What might the So’to mean by this? Why do contemporary Zapa,stas reject the idea of
‘conquest’? Whether or not you end up agreeing with some or all of the perspec,ves the
Watunna, Zapa,sta leaders, or others present on an event like this, it’s an example of how the
different perspec,ves we’ll encounter in this class will allow us to see that all history, all
interpreta,ons are contested. So I don’t ‘teach history’ in IHON 112, but rather try to unseZle it
-- show that people are always baZling over its possible meanings. I hope this course will give us
a richer sense not just of the modern past, but of its complex and some,mes surprising effects
in the present all around us.

Looking forward to star,ng work!

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Below, you’ll find a list of all our course readings. All of these will be available in .pdf form on
the Google Classroom, except the course texts you ordered in advance. Read through the list
below, and the various headings, so that you have an idea of how the course fits together. Note
that there are no dates on the schedule below -- its purpose is simply to help you see how the
course fits together conceptually. You will find your actual reading assignments, along with
reading notes introducing each reading, on the ‘Classwork’ sec,on of Google Classroom.

∞∞
Schedule of Readings
The following is an overview of the terrain we will cover in this course, so you have a
sense of where we’re going. You’ll get the actual reading assignments, along with .pdfs of the
texts you didn’t order yourselves, via Google Classroom. Exact dates may vary, as we progress
through the term. On occasion, I may *reduce* reading assignments.
One thing to keep in mind as you read over this schedule of readings: the real course is
in each of your individual heads. Each of you will understand the significance of each text
slightly differently. Each of you will see different connec,ons, make different connec,ons to
your own experiences. The course which gathers us together is therefore not a collec,on of
readings and assignments, but a poten,al, embodied in each of our unique histories and
capaci,es, which our conversa,on and wri,ng will bring into existence.
Prelude, Part One: About How to Read: recep<ve-generous reading vs. incisive-cri<cal;
discussion as improvisa<on
1. Virginia Woolf, "How Should One Read a Book?"
2. Albert Murray, "Improvisa,on"

Prelude, Part Two: Challenging Pre-Interpreta<ons and ‘Naturalized’ Concepts in Order to

Avoid Colonizing the Past
1. the dialec,cs of (universal) freedom and slavery, personhood and na,on, expressive
individuality and ‘culture’
a. Kwame Anthony Appiah, “Country” (on the idea of ‘na,on’)
b. Appiah, “Colour” (on the idea of ‘race’)
i. Audrey Smedley, interview on her book, Race in North America: Origins of a
Worldview (excerpt)
ii. Karen and Barbara Fields, RacecraV: The Soul of Inequality in American Life
(excerpt)
c. Appiah, “Culture” (on how we think of ‘cultures’)
i. Charles Taylor on Herder/Rousseau
2. The World in 1492
a. Yuval Noah Harari, “The Secret of Success,” ”Discovery of Ignorance,” and “Marriage
of Science and Empire”, from Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (pp. 205-260)
b. the Americas before the Conquest: Charles Mann, 1491: New RevelaEons of the
Americas Before Columbus (pp. 3-30)

1492: the Encounter

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a. Carlos Fuentes, “1492: the Crucial Year”

b. Re-experiencing the encounter:
(1) from side of the side of the Conquistadors: Bernal Díaz des Cas,llo and
Hernán Cortés, “The Spaniards’ Entry into Tenoch,tlán”; Fray Jerónimo de
Mendieta, "The Spiritual Conquest"
(2) from side of the Aztecs/Triple Alliance:
(a) “The Aztec Priests’ Speech”
(b) Mann, “Flowers and Song”
(3) A contemporary perspec,ve on the ‘Conquest’: “Communique from the
Indigenous Revolu,onary Clandes,ne CommiZee General Command of the
Zapa,sta Army for Na,onal Libera,on”

European Cri<cisms of Colonial Thinking

a. Montaigne, “Of the Cannibals” (1580)
b. Shakespeare, The Tempest (whole play)

Ci<es and Contact Zones in México/‘New Spain’, and North America

a. Fuentes, “The Baroque Culture of the New World”; Charles Mann, “Africa in the
World”, 1493
b. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, "Poema 92" and "Answer by the poet to the most
illustrious Sister Filotea de la Cruz" (1691)
i. Octavio Paz, preface to Elena Poniatowska's Massacre in Mexico (pp. x ["I have
always considered.."] - xiv ["...American Revolu,ons.")
c. Casta pain,ngs from México/New Spain; Mann, “Coda: the Great Law of Peace,”
from 1491: New RevelaEons of the Americas Before Columbus

Rights and Revolu<on I: the Poli<cs of Thought in the European Enlightenment

a. short texts on thinking and authority (Locke, Kant, the French Encylopedists)
b. Rousseau, Social Contract

Rights and Revolu<on II: the French Revolu<on as Emblem and Event
a. Abbé Sieyés, “What is the Third Estate?”
i. William Doyle, “Why it Happened,” The French RevoluEon: A Very Short
IntroducEon
ii. C L R James, “The Owners,” The Black Jacobins
b. “Declara,on of the Rights of Man and of the Ci,zen” “French Revolu,onary
Calendar”; "Report(s) on the Revolu,onary Calendar";
i. William Doyle, “How it Happened,” The French RevoluEon: A Very Short
IntroducEon
ii. C L R James, “Parliament and Property,” The Black Jacobins
c. Jean Starobinski, “The Solar Myth of the Revolu,on”; Revolu,onary Pain,ng of
Jacques-Louis David
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d. The Logic of Poli,cal Terror: “Make Terror the Order of the Day”; “Law of Suspects”;
Robespierre, “Report on the Principles of Poli,cal Morality” (5 February 1794)

Rights and Revolu<on III: Reconsidera<ons and Global Effects

a. conceptual overview: Strum, "The Significance of the French Revolu,on"
b. Immanuel Kant on the French Revolu,on as global event
c. Mary Wollstonecral, from “A Vindica,on of the Rights of Woman”
d. C L R James, “The San Domingo Masses Begin,” “And The Paris Masses
Complete,” (excerpts), from The Black Jacobins
e. Dissents: Edmund Burke, ReflecEons on the RevoluEon in France (169-79; 190-95);
Milan Kundera on “Human Rights,” Immortality
f. special op,onal, evening class session: Hegel, “Absolute Freedom and Terror,” from
The Phenomenology of Spirit

Roman<c/Modern Art: Internal Freedom and External Necessity

a. Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
b. Immanuel Kant and Edmund Burke on the Sublime

Marx/Nietzsche/DuBois: 19!" and early 20!" Century Intellectual Revolu<ons

a. Marx, “The Communist Manifesto” (1848)
b. Marx on James Mill
c. Friedrich Nietzsche, "On the Advantage and Disadvantage of History for Life" (1874)
(read ONLY pages 59-77, and pp. 95-99 (from start of sec,on 7 un,l “...worm in every
apple.”)
d. Tracy K. Smith, “Don’t You Wonder, Some,mes?” (poem, 2011)
e. W. E. B. Du Bois, “Of the Coming of John,” Souls of Black Folk (1903)
i. listen to Wagner, Lohengrin, prelude to Act I: hZps://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=LMtRof9qJG8
ii. one page handout on Wagner's “Lohengrin” (intertext for Du Bois' story)

The Experience of Imperialism from the Perspec<ve of the ‘Colonized’

a. “Wahnatu,” from the Watunna: an Orinoco CreaEon Cycle (pp. 143-164; with
glossary on pp. 191-211)
b. José MarÅ, “Our America”

The Condi<on of Postcoloniality in the Global Present I: Crea<vity and Resistance -- on Jazz
a. Albert Murray, "Improvisa,on" (improvised talk); other excerpts from Murray and
Ralph Ellison
i. music:
(1) Louis Armstrong, “What Did I Do to Be So Black and Blue”
(2) Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five, “West End Blues”
(3) Duke Ellington, "Ko-Ko"
(4) Ellington, "Black and Tan Fantasy"
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(5) Danilo Pérez, Gonzalo Rubalcaba (various)

The Condi<on of Postcoloniality in the Global Present II: Iden<ty

a. Ralph Ellison, "The LiZle Man at Chehaw Sta,on" (1978)
b. Derek WalcoZ, “The An,lles: Fragments of Epic Memory” (Nobel Prize Address,
1992)

Postcoloniality III: 1492/1987 -- Re-Envisioning Colonial/Postcolonial ‘Encounters’

a. Mario Vargas Llosa, The Storyteller
i. Kane, “With Spears From All Sides”

Wrapping Up: Cra`ing a Self Out of the Flux of Change and History
a. Richard Rorty, Milan Kundera, Tracy K. Smith, others...