This research-oriented seminar invites you to analyze the fascinating history of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as it is transformed over the centuries by an intricate mixture of local and global histories. This geographic space has been a zone of indigenous settlement from antiquity through the formation of a hybrid colonial culture and into the present; a sixteenth and seventeenth century frontier outpost blessed with a beautiful natural harbor utilized by early modern religious dissidents, pirates, smugglers, and adventurers seeking their fortunes; the home of an important whaling industry as the colony matured; a vibrant port city and increasingly massive human trafficking center during the era of mass enslavement from the late-sixteenth through most of the nineteenth century; the seat of colonial and national governments from the mid-eighteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries; a transregional trade center linking the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia; at all times a site of complex labor, ethnic, racial, gender and sexual politics; since the end of WWII a cosmopolitan global tourist destination renowned for its multi-faceted popular culture, especially its beaches, music, dance, carnival, soccer and religious traditions; and in the twenty first century home to conflicts between “authoritarian new right” and “liberal-left” strands of populism, fueled by deep unresolved grievances and social media. As we shall see, Rio de Janeiro has been all these things and more since its founding on March 1, 1565.
- Teacher: James Krippner