Main Point:
- Slave trade and its economic impact of Europe created a wealthy class of merchants and financiers who married into the nobility to a point that it was almost indistinguishable from one another.
- That new group became wealthy enough that they were able to support the arts, sciences, and cultural production outside the oversight of the royal courts.
- This led to the rise of the public sphere, which was a space for discussion and debate that was not controlled by the state or the church.
Monday: Rise of the Slave Trade and the Slave Economy
Watch:
Wednesday: The Enlightenment and the Public Sphere
Read:
- Tom Standage, “The Coffee House Internet,” in A History of the World in 6 Glasses (New York: Bloomsbury, 2006), 151–72. (on Zotero)
Friday: Discussion #4
Student Presentation by Sophia Pfannstiel and Sofia Bartholomew
Primary Sources
- Geoffrey Galt Harpham, ed., “Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet),” in Theories of Race, accessed July 18, 2023, https://theoriesofrace.com/2.
- Immanuel Kant, “Immanuel Kant,” in Theories of Race, ed. Geoffrey Galt Harpham, accessed July 19, 2023, link here. (Do NOT read “On National Characters.” Far too long for this class.).
- “Salon Life,” Internet History Sourcebooks: Modern History, accessed July 14, 2023, link here.
- “Excerpts from Slave Narratives – Chapter 9,” accessed July 17, 2023, link here..
- “Rousseau, Jean-Jacques: The Social Contract,” January 20, 2005, link here.