Date

Topic & Reading

 

1/17
Introduction to the course

1/24
Cartography in Early Modernity I

 

Objective:

 

In this crash course in the history of European maps and mapmaking during the early modern period, we will try to acquire a basic understanding of important themes, events, mapmakers and maps.   

 

Required Reading:

 

Buisseret, David. The Mapmaker's Quest: Depicting New Worlds in Renaissance Europe. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.

 

Recommended Reading:

 

Harley, J. Brian. "The Map and the Development of the History of Cartography." The History of Cartography, Vol. 1: Cartography in Prehistoric, Ancient, and Medieval Europe and the Mediterranean. Edited by J. Brian Harley and David Woodward. Chicago: U of Chicago Press, 1987.

O'Gorman, Edmundo. La invenci—n de AmŽrica. Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Econ—mica, 1986.

 

Thrower, Norman J.W. Maps and Civilization: Cartography in Culture and Society. Revised edition of Maps and Man (1972) Chicago: U of Chicago Press, 1996.  (Relevant chapter available on Toolkit as ÒThrower.Ptolemy.pdfÓ)

 

 

Additional Resources:

 

The various volumes of The History of Cartography published by the University of Chicago Press.

 

1/31
Cartography in Early Modernity II

 

Objective:

 

We will continue our crash course by examining materials in the Special Collections Library.   

 

Required Reading:

 

Begin reading for 2/7.

 

2/7
Theorizing Maps and Mapping I

 

Objective:

 

Turning from the history of cartography to its theory, we will develop a critical vocabulary with which to think about the ÒopacityÓ of maps.  We will begin by reading some theoretical works of a general nature, which will provide the necessary background for our reading during the following two weeks.

 

Required Reading (Available on Toolkit):

 

Barrow, Peter.  ÒPostructuralism and Deconstruction.Ó  Beginning Theory.  Manchester University Press, 2002. 

 

Derrida, Jacques.  ÒStructure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences.Ó  The Structuralist Controversy.  Johns Hopkins UP, 1972.

 

Foucault, Michel. ÒTruth and Power.Ó  Power/knowledge : selected interviews and other writings, 1972-1977. Edited by Colin Gordon. New York: Pantheon Books, 1980.

 

Rabinow, Paul.  Introduction to The Foucault Reader.  Edited by Paul Rabinow.  New York: Pantheon Books, 1984.

 

White, Hayden. "The Historical Text as Literary Artifact."  Tropics of Discourse: Essays in Cultural Criticism. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1978.

 

 

Recommended Reading:

 

Culler, Jonathon. Deconstruction : critical concepts in literary and cultural studies.  Routledge, 2003.

 

Eribon, Didier.  Michel Foucault.  Translated by Betsy Wing.  Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1991.

 

2/14
Theorizing Maps and Mapping II

 

Objective:

 

We will continue to develop a critical vocabulary with which to think about the ÒopacityÓ of maps by turning to theoretical works that are specifically about maps and mapping.

 

Required Reading:

 

Harley, J. Brian.  ÒDeconstructing the Map.Ó The New Nature of Maps: Essays in the History of Cartography. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001. (Toolkit)

 

Jacob, Christian. The Sovereign Map: Theoretical Approaches in Cartography Throughout History. Translated by Tom Conley and Ed Dahl. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006.

 

Recommended Reading:

 

Andrews, J. H. Meaning, Knowledge and Power in the Map Philosophy of J. B. Harley. Trinity Papers in Geography. Vol. 6. Dublin: Department of Geography, Trinity College, 1994.

 

Casey, Edward S. Representing Place: Landscape Painting and Maps. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2002.\

 

Harley, J. B., and Paul Laxton. The New Nature of Maps: Essays in the History of Cartography. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.

Mignolo, Walter. "Colonial Situations, Geographical Discourses and Territorial Representations: Toward a Diatopical Understanding of Colonial Semiosis." Dispositio XIV.36-38 (1991): 93-140.

 

Pickles, John. A History of Spaces: Cartographic Reason, Mapping, and the Geo-Coded World. London: New York: Routledge, 2004.

 

2/21
Theorizing Maps and Mapping III

 

Objective:

 

To apply our theoretical tools to actual maps by meeting in Special Collections and discussing selected early modern cartographic texts. 

 

2/28
Theorizing Maps and Mapping IV

 

Objective:

 

To extend our understanding of maps and mapping in early modernity by looking at maps drawn in a non-Western context.   

 

Required Reading:

 

Mundy, Barbara.  The Mapping of New Spain: Indigenous Cartography and the Maps of the Relaciones Geogr‡ficas.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.

 

Recommended Reading:

 

Woodward, David, and G. Malcolm Lewis. Cartography in the Traditional African, American, Arctic, Australian, and Pacific Societies. The History of Cartography, v. 2, bk. 3. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.

 

3/7
Spring Break

3/14
Cartography and Literature: Historiography, Empire, and Space

Objective:

 

Turning from the history and theory of cartography to the broader discursive practices of early modernity, we will examine how a representative text from Spanish historiography of the Indies maps the Americas.   

 

Required Reading:

 

  1. CortŽs, Hern‡n.  Cartas de relaci—n.  Edited by Angel Delgado G—mez.  Madrid: Castalia, 1993.  (Cartas 1, 2, y 5)
    OR
    CortŽs, Hern‡n.      Letters from Mexico.  Translated by Anthony Pagden.  New York: Grossman, 1971.  (Letters 1, 2, and 5)

 

  1. Certeau, Michel de.  ÒSpatial Stories.Ó  The Practice of Everyday Life.  Translated by Steven Rendall.  University of California Press, 1988  (Toolkit)

 

 

Recommended Reading:

 

Elliott, John Huxtable. "CortŽs, Vel‡squez and Charles V." Letters from Mexico, by Hern‡n CortŽs. Translated by Anthony Pagden. New York: Grossman Publishers, 1971. xi-xxviii.

 

----------. "The Mental World of Hern‡n CortŽs."  Spain and its World, 1500-1700. New Haven: Yale UP, 1989.

 

Lestringant, Frank. "Rabelais et le rŽcit toponymique." Ecrire le monde ˆ la Renaissance: Quinze Žtudes sur Rabelais, Postel, Bodin et la littŽrature gŽographique. Caen: Editions du Paradigme, 1993. 109-27.

 

Mundy, Barbara. "Mapping the Aztec Capital: The 1524 Nuremburg Map of Tenochtitlan, Its Sources and Meanings." Imago Mundi 50 (1998): 11-33.

 

Polo, Marco.  The Travels.  (Sample from any edition available to you.)

 

Padr—n, Ricardo.  ÒMapping New Spain.Ó  The Spacious Word: Cartography, Literature and Empire in Early Modern Spain.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004. 

 

3/21
Class Cancelled

3/28
Cartography and Literature: Epic Poetry, Empire, and Space

Objective:

 

We will extend our understanding of the possibilities and limitations of examining literature in a cartographic context by reading two early modern Spanish verse compositions. 

 

Required Reading:

 

  1. Ercilla, Alonso de, Part II of La Araucana.  Madrid: C‡tedra, 1993. (Clemons Reserve)
    OR
    Ercilla, Alonso de.  Part II of     The Araucaniad.  Translated by Charles Maxwell Lancaster.  Nashville: Vanderbilt UP, 1945.  (Clemons Reserve)

 

  1. G—ngora, Luis de.  Soledades.  Madrid: Castalia, 1994.  Verses 182-221, 366-506 of the Soledad primera. (Clemons Reserve)
    OR
    G—ngora y Argote, Luis de.     The Solitudes of Luis de G—ngora. Trans. Gilbert Farm Cunningham. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1968. Verses 182-221, 366-506 of the First Solitude. (Clemons Reserve)

  2. Conley, Tom.  The Self Made Map.  Minneapolis: U of Minnesota Press, 1996.  1-61.  (Toolkit)

 

Recommended Reading:

 

Miller, Dean A. ÒThe Framework of Adventure.Ó The Epic Hero. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000.

 

Nicolopulos, James R. The Poetics of Empire in the Indies: Prophecy and Imitation in La Araucana and Os Lus’adas. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State UP, 2000.

 

Padron, Ricardo.  ÒBetween Scylla and Caribdis.Ó  The Spacious Word: Cartography, Literature and Empire in Early Modern Spain.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004.  (Toolkit)

 

------.  ÒAgainst Apollo: G—ngoraÕs Soledad primera and Imperial Cartography.Ó  MLQ (Forthcoming).  (Toolkit)

 

 

4/4
Cartography and Literature: Epic Poetry, Empire, and Space II

Objective:

 

We will extend our understanding of the possibilities and limitations of examining literature in a cartographic context by reading two early modern Spanish verse compositions. 

 

Required Reading:

 

 

  1. G—ngora, Luis de.  Soledades.  Madrid: Castalia, 1994.  Verses 182-221, 366-506 of the Soledad primera. (Clemons Reserve)
    OR
    G—ngora y Argote, Luis de.     The Solitudes of Luis de G—ngora. Trans. Gilbert Farm Cunningham. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1968. Verses 182-221, 366-506 of the First Solitude. (Clemons Reserve)

  2. Conley, Tom.  The Self Made Map.  Minneapolis: U of Minnesota Press, 1996.  1-61.  (Toolkit)

 

Recommended Reading:

 

Miller, Dean A. ÒThe Framework of Adventure.Ó The Epic Hero. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000.

 

Nicolopulos, James R. The Poetics of Empire in the Indies: Prophecy and Imitation in La Araucana and Os Lus’adas. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State UP, 2000.

 

Padron, Ricardo.  ÒBetween Scylla and Caribdis.Ó  The Spacious Word: Cartography, Literature and Empire in Early Modern Spain.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004.  (Toolkit)

 

------.  ÒAgainst Apollo: G—ngoraÕs Soledad primera and Imperial Cartography.Ó  MLQ (Forthcoming).  (Toolkit)

 

 

4/11
Cartography and Literature: Staging the Map

Objective:

 

We will extend our understanding of the possibilities and limitations of examining literature in a cartographic context by reading a work of Elizabethan theater. 

 

Required Reading:

 

Marlowe, Christopher.  Tamburlaine. 

 

Gillies, John. Shakespeare and the Geography of Difference. New York: Cambridge UP, 1994.  1-70.  (Toolkit)

 

4/18
Cartography and Literature: Cartographic Allegories / Allegorical Cartographies

Objective:

 

We will extend our understanding of the possibilities and limitations of examining literature in a cartographic context by reading a major piece of Renaissance allegory with strong cartographic dimensions. 

 

Required Reading:

 

Sydney, Philip.  The Faerie Queen.  (Toolkit)

 

Erickson, Wayne.  ÒThe Epic World of The Faerie Queen.Ó  Mapping the Faerie Queen: Quest Structures and the World of the Poem.  New York: Garland, 1996.  59-86.  (Toolkit)

 

4/25
Student Presentations

5/4
Final Papers Due