The New Worlds of the Indian and the English
March 14-15, 2009
The purpose of this activity was to bring students together from Anthropology and History to share perspectives developed in their respective First Year Seminar and Honors Seminars while visiting historic sites. During a two day weekend trip, students traveled to Roanoke, North Carolina, for their first encounter with the archaeological evidence left by the first visitors from England. They then traveled to Jamestown, where they met with an onsite curator for a “behind the scenes” look at the accumulation and interpretation of archaeological artifacts specific to Jamestown. Honors Seminar students in History made presentations based on the primary documents they’d studied for class to the students of the First Year Seminar in Anthropology. Each class discussed with the other how the different perspectives of the English and the American Indians created sometimes contesting beliefs about early contact and settlement. Professors Wayne Lee (History) and Margaret Scarry (Anthropology) accompanied the students on the trip.
 Courses involved:
ANTH 054
First Year Seminar: The Indians’ New Worlds: Southeastern Histories from 1200 to 1800
Margaret Scarry
From the 16th century on, Indians living in Southeastern North America met and interacted with European explorers and colonists. The encounters between Indians and Europeans changed the lives of all concerned, but the changes took place in and were shaped by existing cultures. Southern history generally emphasizes the colonial and civil war eras and is told from the perspectives of the explorers and colonists. In this seminar, we will use archaeological and documentary evidence to explore Southern history from the Indians’ perspective.
HIST 179H
Honors Seminar: Early English Exploration and Colonization
Wayne Lee
This course is designed to immerse the student in the primary sources of the English and Native American experience of colonization and exploration in the sixteenth centuries. We will seek to understand the mindset of the English who appeared on the eastern seaboard of North America, how they understood the land and people they found, and also how Native Americans came to understand them. Students will learn techniques particular to research in that era, including the available sources, early modern printing, accounting, and paleography. The course also has an interdisciplinary component, in that students will examine literary, religious, and anthropological approaches to the era in addition to the normal historical works.
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