This seminar will examine the role of Western ideologies of writing, literature, singing, and music in the formation of European views of others over the past half-millenium. We will attempt to understand the powers and effects of these ideologies and to envision other conceptions of inscription and utterance than they offer. The specific cases-in-point pursued in our discussions will concern indigenous and colonial Latin American cultures from the 16th to the 18th centuries, though students will be free to choose areas outside this spatial and temporal locus for their individual research.

Secondary readings will include works by Elizabeth Boone, Gordon Brotherston, Michel de Certeau, Eric Cheyfitz, Stephen Greenblatt, Peter Hulme, Myra Jehlen, Walter Mignolo, Anthony Pagden, and others.

Students will be expected to discuss their research in class and complete a paper of around 20 pages.  There is no prerequisite of musical expertise.