ENGL289B:
The Rites of Discovery:
science, law, and literature, 1492-1992
Ralph Bauer
1
Professor Ralph Bauer
Lecture: MW 10:00-10:50am
Office Hours: MW 11-11:50 am and by arrangement
Office: Tawes 3126; Email: bauerr@umd.edu
1. Course Description
This is a course not about the history of scientific discoveries but rather about the history
of the concept of ‘discovery’, which originally meant simply to “uncover” or “make
manifest” something but that has come to assume, in modern times, a more narrow
meaning in that the object of discovery must be new or previously unknown. The evolution
of a modern concept of discovery is a story that belongs in part to the history of science, but
in this course we will place this evolution also in the legal context of the history of
European colonialism and cultural encounter with Native peoples in the Americas, Africa,
and Asia. We will trace the history of this idea from the sixteenth-century debate about the
European ‘rights of discovery’ to the 500th anniversary of Columbus’s landfall in the New
World in 1992 by exploring primary and secondary sources relating to international law,
science, and literature.
2. Course Goals:
Students will learn to think critically about the cultural contexts of the history of science,
about the history of Western attitudes towards non-Western (“Native”) peoples, and about
the colonial history of foundational European concepts of international law. They will be
encouraged to engage with the contemporary legacies of the European ‘doctrine of
discovery’ in contemporary disputes over indigenous rights to land, natural resources, and
labor here in the United States and in the world. For this purpose, students will read some
of the key primary sources elaborating the notion of the ‘rights of discovery’. They will
learn to articulate their question and ideas about these issues in several paper assignments.
3. Texts (on order at the UMD Book Center and the Maryland Book Exchange)







Christopher Columbus, The Four Voyages (Penguin Classics; ISBN-13: 9780140442175)
Bartolomé de las Casas, A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies (Penguin
Classics, ISBN-13: 978-0140445626)
Thomas More, Utopia (Penguin Classics, ISBN-13: 978-0140449105)
Alejo Carpentier, The Harp and the Shadow (Mercury House, ISBN-13: 9781562790240)
Gerald Vizenor, The Heirs of Columbus (Wesleyan, ISBN-13: 978-0819562494)
Vine Deloria, Custer Died for your Sins (U of Oklahoma P, ISBN-13: 978-0806121291)
Additional materials will be made available electronically via the on-line course
syllabus
2
4. Assignments and Grading:






Papers: There will be two 5-7 page papers of literary/cultural analysis. Each paper
will account for 20% of your final grade. For paper deadlines and topics, see the
class syllabus. Each paper will involve one preliminary draft and one final draft, due
two weeks apart from one another. The preliminary draft is not graded but required
in order to receive a comment. COMMENTS WILL BE GIVEN ON PRELMINARY
DRAFTS ONLY. NO COMMENTS WILL BE GIVEN ON FINAL DRAFT. Your final draft
will only contain your grade.
A reading journal. One 500-word entry per week (15%).
Short Response Exercises. There will be frequent short response exercises during
lectures and discussions. These exercises will not be individually graded but figured
in collectively with your participation grade.
midterm exam (10%).
final exam (20%). The questions from the final exam will be selected from a study
hand-out, which will be distributed one week before the exam.
Participation (15%). You will be expected to participate in class discussions
frequently. In both lecture and discussion sections, there will be brief writing
exercises in which you will be asked to reflect on your reading. (See "Short
Response Exercises").
5. Attendance
Attendance is expected and will be recorded for consideration in the computation of your
participation grade. You can take up to three unexcused absences without adverse effect on
your participation grade. Beyond the first three, every unexcused absence will affect your
participation grade adversely. In order to have an absence excused for medical, religious, or
other legitimate University-approved reasons, you will have to provide documentation.
6. Academic Integrity
It is important for you to be aware of UMD's policies on academic integrity and of the
consequences of cheating, fabrication, facilitation, and plagiarism. For more information on
the Code of Academic Integrity, please visit
http://www.studenthonorcouncil.umd.edu/whatis.html.
7. Course policy w/r to University's Emergency Preparedness
In case of an extended closure of the University due to an emergency, all course
assignments, lectures, and notes will be posted via email. Papers will be submitted via
email. Discussion sections will meet "virtually" during regular times and communicate via
the On-Line Discussion Forum.
8. Special Needs
3
If you have a registered disability and wish to discuss accommodations with me, please let
me know. Disabilities can be registered through Disability Support Services (4-7682 or 57683 TTY/TDD).
9. COURSE SCHEDULE
(all readings are to be completed by the time they are scheduled for discussion in lecture
and/or discussion section)
WEEK I
Lecture: Introduction, assignments, course policies, and overview.
Lecture: Christopher Columbus‘s ‘Discovery’
Readings: writings from the first, third, and fourth voyages (in paperback)
Discussion Section: readings, lecture, and movie: Ridley Scott, 1492: The Conquest of
Paradise. Watch movie on-line or at Non-print Media Center, Hornbake Library
WEEK II
Lecture: The Rites of Discovery
Readings:
-from Hernando Cortés, Letters from Mexico (on-line)
-from Patricia Seed, Ceremonies of Possession (on-line)
Lecture: The ‘Rights’ of Discovery: the medieval background
Readings:
- from Steven Newcomb, Pagans in the Promised Land: Decoding the Doctrine of Christian
Discovery (on-line)
- from Robert Williams, The American Indian in Western Legal Thought. The Discourse of
Conquest (on-line)
from James Muldoon, Popes, Lawyers, and Infidels: the Church and the Non-Christian World,
1250-1550.
Discussion Section:
readings, lectures, and movies: Werner Herzog, Aguirre, or the Wrath of God. Watch movie
on-line or at Non-print Media Center, Hornbake Library.
4
WEEK III
Lecture: The ‘Rights’ of Discovery: the sixteenth century (I)
Readings:
-selections from Francisco de Vitoria (on-line)
-from Lewis Hanke, Aristotle and the American Indian (on-line)
-Lauren Benton and Benjamin Strauman, “Acquiring Empire by Law.” (on-line)
Lecture: The ‘Rights’ of Discovery: the sixteenth century (II)
Readings:
-from Ferdinand Columbus, The life of the Admiral Christopher Columbus (on-line)
-from Bartolomé de las Casas, A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies (paperback)
-from Anthony Pagden, The Fall of Natural Man: the American Indian and the Origins of
Comparative Ethnology (on-line)
Discussion Section:
Readings, lecture, and movie: Salvador Carrasco, The Other Conquest. Watch movie on-line
or at Non-print Media Center, Hornbake Library
WEEK IV
Lecture: The ‘Shock’ of Discovery I
Readings:
-from Amerigo Vepucci, The Voyages (on-line)
-from Anthony Grafton, New Worlds, Ancient Texts (on-line)
Lecture: The ‘Shock’ of Discovery II
Readings:
-Thomas More, Utopia
-from Anthony Pagden, European Encounters with the New World (on-line)
Discussion Section:
readings, lectures, and movie: Nicolás Echevarria, Cabeza de Vaca. Watch movie on-line or
at Non-print Media Center, Hornbake Library.
WEEK V
Lecture: The Translation of Discovery
-Readings: Walter Ralegh, The discovery of the large, rich, and beautiful empire of Guiana
with a relation of the great and golden city of Manoa (on-line)
Lecture: The Technologies of Discovery
-Readings: from Thomas Harriot, A brief and true report (on-line)
-from Michael Gaudio, Engraving the Savage: the New World and Techniques of Civilization
5
(on-line)
- images: from John White’s watercolors of Roanoke and Theodore de Bry’s engravings.
Discussion Section:
readings, images, and lecture.
DRAFT PAPER I DUE
WEEK VI
Lecture: Sex and Discovery I
Readings:
-from John Smith, The General History of Virginia (on-line)
-from Annette Kolodny, The Lay of the Land (on-line)
-from Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology, and the Scientific Revolution
(on-line)
Lecture: Sex and Discovery II
Readings:
-Samuel Purchas, “Virginia’s Verger” (on-line)
-from Francis Jennings, The Invasion of America (on-line)
Discussion Section:
readings, lecture, and movie: Terence Malik, The New World. Watch movie on-line or at
Non-print Media Center, Hornbake Library.
WEEK VII
Lecture: MIDTERM EXAM
Lecture: The Cult of Discovery
Readings:
-from Francis Bacon, Novum Organum (on-line)
-from Denise Albenese, New World, New Science
Discussion Section:
Readings, lecture, and movie: Peter Greenaway, Prospero’s Books. Watch movie on-line or at
Non-print Media Center, Hornbake Library.
FINAL DRAFT PAPER I DUE
WEEK VIII
Lecture: Religion and Discovery
-from Hernando Ruiz de Alarcon, Treatise on the Heathen Superstitions (on-line)
-from Vine Deloria, Custer Died for your Sins (on-line)
6
Lecture: Witchcraft and Discovery
Readings:
-from Cotton Mather, Wonders of the Invisible World (on-line)
-from Fernando Cervantes, The Devil in the New World (on-line)
Discussion Section:
readings and lecture
WEEK IX
Lecture: Slavery and Discovery
Readings:
-Aphra Behn, Oroonoko (on-line)
-from Marie Louise Pratt, Imperial Eyes (on-line)
Lecture: Property and Discovery
Readings:
-from John Locke, The Second Treatise of Government (on-line)
- Paul Corcoran, “John Locke on the Possession of Land: Native Title vs. the ‘Principle’ of
Vacuum Domicilium.” (on-line)
Discussion Section:
lecture, readings
WEEK X
Lecture: Discovery and Possession in the Pacific
Readings:
-from James Cook, The Journal (on-line)
-from Stuart Banner, Possessing the Pacific (on-line)
Lecture: Nation and Discovery
Readings:
-from Lewis and Clark, The Journal (on-line)
-from Robert Miller, Native America, Discovered and Conquered (on-line)
Discussion Section:
lecture and readings
WEEK XI
Lecture: Manifest Destiny and Discovery I
-From John Marshall’s ruling in Johnson v. M’Intosh.
7
-James Muldoon, “John Marshall and the Rights of the Indians.” (on-line)
Lecture: Manifest Destiny and Discovery II
Readings: James Fenimore Cooper, Last of the Mohicans
Discussion Section:
readings, lecture
WEEK XII
Lecture: Cooper, cont.
Lecture: Cooper, cont.
Discussion Section:
readings and lecture
WEEK XIII
Lecture: Magic and Discovery (I)
Readings: Alejo Carpentier, The Harp and the Shadow
Lecture: Magic and Discovery (II)
Readings: Carpentier, cont.
Discussion Section:
Readings and lecture.
DRAFT PAPER II DUE
WEEK XIV
Lecture: The Invention of Discovery
Readings:
-from Edmundo O’Gorman, The Invention of America (on-line)
Lecture: The Quincentenary of Discovery (I)
Readings:
-from Kirpatrick Sale, The Conquest of Paradise (on-line)
-from selected land-dispute cases.
Discussion Section:
visit to the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian
8
WEEK XV
Lecture: The Quincentenary of Discovery (II)
Readings:
-Gerald Vizenor, The Heirs of Columbus.
Lecture: The Quincentenary of Discovery (III)
Readings:
-Gerald Vizenor, The Heirs of Columbus
Discussion Section:
readings, lecture.
FINAL EXAM DAY: FINAL DRAFT OF PAPER II DUE
9