American Civilization (Master Year 1 / Fall)

This seminar offers to approach the history of the North-American space through cultural productions that have been made near and about rivers that cross the subcontinent. Rivers have been at the same time - and for different social groups - borders and communication axes, means to escape or to oppress; the river feeds but it also destroys when it overflows. It also allows us to understand under a new light the relationships between the people that inhabited those spaces that have ultimately become the United States of America. Starting with eleventh century populations of the Mississippi and San Juan basins and up to the present day, each class will focus on a major river stream. By analyzing its history, the visual and literary production of the different social groups that lived around it, this seminar will tentatively define another geography of the United States that goes beyond the Manifest Destiny.