Whatever else it did, British colonial expansion generated a lot of fascinating, disturbing cultural material-travel narratives by British government and company officials, by common sailors and soldiers, and by colonized subjects; natural histories by amateur and professional biologists and anthropologists; slave narratives; novels, plays, and poetry that dramatized slave uprisings and shipwreck; and polemical debates about slavery and empire. This course will examine a rich array of texts and images that suggest the disruptive and transformative effects colonial enterprises had on ways of seeing and knowing. Readings may include: Aphra Behn's Oroonoko; travel narratives by William Smith, Mungo Park, and Dean Mahomet; memoirs by Olaudah Equiano and Ignatius Sancho; John Gabriel Stedman's Life in an Eighteenth-Century Slave Society; poetry by William Blake and Phyllis Wheatley; and political tracts by Thomas Clarkson and Ottobah Cuguano. We will also look at visual materials from botanical prints to orientalist paintings. During the course of the term, the class will actively participate in defining the "subjects" we decide to explore: on the third class of each week, students will meet in smaller groups to discuss short papers members of the group distribute in advance. Format: seminar. Requirements: attendance, active participation, a short essay due every other week, and two longer (4-6 pp.) essays. Prerequisite: 100-level English course or permission of instructor. Enrollment limit: 18 (expected: 18). Preference to sophomores and juniors. (1700-1900)