Class Topic: First Reports

Historical Analysis:

• How does the process of European “discovery” of the Americas unfold? How do Iberian explorers present New World territories to their rulers?
• Historical Communication: How does Meléndez structure her chapter to communicate her argument?
• Dr.Meléndez’s argument: How does material culture shape first impressions?
• Textual Analysis: Columbus’ journal

Dr. Mariselle Meléndez

• Professor of Colonial Spanish American literatures and Cultures at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Uses clothing as a “text” to understand colonial identities and power relationships

Writing Strategies:

• Clear statement of argument at the beginning
• Roadmap for chapter (not necessary for short essay)
• Historiography:
  • They Say, I say strategy (page 18 engagement with Walter Mingolo)
• Clearly states links between argument and evidence
• Conclusion that reiterates central argument, explains the “so what?”

Christopher Columbus’

• General misconceptions- people knew the earth was not flat, they just didn’t know the dimensions

German Views of Iberian Dress: Christoph Weiditz (1529)

• emphasizes the colonialist viewpoint in writings
• categories of difference
• emphasis on women in culture: nudity, identity, power
• the role of clothing in identity and power
  • Nudity in Catholicism:
    • Adam and Eve -> innocence
    • Sex (nudity = sexual available)