Commerce and religion 1500-1700 Argues that small numbers of migrant merchants and missionaries, by opening pathways and beachheads, played as important a role in the history of migration as did the larger migrations that later followed in their paths. Unit 4 . Explores the history of migration through the family. Contrasts the families created in areas where migrants were mostly male with areas where whole families migrated. Carrying and borrowing culture, 1650-1750 Working from a distinction between material culture and expressive culture, this narrative focuses on the different patterns of connection and change in culture.
Examples emphasize food, dress, language, and music.
Forced migration, 1700-1850 Describes the enslavement of Africans in the Atlantic conext of such other cases of compulsion as the migration of convicts and the enslavement of Gypsies, Russians, and Thais. The analysis explores the new systems of power and dominance created through forced migration. Two centuries of accelerated migration left peoples around the world seeking new identities to fit with their new location. The rise of identities and classifications by race and ethnicity was one result. This unit emphasizes the importance of migration in understanding the rise of nationalism.