Central to what distinguishes modernity from the ages preceding it was the development of a new conception and new representations of the self. This course traces the history of the modern self in its European cultural expressions and through cross-cultural contact with non-Western cultures. We will begin in the Renaissance and consider the rise of the individual artist, the development of portraiture and self-portraiture as distinct artistic genres, and the literary genres of the novels and the essay. We will also examine crucial early modern developments such as the colonization of the New World, the rise of Protestantism, and the Counter-Reformation, through the lenses of art, philosophy, and literature. Instrumental to the development of the self in early modern Europe was the construct of the “other”. Hence, we will also engage with conceptions of the self and the world, as evidenced through cross-cultural exchange between Western and non-Western cultures.
