On savage shores how indigenous Americans discovered Europe  🎤with Dr Caroline Dodds Pennock.

Presented by: Rocio Carvajal Food anthropologist, culture & gastronomy educator.

Episode 85

This episode features a conversation with Dr Caroline Dodds Pennock about her latest book: On Savage Shores: How Indigenous Americans Discovered Europe” combining a critical perspective that questions the historiography, narratives, and consequences of marginalizing the role of indigenous people in the colonial and post-colonial contexts, with a critical view of the complex history of Mexico’s formation and the silenced voices and stories that continue to bleed through the cracks of power structures.

We talk about the challenges of writing historical narratives about indigenous travelers, the types of historical research will we be looking at in the future, and what are the obstacles that decolonial historical research has to tackle in order to diversify and enrich present and future scholarship.

Dr Caroline has a degree in Ancient and Modern History from Corpus Christi College, Oxford, a master’s in Women’s Studies and a PhD in Aztec history. Her academic track record started in Cambridge where she worked as a lecturer and Research Fellow, then moved to the University of Leicester where she was a Lecturer in Early Modern History and is now a Senior Lecturer in International History at Sheffield University which is just down the road from me.

She is the author of many articles and chapters and has published books including:

“Bonds of Blood: Gender, Lifecycle and Sacrifice in Aztec Culture” and her most recent: “On Savage Shores: How Indigenous Americans Discovered Europe” (2023) which is the one that brought us here today.

Contact Dr Caroline:

• Website: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/history/people/academic/caroline-dodds-pennock    

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/carolinepennock    

Email: pennock@sheffield.ac.uk 

Works and projects featuring Dr Dodds:

• Dodds Pennock C. (2020). Aztecs Abroad? Uncovering the Early Indigenous Atlantic. American Historical Review, 125(3), 787-814. 

• Dodds Pennock Caroline.  Bonds of Blood: Gender, Lifecycle and Sacrifice in Aztec Culture. https://tinyurl.com/25x7z8s8

• Dodds Pennock Caroline. On Savage Shores: How Indigenous Americans Discovered. https://tinyurl.com/2b5vu34m

• Blackbird. Leila K.  and Dodds Pennock, Caroline. (2021). How making space for indigenous peoples changes history. In: Lipscomb, S. and Carr, H., (eds.) What Is History, Now? Weidenfeld & Nicolson. https://tinyurl.com/2mxxgs8w 

• Netflix’s “Empire Games” episode 6 The Aztecs, Clash of Empires (2018)

• Documentary: “Lost Pyramids of the Aztecs” (Channel 4) (2020) Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/22t2o6xb  

Podcast episodes:

• You’re Dead to Me: “The Columbian Exchange”. https://tinyurl.com/2cpsshws  (March 2023)

• In Our Time: Ep. “The Valladolid Debate”. https://tinyurl.com/292p255q with: Caroline Dodds Pennock, John Edwards, and Julia McClure.

 

Reading list & recommendations, many of which were mentioned during the conversation.

 

• Blackhawk, Ned. Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History. https://tinyurl.com/2zg9z2et 

• Cantares mexicanos: Songs of the Aztecs (Translated, introduction and commentary by John Bierhorst) Download a free copy here: https://tinyurl.com/2p3ad5ms  

• Raff, Jennifer. Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas. https://tinyurl.com/2gfgmzmt

• Reséndez, Andrés. The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America. https://tinyurl.com/2pned9e8

• Steeves, Paulette F. C. The Indigenous Paleolithic of the Western Hemisphere Hardcover.  https://tinyurl.com/2furqpb4

• Thrush. Coll. Indigenous London: Native Travelers at the Heart of Empire. https://tinyurl.com/2ggykzkf

• Unión de Cooperativas Tosepan Titataniske, et al. Códice Masewal: Plan de vida, soñando los próximos cuarenta años.  https://tinyurl.com/2p7qdz89

• van Deusen, Nancy E. Global Indios: The Indigenous Struggle for Justice in Sixteenth-Century Spain (Narrating Native Histories). https://tinyurl.com/2gkw7k74

• De Rojas, José Luis. (2009). “Boletos sencillos y pasajes redondos. Indígenas y mestizos americanos que visitaron España.” En: Revista De Indias, 69(246), pp. 185–206. Disponible en: https://tinyurl.com/27uw2qtc

• Townsend, Camilla. (2003). “Burying the White Gods: New Perspectives on the Conquest of Mexico.” In: The American Historical Review, Volume 108, Issue 3, June 2003, pp.659–687.  https://tinyurl.com/2974zvra

• Gómez García, Lidia E. Los anales nahuas de la ciudad de Puebla de los Ángeles, siglos XVI y XVIII. Escribiendo historia indígena como aliados del rey católico de España. Puebla:  H. Ayuntamiento de Puebla, UNESCO, Rutgers, 2019. (Free) https://tinyurl.com/23js9gvx

• Kistler, S. Ashley. (2010). Discovering Aj Pop B’atz’: Collaborative Ethnography and the Exploration of Q’eqchi’ Personhood. https://tinyurl.com/2hpkt8pe

• (Video) La otra esclavitud. Presenta: Andrés Reséndez. https://tinyurl.com/2o4dfoj7

• (Video) Un-Erasing the Indigenous Paleolithic with Dr. Paulette Steeves. https://tinyurl.com/2qr89pnk

• (Video) Dr. Jennifer A. Raff, A Genetic History of the Americas (Pacific Northwest Archaeological Society) https://tinyurl.com/2jn8dyqg

•  (Video) Explicación de Miguel León-Portilla sobre los Cantares mexicanos. https://tinyurl.com/2ny7p5kp

• (Video) 1521 Quienes fueron Martin de la Cruz y Juan Badiano, los autores del codice: Libellus de medicinalibus indorum herbis (Libro sobre las hierbas medicinales de los pueblos indígenas)  https://tinyurl.com/2h6syfx7  

• Valencia Suarez, Maria Fernanda. (2009). “Tenochtitlan and the Aztecs in the English Atlantic world, 1500–1603.” In: Atlantic Studies, pp.  277-301. https://tinyurl.com/2gvjo7mj  

• Smith, Michael. (2016). At Home with the Aztecs: An Archaeologist Uncovers Their Daily Life. https://tinyurl.com/2h6lg374

• de la Puente Luna., José Carlos. (2018) Andean Cosmopolitans: Seeking Justice and Reward at the Spanish Royal Court. https://tinyurl.com/2jd7eobz

 

Podcast episodes:

• Kingdom, Empire and Plus Ultra: conversations on the history of Portugal and Spain, 1415-1898, episode: “Mestizaje and the Frontiers of Race and Caste in Colonial Mexico” with Professor Ben Vinson III . https://tinyurl.com/2kk8meec

• Ben Franklin’s World Podcast, episode 132: Coll Thrush: Native Travelers at the Heart of the Empire. https://tinyurl.com/2qxqk4vv