Thread by @westhighlandrim

The way the early Americas are erased by the new AP World History curriculum is really something.

Course starts with a 14 section unit spanning 1200-1450 ce. Everywhere except the Americas there are "developments" and "networks of exchange" happening.
#whapchat

According to CB you get 1 to 2 class periods on one theme: "state building" in the Maya, Inca, Mexica, Chaco, Mesa Verde, & Cahokia regions. Afroeurasia includes KCs on religion, innovations, econ, & trade networks. Africa does get space in the Exchanges unit.

It's bad.

For 1200-1450 some teachers use Schaffer's Southernization to counter narratives of western exceptionalism & to show European reliance on Eastern goods, sci, tech for their jumpstart into colonialism. It's great for this.

The same thing needs to be applied to the early Americas

Shaffer wrote about this herself in her 1992 book, Native Americans Before 1492: Moundbuilding Centers of the Eastern Woodlands. Some excerpts from her preface:

The Columbian Exchange can be taught in similar way to Southernization. However, before you can do that students need ample context for what was happening in the Americas prior to colonialism in terms of science, tech, agriculture, religion, economics, exchange, etc.

"American foods became staple crops". Yes but what is left out...maize was hybridized, manipulated, modified by indg Americans over time. Also potatoes, cacao, tobacco, peppers, tomatoes, vanilla, plums, cotton. These are the products of indigenous scientists and botanists.

The Inca and pre-Inca had agricultural research stations in the Andes where they could experiment with different soil types and microclimates. There are hundreds of different types of potatoes which were bred for different growing zones.

Peruvian farmers are applying this scientific knowledge to global climate change

theguardian.com/environment/20…

While at the same time in the US, Andean derived potatoes are being grown by prison labor in Idaho

idahopress.com/news/local/lod…

A good non-academic starting place for looking at these ideas is Weatherford's Indian Givers. Here he discusses the uses of vulcanized rubber by the Quechua. Also, Charles Mann's 1491 & 1493 are great

Some other things to consider- writing and documentation systems. Inca Quipu, Maya books, wampum from the Onondaga Nation. If you are discussing the spread of Arabic, dev of Swahili and Cyrillic, etc include the American developments and traditions

Water systems are talked about in Afroeurasia- Roman aqueducts, the Grand Canal, qanats. In the Americas, Andean irrigation systems are still flowing. The Mexica had canals & aqueducts in Tenochtitlan. Casa Grande site in AZ shows canals supplying large populations in the desert

N America is really left out of WH. Colonists claimed that earthworks were everything from the work of the Lost Tribes of Israel to aliens.

The magnitude & diffusion of the earthworks are what blew Shaffer's mind. Give context to Cahokia with the entire Mississippian system

You can show your local connections to this. In the Memphis area we have what are called De Soto mounds/village and Chucalissa mounds/village.

We have the Pinson complex nearby, the tallest earthwork in the region. It has very precise astronomical alignments for the observation of stars, planets, the sun, the moon...in other words they were studying astronomy. Lidar reveals walls, causeways, mounds, waterworks, etc.

Some amazing material history that shows astronomical studies in Western North America

There were also widespread cultural exchanges and systems in North America. The sport of chunkee was played throughout Eastern N America, as depicted by Catlin and from the courts excavated at sites like Cahokia.

Lacrosse too

To end this... include the history of the early Americas just like you do any other region: holistically. Include economics, social structures, ag systems, culture, trade, etc.

Why is CB so bad at this?