The Society of Fellows hosts the Thursday Lecture Series (TLS), which runs regularly throughout the academic year. The Fall Semester TLS, our Fellows present their own work, chaired by Columbia faculty.

On "Black Monsters": Providence, Allegory, and Race-making

Lecture by Eli Cumings
Chaired by Eleanor B. Johnson

This lecture introduces a persistent and pernicious line of thought in the textual culture of Reformation England, whereby black Africans were constituted as legible signs (and explicitly 'monsters') created for the admonition of white Christian observers. By examining the tenuous justifications for and practical applications of this designation, the lecture delineates the mechanics of one form of early modern race-making, as well as articulating the centrality of theology (and, in particular, providence) to thinking about human difference in the period.

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