Free Thinking

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Free Thinking: Aztecs and Otherness

Aztecs and Otherness

BBC Radio 4 - Free Thinking, Aztecs and Otherness

Caroline Dodds Pennock discusses how Aztecs, Inuit, Mayans and others discovered Europe.

A new history flips the story of discovery from Columbus in the New World to Aztecs at the court of Charles V and Inuit harpooning ducks on the River Avon. John Gallagher hosts.

Henry VIII's encounter with Brazilian royalty, Inuit hunting in the Somerset countryside, Aztecs at the court of Charles V: Caroline Dodds Pennock's research flips history to focus on the impact of indigenous Americans on early modern Europe. And how is this kind of approach influencing museum displays? Anthropologist Adam Kuper has written a history of The Museum of Other People, charting the changing ethnological approaches to colonialism, cultural appropriation, and scientific authority. Plus musicologist Rupert Till has co-created a virtual sound map of the ancient Mexican city of Teotihuacán. John Gallagher hosts.

On Savage Shores: How Indigenous Americans Discovered Europe by Caroline Dodds Pennock is out now and can also be found serialised on BBC Sounds. 
The Museum of Other People: From Colonial Acquisitions to Cosmopolitan Exhibitions by Adam Kuper is published next week.

You might also be interested in conversations available as Arts & Ideas downloads asking What language did Columbus speak ?  https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0d0tk22 
What kind of history should we write ? with Peter Frankopan and Maya Jasanoff https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06sfl58 
The Mayflower and Native American history with Sarah Churchwell,  Kathryn Napier Gray & Lauren Working https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08r76kl 
First Encounters: Nandini Das and Claudia Rogers share their research https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000kpgp

Producer in Salford: Ruth Thomson

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