Between ‘Deadly Doses’ & ‘Miraculous Cures’: Reassessing Poisons and Antidotes in the Atlantic World

Speakers:

Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Columbia University
Benjamin Breen, Columbia University

This talk examines the role of poisons and antidotes in slave societies throughout the Atlantic world. It will compare accounts of poisons, curses, and remedies used by Africans and indigenous Americans in regions including Virginia, Angola, and Guiana, questioning how European fears of tropical poisoning shaped colonization and the construction of natural knowledge in the seventeenth and eighteenth century Atlantic basin. The goal is to better integrate the history of poisons and antidotes within both the history of slavery and within the history of the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment.

Open exclusively to Columbia faculty, students, and invited guests.
All others wishing to attend, please email [email protected] describing your interest and requesting registration

Please visit the Society of Fellows website for more information.