Teaching the Transatlantic Eighteenth Century

By now, there are a number of anthologies available to help instructors determine what transatlantic material to teach, but none that engage why and how to teach it, or what teaching it can do for us, our students, and our profession. Rather than simply providing reading lists or a collection of anecdotes about lesson plans, Teaching the Transatlantic Eighteenth Century emphasizes theorizing critical engagements with, interdisciplinary focus on, and the transformative potential of Transatlantic Studies.

The primary market for Teaching the Transatlantic Eighteenth Century is university, college, and community college professors, researchers, and students, with three specific subgroups:

1. Teachers new to Transatlantic Studies

Teachers coming to Transatlantic Studies for the first time will find both suggestions for materials or topical units to be integrated into existing courses (e.g., a unit on transatlantic exchange that could figure in an eighteenth-century literature survey course) and ideas for developing new courses altogether.

2. Teachers already teaching and/or researching in the field of Transatlantic Studies

Such scholars will find material to broaden their approach to familiar courses and subjects: inter- or cross-disciplinary focus, new texts, successful clusterings of texts or themes or approaches, and ideas for team-teaching or linking courses with other faculty.

3. Teachers involved in Transatlantic Studies programs, especially those that focus on contemporary/Post WWII context (e.g., at the University of Dundee, the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill, and the University of Birmingham)

Teaching the Transatlantic Eighteenth Century will provide historical context for current geopolitical studies: perspective on the dynamics and historical and political forces occurring in the eighteenth century and contributing to 19th-, 20th-, and 21st-century politics, nations, and paradigms.