A Voyage ‘Round the World and Back in Time
Andy Colpitts
A Voyage ‘Round the World and Back in Time
Andy Colpitts
A Voyage ‘Round the World and Back in Time
Andy Colpitts
A Voyage ‘Round the World and Back in Time
Andy Colpitts
From Fathoms to Footlights: Whaling and Theatrical Lighting at the Turn of the Nineteenth Century
Andy Colpitts
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Our Team
Angelica Aguirre
My name is Angelica Aguirre. I am a graduate student. I usually like to bake. My favorite book in the class is Sacred Gifts, Profane Pleasures: A History of Tobacco and Chocolate in the Atlantic World by Marcy Norton.
Madison Albano
Madison Albano is a Junior studying English, History, and Spanish. In her free time, she enjoys painting, cooking, and writing poetry. Her favorite book from the class is Jennifer L. Anderson’s Mahogany.
Matthew Burnett
I am a senior in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, majoring in Biological Sciences with a concentration in Marine Biology and minoring in History. My favorite book we read this semester was American Baroque: Pearls and the Nature of Empire, 1492-1700 by Molly A. Warsh.
Jed Cogan
I am a senior graduating with a history major and a minor in business. Following graduation, I will be working as an Investment Banking Analyst in New York City. My favorite book that this semester was Judith Carney's Black Rice. Carney illustrates how West African slaves, brought against their will to the Americas, transferred with them knowledge systems that facilitated the cultivation of rice in South Carolina.
Andy Colpitts
Andy Colpitts is a PhD student in the department of Performing and Media Arts. His research focuses on popular performance styles in rural locales and the construction of group identity through spectatorship. When not studying, he can be found cooking, listening to musicals or NPR, or in a theatre. His favorite book this semester (though it's very hard to choose!) was Marcy Norton's Sacred Gifts, Profane Pleasures.
Margaux Delaney
I’m a first year English PhD student at Cornell. My primary research interests are sixteenth and seventeenth century romance, women’s writing, and the Sidney circle. My favorite book this semester was Potosí: The Silver City that Changed the World by Kris Lane for its compelling descriptions of life in the early modern city.
Zach Dulman
I am a Junior in the College of Arts & Sciences, majoring in history and minoring in business. After college, I plan to pursue a career in finance. I am originally from Chappaqua, NY. My favorite book that we read this semester is Sacred Gifts, Profane Pleasures by Marcy Norton. I love Aztec history and pre-Columbian American empires, and Norton does a fantastic job illuminating many of the cultural aspects of those societies.
Yi Yu Fu
I am a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. I am studying history and I’m very excited to be presenting my commodity exhibit. My favorite book in this class was American Baroque, which details the grim story behind the seemingly beautiful exteriors of pearls. I am so glad to be taking this journey into the Atlantic with everyone this semester and to learn the stories behind mundane commodities that surround us today.
Arthur Hamilton
I am a junior double majoring in history and economics from Los Angeles. In this course I found I most enjoyed the work of historians who use commodity histories to make arguments about the history of capitalism. Sven Beckert's Empire of Cotton and Sidney Mintz's Sweetness and Power used commodities as a lens to understand the birth of industrial capitalism while also arguing for the importance of cotton and sugar in the creation of the modern world.
Tyler Matsunaga
I am currently a junior studying History and Government. While at Cornell, I have been a part of the Cornell Sprint Football team and the Cornell in Washington study program. Following graduation, I plan on attending law school and going into political advocacy and public policy. My favorite book we read this semester is Empire of Cotton, by Sven Beckert, as I found the intersection of cotton and capitalism in Industrial Revolution England to be particularly fascinating.
Abraham Moss
I am a Sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, studying History and Anthropology. I enjoy studying the Early Modern Period for History and Food for Anthropology; with my personal hobby of baking, I found Vanilla an irresistible commodity to examine. Beyond the alimentary, I exercise, swing dance, and read for pleasure. Sidney Mintz's Sweetness and Power inspired me to take the class, and a second reading with new analytical tools was exceptional.
Christina Ochoa
My name is Christina Ochoa. I’m a sophomore studying Development Sociology. A fun fact is I like to figure skate! My favorite book we read this semester was The Last Turtlemen of the Caribbean by Sharika Crawford.
Hermis Reyes
My name is Hermis Reyes and I come from New York City. I am a first generation student with an interest in global history! I am a senior studying History, and the areas I have focused on are the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East and Europe. Out of all of the books we read, Potosi by Kris Lane opened my mind up the most. Given the centrality of Potosi, I was quite surprised that it was my first time hearing of such an influential city.
Serena Uliano
I am a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, majoring in History and minoring in English. After graduating, I hope to become a teacher. Of all the books in this class, the one I enjoyed the most was Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History. I appreciated its prowess and significant contribution to studying sugar as a commodity and laying the framework for the study of other commodities prevalent in the Early Atlantic World.
Giancarlo Valdetaro
Giancarlo Valdetaro is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences studying Government and History. He is from Northern Virginia. In his free time, he enjoys baking, cooking, running, and reading about transportation. His favorite book in the class was Final Passages by Gregory O’Malley.
Ernesto Bassi
I am am Associate Professor of History at Cornell, where I teach Latin American, Caribbean, Atlantic and global history. I read about commodities to understand how things move from one place to another, how they are transformed, and how their movement results in the adoption, adaptation, and creation of social and cultural practices. Marcy Norton's Sacred Gifts, Profane Pleasures and Judith Carney's Black Rice were my favorite books (but I enjoyed them all!).