Conceptual Framework
Historian Peter Wood characterized the Carolina Lowcountry as the thin neck in an hourglass, a place where individual grains from Africa, Europe, and the Caribbean were funneled together, only to be fanned out across the South as time passed. The Lowcountry, then, has been both a recipient of goods, peoples, and ideas from across the Atlantic, and a conduit from which to distribute goods, peoples, and ideas. As such, the Lowcountry has played an important role in the Atlantic World and in the creation of American culture. As the major seaport for the southeast and the Lowcountry, Charleston reflects, in its history, culture, and economy, its reliance on the Atlantic and its connections to the wider Atlantic world.
The College of Charleston is ideally suited to establish a program on the Lowcountry and the Atlantic World. Since its establishment over two centuries ago, the College of Charleston has nurtured teaching, learning, and research in the humanities, social, and biological sciences. As a part of that commitment, the College has emphasized the study of the region in which it is located, a region with one of the richest historical legacies in the nation. As the Program’s name suggests, research and teaching about the Carolina Lowcountry demands an international focus in light of the constant contact and cultural exchange among the various Atlantic cultures and societies.
This program aims to foster, encourage, and advance the teaching and study of this process of change and exchange as it was experienced here in the Carolina Lowcountry but also in light of the experiences of others who have shared in the same process since 1492. Currently scores of scholars in various disciplines concentrate on various aspects of the historical aspects of the same process in Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, or Latin America. The Program brings together these scholars to share and develop a more global perspective on local histories.
Of central concern in such an endeavor is the process and the consequences of the cultural exchanges among Europeans, Native Americans, and Africans. Such a perspective demands from researchers and teachers an international focus which illuminates the constant contact and cultural exchange among the various Atlantic cultures and societies. Placing the Lowcountry in the context of the broader Atlantic world encourages our students and the wider community to appreciate the larger international context of their own culture and identity and thereby challenge them to move beyond their immediate, personal comprehension of their background, their present, and their future.
The Program’s mission is not primarily research in the traditional sense, as research is primarily pursued by individuals within departments, but a part of the Program’s mission is to encourage learning and the dissemination of results of that learning. For example, the Program sponsored a major conference in May 1995 entitled “New Directions in Colonial South Carolina Studies.” The conference attracted over 125 people, including prominent scholars from across the United States, Canada, and Europe. An edited volume of essays based on the papers presented at the conference was published.
