Christy Anderson is enjoying a “humanities scholarship fantasy” as she tackles her latest book project thanks to a National Humanities Center Fellowship.
A professor with the Faculty of Arts & Science’s Department of Art History and the Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, Anderson was awarded the prestigious international fellowship this spring.
She’s currently staying at the National Humanities Center headquarters in Durham, N.C., where she will work on her book until next May, joining 31 distinguished humanities scholars from across the globe.
“I don't want to leave,” says Anderson. “This is the only independent institute in the world dedicated solely to the humanities.”
An architectural historian, Anderson explores how architectural knowledge moves across cultures, materials and environments. Her book project, Castles of the Sea — born out of a SSHRC Insight Grant — examines the roles of ships and related structures that were an integral part of cultural exchange and global trade between Europe and North America from 1500 to 1650.
“I’m interested in the exchanges between peoples and countries where you have European countries going to new and distant places to find valuable commodities and to control land for fishing and other valuable commodities,” says Anderson.
“I'm looking at ships as a building type that hasn't been studied as a building type. It's been studied as something else, mostly by maritime archeologists. But ships are an intriguing form of architecture that can offer all kinds of new evidence and ways of thinking about travel, transport and globalization.”
Part of that history includes the extensive cross-Atlantic cod fishing that took place off the coast of Newfoundland and along the Maritimes beginning in the 15th and 16th centuries.
“The seas around Europe were already fished out by the end of the Middle Ages,” says Anderson. “You couldn't just hug the shore anymore and go fishing. By the end of the 16th century there were over 500 ships a year going from Europe to Newfoundland and down into the Maritimes. That’s a huge number.”
In addition to the ships making the cross-ocean voyages, Anderson is also interested in the temporary structures that fishermen built on the shores to dry and salt their catch.
Fishermen from Spain, England and France built temporary structures — essentially shacks — on Newfoundland’s shores and left them when they returned to Europe. But they often didn’t stand for long.
“We know the Beothuk, who were the Indigenous peoples who lived on Newfoundland, did not want interactions with Europeans,” says Anderson.
“So in contrast to the Huron or the Wendat, they went inland to avoid the shore where the Europeans were. When they left, the Beothuk would go to these temporary wooden structures and either burn them down or take them apart to retrieve the iron and metal, because they didn't have that technology. Archeologists have found thousands of pieces of nails that were pounded into knives or fishhooks.”
Anderson also explores cultural exchanges through sassafras — once considered the second-most valuable commodity behind fish.
“This was an incredibly important commodity that we don't pay much attention to,” says Anderson. “If you drink root beer, it's that flavour. It comes from a tree that grows in North America, particularly on the east coast.
“It was believed to have incredible medicinal properties,” says Anderson. “This was all learned through the interactions with First Nations Peoples because they used sassafras extensively. When Indigenous people were ill, they would take sassafras roots as it reduced inflammation and fevers. This was hugely important at the end of the 16th century and beginning of the 17th because of the plague.”
Shifting from capitalism to conflict, Anderson is also fascinated by the transition of ships, moving from merchant vessels to warships, sparking a great debate as to who owned and controlled the seas, and ushering in a new age of global politics and naval warfare.
“These huge growing navies are being fed by or mostly manned by the merchant trade,” says Anderson. “People are either interested in naval battles or they're interested in the Northwest Passage, but all of this rising global competition for commodities as well as colonization is really coming out of this merchant trade.”
While Anderson works on her book that she hopes to complete next summer, she is relishing the experience at the National Humanities Center and loving the perks with being named a fellow.
We're in this climate where the humanities sometimes feel like they have to justify themselves. But here, there's no question about the importance of the humanities. I’m already sad. I don't want it to end.
“It's absolutely fantastic,” she says. “It's an independently funded centre with no government ties.”
The perks include having access to a wide spectrum of research materials and librarians dedicated to the fellows who track down books and other materials from several nearby colleges and universities.
As well, Anderson finds the environment endlessly stimulating with all of the fellows meeting for lunch each day to discuss their respective projects.
“There's people from history of medicine, English studies, film studies, biblical studies, everything you can imagine in the humanities,” she says.
“It's lovely to be with people doing all kinds of different things that I know nothing about. The best part is talking about what you've been working on. There is an incredible overlap, maybe not of subject, but of method or questions.”
The vibrant environment is also a refreshing reminder of the significance and benefits of studying humanities.
“We're in this climate where the humanities sometimes feel like they have to justify themselves. But here, there's no question about the importance of the humanities. I’m already sad. I don't want it to end.”