Warning: Undefined variable $num in /home/shroutdo/public_html/courses/wp-content/plugins/single-categories/single_categories.php on line 126
Warning: Undefined variable $posts_num in /home/shroutdo/public_html/courses/wp-content/plugins/single-categories/single_categories.php on line 127
Leave it to an historian to find the two most obscure topics they can think of, smash them together like two different colors of play-dough, and hope, not only that the result makes sense historically, but that they were the first to breach the idea as well. In the case of Treacherous Places, Lauren Benton’s mixed ball of play-dough turned out to be a weird brown color. She successfully tied early riverine exploration together with the conjuring of Roman law in dealing with treason and imperial claims. It makes complete sense. The further ambassadors of the crown were able to venture into the interior of uncharted (by them) territory, the easier it became to serve their own agendas, as opposed to their respective sovereign’s. A harsh punishment was necessary to force future perpetrators to think twice before they acted against the crown. Of course, Europeans had been dealing with treason for centuries prior to Atlantic imperialism and riverine (I like that word) exploration. The Romans laid out the template for future generations to shape and mold around their contemporary societies. As with most law, there may have been too much room for interpretation, so each monarch edited the mandate to fit his or her needs directly. I can’t speak factually, but I imagine this worked out pretty well. Claiming rights were a different ball game. As my esteemed colleague, Allison, points out, “they used rivers as a symbol of land ownership and a way to show that they plan to explore more areas.” What came to mind as I was reading the chapter, were a couple of old cliches. First come, first serve; or the early bird gets the worm. Benton almost makes it sound like a game, and, again, that is exactly how I imagine it was, only considerably more dangerous than hide and seek.
What makes Benton’s play-dough brown, to me, is the question of why. I guess I just want to know the backstory behind the writing of some of the topics I have to read about. What made her write about rivers in conjunction with Roman law and treason? Additionally, in the discussion of riverine exploration, especially in Africa, I feel one should devote more than three sentences to the most notorious serial killer in that neck of the woods, disease. That also browned the dough for me.