This course will trace the history of the Caribbean from the fifteenth century to the present.  The concept of "nation" in the Caribbean will receive special attention throughout the semester.  The course will begin with a discussion of indigenous peoples and the early years of European settlement and colonization.  It will then address the construction of African slavery, the changing place of the Caribbean in the world economy, and different aspects of slave society.  The Haitian Revolution will be discussed as a pivotal moment both in the history of the Caribbean and the history of the Americas more generally.  Nineteenth-century themes will include the Cuban struggle for independence and the abolition of slavery in the British, French, and Spanish Caribbean.  Consideration of the twentieth century will encompass topics such as U.S. imperialism, intellectual and literary movements, the Cuban Revolution, migration, and the rise of popular musical forms such as salsa and reggae.  Reading and other assignments for the class will draw on the work of writers, musicians, and artists of the Caribbean.

Internet

Frequent use will be made of the internet throughout the course.  A web page entitled "Reading Questions and Internet Resources" exists for each class.  (For links to these web pages, see below.)  Here students will find questions to guide their reading, key concepts to grasp, and links to resources on the internet that are relevant to the topic of the class.  Students in the course have created an annotated guide to internet resources related to Caribbean history.  To consult the guide, click here.

Assignments

Written assignments will include a short paper  (3-5 pages due on February 24) and a final paper (8-10 pages due on April 21 or April 26). The course will culminate in a debate in class over the meaning of the nation in Caribbean history.  Students will be divided into different panels, each of which will address a key event in Caribbean history, such as the Haitian Revolution or the Cuban War of Independence.  Each student will be responsible for representing the perspective of an individual or group of people who contributed to the shaping of the event in question.  This individual or group of people will also be addressed in the student's final paper, the topic of which will be developed in consultation with the instructor.

Participation and Attendance

Classes will integrate lecture with discussion.  Participation in class and attendance will be graded.  Each student is permitted two absences, regardless of the excuse.  Any further absences will result in a reduction of the grade for attendance by one grade (.5) per absence.

Grading

Map Quiz                                  5%
Short Paper (3-5 pages)            5%
Mid-Term Examination            20%
Final Paper Outline                    5%
Final Paper (8-10 pages)          25%
Final Examination                     25%
Participation                             15% (5% attendance + 5% participation in class + 5% final debate)

Multi-Part Coursepack (on reserve and available for purchase at Ned's Bookstore)

Brown, Karen McCarthy. Mama Lola : A Vodou Priestess in Brooklyn. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991.

James, C. L. R. The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution. 2d ed., rev. New York: Vintage Books, 1963.

Kincaid, Jamaica.  A Small Place. New York: Plume, 1989.

Knight, Franklin W. The Caribbean: The Genesis of a Fragmented Nationalism. 2nd ed. New York : Oxford University Press, 1990.

Mintz, Sidney Wilfred. Sweetness and Power : The Place of Sugar in Modern History. New York: Viking, 1985.

Price, Richard. First-Time : The Historical Vision of an Afro-American people. Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983.

January 11             Introduction to the Course

January 13            Studying the Caribbean at the End of the Century--The 1990s and the 1490s

Readings: Kincaid, A Small Place.
Reading Questions and Internet Resources

January 20            Before Columbus: The Indigenous Caribbean

Readings:  Knight, “The Political Geography of the Pre-Hispanic Caribbean,” pp. 3-26, and “Settlements and Colonies,” pp. 27-65.
Reading Questions and Internet Resources
Map Quiz.

January 25            First Encounters: Indigenous Peoples and Europeans

Readings: From the Coursepack: "The Letter of Columbus (1493),” “The Journal of Columbus (1492-1493),” “The Report of Dr. Chanca (1494),” in Peter Hulme and Neil L. Whitehead, eds. Wild Majesty, pp. 9-37; Philip P. Boucher, Cannibal Encounters, Chapt. 1.
Reading Questions and Internet Resources

Readings:  Knight, “Patterns of Colonization in the New World,” pp. 66-87. From the Coursepack: Bartolomé de las Casas in Witness, pp. 48-53, 66-71, 85-87, 110-114, 123-127, 143-158; Boucher, Cannibal Encounters, Chapters 2-3.
Reading Questions and Internet Resources

Readings: Knight, “Imperialism and Slavery,” pp. 88-119.  Mintz, Sweetness and Power, pp. xv-73.
Reading Questions and Internet Resources

February 3        Sugar, Slavery, and the Caribbean in the World Economy

Readings: Mintz, Sweetness and Power, pp.151-186; skim pp. 74-150 and 187-214.
Reading Questions and Internet Resources

February 8        Slave Society

Readings: Knight, "Social Structure of the Plantation Society," pp. 120-158. From the Coursepack:  Richard D. E. Burton,
"From African to Afro-Creole: The Making of Jamaican Slave Culture," pp. 13-46; Barbara Bush, “Hard Labor: Women, Childbirth, and Resistance in British Caribbean Slave Societies,” pp. 193-217.
Reading Questions and Internet Resources

Readings: Price, First-Time, pp. 5-122.
Reading Questions and Internet Resources

Readings: Price, First-Time, pp. 122-181.
Reading Questions and Internet Resources

Readings: James, The Black Jacobins, pp. 3-223.
Reading Questions and Internet Resources

February 22     The Haitian Revolution in the Americas

Readings: James, The Black Jacobins, pp. 223-377.
Reading Questions and Internet Resources

Readings:  Knight, Chapt. 6, "Imperial Fragmentation and Colonial Social Reconstruction, 1793-1886,” pp. 159-192.
From the Coursepack:  Laurent Dubois, “The New Citizen: Victor Hugues and the Administration of Freedom in Guadeloupe, 1794-1802.”
Reading Questions and Internet Resources
Short Paper Due

March 1        The Dynamics of Slave Emancipation and the Struggle for Independence in Cuba

Readings:  From the Coursepack: Rebecca Scott, "Explaining Abolition: Contradiction, Adaptation, and Challenge in Cuban Slave Society, 1860-1886," pp. 83-111.
Guest Lecturer: Frank Guridy, Historian of Cuba
 Reading Questions and Internet Resources

VACATION

March 15    Writing Workshop

March 17     End of Spanish Colonialism in the Caribbean: Cuba and Puerto Rico

Readings: From the Coursepack: Rebecca Scott, "Race, Labor, and Citizenship in Cuba," and Ada Ferrer, "Rustic Men, Civilized Nation: Race, Culture, and Contention on the Even of Cuban Independence."
Reading Questions and Internet Resources

Readings: From the Coursepack: Eileen Findlay, “Love in the Tropics,” and pp. 139-172; José Martí, from Our America, pp. 271-289, 426-438; Catherine LeGrand, “Living in Macondo,” pp. 333-368.
Reading Questions and Internet Resources

Submit Topic for Final Paper

Readings: From the Coursepack: C.L.R. James, “The Case for West Indian Self-Government,” pp. 49-62; Aimé Césaire, “To Africa/Wilfredo Lam” (pp. 196-7), “A Salute to the Third World/for Léopold Sedar Senghor” (pp. 350-353), and “The Verb ‘Marroner’/ for René Depestre, Haitian Poet” (369-371); Tomás Fernández Robaina, “Marcus Garvey in Cuba: Urrutia, Cubans, and Black Nationalism,” pp. 120-128.
 Reading Questions and Internet Resources

Revisions of First Paper Due (optional)

March 31   The Nation's Rhythm: British Decolonization, Calypso, and Carnival

Readings: Knight, "The Commonwealth Caribbean," pp. 275-306; From the Coursepack: Peter Manuel, "Trinidad, Calypso, and Carnival," pp. 183-211.
 Reading Questions and Internet Resources

Readings: From the Coursepack: Selections from The Cuba Reader, pp. 30-41, 83-88.  Knight, “Caribbean Nation Building 2: Cuba, 1868-1989,” pp. 227-256.  James, appendix to Black Jacobins ("From Toussaint L'Ouverture to Fidel Castro"), pp. 391-418.
Reading Questions and Internet Resources

Submit Thesis Statement and List of Sources for Final Paper

Readings: Knight, "Caribbean Nation Building 3: Puerto Rico and the Ambivalent Identity," pp. 257-274.  From the Coursepack: Peter Manuel, "Puerto Rico" and "Salsa and Beyond,"  pp. 51-96.  Brown, Mama Lola, pp. 1-94.
 Reading Questions and Internet Resources

Guest Lecturer: José Amador, Historian of Puerto Rico

Readings: Explore the web sites below.  Describe the arguments that you encounter at each web site and evaluate the evidence used to back those arguments.  Continue to read Brown, Mama Lola, 94-201.

 Caribbean Banana Exporters Association
 Chiquita Controversy
 Chiquita Brands
 Bob Marley
 Cuba Tourism

Outline for Final Paper Due Today or Wednesday (with revised thesis statement)

Knight, "Caribbean Nation Building 1: Haiti and the Dominican Republic," pp. 193-226.  Brown, Mama Lola, 204-309.
Reading Questions and Internet Resources

April 21    The Caribbean in the Wake of the Cold War

Readings: Knight, “State and Nationalism in the Contemporary Caribbean,” pp. 307-331.  From the Coursepack: “Report of the Independent Commission of Inquiry [on the U.S. Invasion of Panama],” pp. 19-61.
Reading Questions and Internet Resources

Final Paper Due

April 28     Continuation of Debate and Review for Final Examination

May 4        Final Examination  5:45-7:45 p.m.  For final study questions, click here.