This course explores the history of the Caribbean from the eighteenth to the
twentieth centuries, focusing on a comparative approach to British, French,
Spanish, and American rule in the region. It will concentrate on the history of
Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba and Puerto Rico. Topics to be covered include:
comparative slave systems; plantation economies; revolution, rebellion and
resistance; abolitionism; missionary activity; the apprenticeship system; voodoo
and slave religions; indentured labor and intra-Caribbean migration; free
persons of color, mulattoes, and West Indian color hierarchies; class and color;
trade unionism; communism; the independence movements; women in the
contemporary Caribbean; and the legacies of slavery and colonialism.
Format: lecture/discussion. Evaluation will be based on class participation, a
midterm and final exam, and a 10- to 12-page research paper.
No prerequisites. No enrollment limit (expected: 15-25). Open to all.
Group C