Researching Saint-Domingue and the Haitian Revolution

Month: August 2016 (Page 1 of 2)

Texas in QGIS: Geo-referencing Historical Maps

This tutorial is designed so you can practice the skills you learned in the Programming Historian QGIS Tutorial “Geo-referencing in QGIS”

  1. [Note for future work: Each time you install a new version of QGIS, be sure to activate the Georeferencing toolbar in that installation]
  2. Open a new project; set the CRS by typing 3081 in the filter box and choosing “NAD83 / Texas State Mapping System”
  3. Set up your modern georeferencing ‘canvas’
  4. Add Vector and load StratMap_County_poly.shp [a modern shapefile] to serve as georeferencing canvas.
  5. Add Vector: txdot-2015-city-point_tx.shp
  6. Add Vector: txdot-2015-city-poly_tx.shp
  7. For all – change the “properties” so they are not solid. Turn “labels” on for one of the city files [you may have to use both of them]
  8. Download an 1800s map from UTA’s Cartographic Connections website: http://libguides.uta.edu/ccon
  9. Use your image viewer software [ie Microsoft Picture Manager] to convert the JPG file to TIFF
  10. Use the georeferencer to add the TIFF version as a raster layer and add 6 or more control points
    • Use manmade boundaries, not coastline or rivers which can change
    • Use large cities, ports, or military bases that would have had precise lat/long readings in the 1800s
    • Have at least 3 in the western part of the state
    • Have more than 3 in the eastern part of the state, in heavily populated areas
  11. Specify transformation settings
  12. Compare geo-referenced map to modern shapefile
  13. Possible: create new vector layers to capture data on the old map

Data sources for this tutorial

  1. Basemaps: https://tnris.org/maps-and-data/ — search for political boundaries
  2. Historic maps: UTA’s Cartographic Connections: http://libguides.uta.edu/ccon

How to Convert map-image files

  • From JPG to TIFF: Most image viewers will do this. For PC, use www.irfanview.com [pc] or Microsoft Picture Manager
  • From SID to TIFF; irfanview can do this; search the web for other utilities

 

“Table-Joins”: Bringing an Historical Dataset into QGIS and Connecting it to Spatial Data

This tutorial is inspired and adapted from Jamin Wells, “How to Map Historic Census Data with QGIS,” from his Ships on the Shore blog. Accessed 4-17-2016 from https://shipsontheshore.wordpress.com/2016/02/08/how-to-map-historic-census-data-with-qgis/

Download the data

  1. Go to NHGIS.org and create an account. Once they have emailed you and you have confirmed your identity, then log into the site. It will take you to the Data Finder page.
  2. In the “Apply Filters” column, click on “Years”. In the table that opens up, select “1800” in the “Decennial” column, then “Submit” at the bottom. Then, click the ‘plus’ sign next to the first item in the Select Data table of data. This should be “NT1. Total Population” and it should be in the “source tables” tab, which is the first of 3 tabs.
  3. This one source table will then appear in the “Data Cart” in the upper right hand corner of your screen.
  4. Now click to the 3rd tab in the Select Data table, labelled “GIS boundaries”. It will list the GIS boundary files for states and counties for 1800. Choose the first county [not state] file by clicking the “plus” sign. It should now appear in your data cart.
  5. Click the green “Continue” button on the Data Cart. The website will prompt you to choose the geographic level you want for the 1800 source table. Choose ‘county’ and then click “Continue” again.
  6. The website will now provide you with a download page, called “Extracts history” By clicking on “tables” and “gis” you can download the two sets of files.

Perform a Table-Join: Merging a shape file (.shp) with comma separated data(.csv)

Note: Material under this heading is taken directly from the Wells tutorial, editing is noted with bracketed ellipses and comments

  • Open QGIS. Start a new project. [JG: set the CRS to NAD83]
  • Create a new shapefile layer. This is the basic foundation of the map. Open the zipped 1800 shapefile you downloaded from NHGIS. You should see a map of all 427 counties from the 1800 U.S. census. Use the mouse to zoom in and out. Grab and drag the map around. Play around with the buttons on the top toolbar.
  • Now it’s time to upload the census data. Create a new “delimited text file” layer. This, of course, is census database.
  • [JG: Use “Add a Layer” and choose “Add delimited text layer”] Add the census CSV file you downloaded from NHGIS.
  • Be sure the “file format” is set to “CSV (comma separated values)”
  • For “Geometry definition” select “No geometry (attribute only table)”
  • Click OK.
  • […] You should see the new layer in your “Layers Panel” on the right. Now we have to put the numbers into the map.
  • Right click the shapefile. Click “Properties”
  • Click “Joins”
  • Click the green “+” symbol to join the two layers together.
    • Set “Join layer” to the .csv file
    • Set “Join field” to “GISJOIN” (thank you NHGIS for making this easy!)
    • Set “Target field” to “GISJOIN”
    • Press OK. This should put you back in the shapefile “Properties” dialogue box.
    • Click “Fields.” Scroll down. You should see all the [population] data for every [county] census [in 1800]. Smile – that’s pretty amazing!
  • Now it’s time to display some info on our map. In the “Properties” dialogue box of the shapefile. Click “Style.”
  • Now it’s time to display some info on our map. In the “Properties” dialogue box of the shapefile. Click “Style.”
  • Change the dropdown box on the top from “Single Symbol” to “Graduated”
  • Change “Column” to the 1800 data (my file reads: nhgis0001_ts_nominal_county_AOOAA1800) [your file may have a different column name, like “nhgis0002_ds2_1800_county_AAS001”]
  • Click the “Classify” button. You should see the box in the middle of the dialogue box populate with symbols, values, and legend entries.
  • Press “Apply” then “OK.” You’re looking at a population map. It probably doesn’t look too awe inspiring at the moment.
  • Go back to the “Style” dialogue box (right click shapefile, “Properties,” “Style.”
  • Play around. You can’t hurt much (and if you do, it’s easy enough to start over). I suggest starting with the “color ramp,” “precision,” “mode,” and “classes” buttons. Remember: every time you make a change you have to press “apply” to see how it changes your map. [JG: “Natural Breaks (Jenks)”]
  • Population is great but I want population density. Here’s how we get there

Create a new column based on data in the newly merged file

Note: This explanation is from Garrigus

  • Right click shapefile, “Properties,” “Fields”
  • Click on the abacus button, which is the “Field Calculator” which puts you into the “Expressions” dialog box. You are now going to build an equation to show population density.
  • Under “output field name” type “Pop_densit”.
  • For “output field type” chose “Decimal number (real)”
  • Change the “precision” value to 4
  • In the middle box, click on the “Fields and values” plus sign to expand it.
  • Double-click the name of the column that shows the population of each county. It might be “nhgis0002_ds2_1800_county_AAS001”. That puts it into your equation.
  • Click on the slash mark/division sign to put that into your equation.
  • Click twice on the left-parenthesis button to put (( in the equation.
  • Expand the “Geometry” field in the central box. Double-click “$area”, which is a function that will calculate the area of each county in square meters.
    • Add the divide sign
    • Type in 1000000 [1 million, or 1 followed by 6 zeros]. This converts square meters into square kilometers.
    • Add a single right parentheses — )
    • Add the multiplication symbol — the asterisk
    • Type “0.386102”; this will convert square kilometers into square miles
    • Put in a final right parentheses. The “expression ” box will now read something like nhgis0001/_ts/_nominal/_county/_A00AA1800/(($area/1000000)*0.386102)
    • Click OK
  • Now you are back in the “Properties” screen. Click on “Style” and change the top button to “Graduated.” Now select the column. You should find the new column “pop_densit” at the very bottom of the dropdown list.

Note: back to Wells’s text

  • Click “classify.” The symbols, values, and legend figures in the dialogue box should have changes. Change the mode to “mode” to “Natural Breaks (Jenks),” pick a “color ramp” that makes sense, click “Apply” and “OK.”
  • There you have it: county-level population density in 1800. QGIS is amazingly versatile and adaptable and time spent “playing” with the representations is time well spent because only by going through the process of analyzing the data in different ways do you start to see new connections and patterns, which, of course, is one of the beauties of using GIS.

US Population Density in 1800, from Wells

Note: Quoted Wells material ends here

What you have made is a “choropleth” map. If you zoom in on locations you suspect will be more densely populated, you should see darker colors generated by the 1800 data.

Formatting Your Own Data: Two Options

The data that you create yourself won’t be as nicely formatted as that from the NHGIS unless you do that formatting yourself. Specifically you need to tell QGIS which of the columns are text (or “strings”) and which are numbers (or “integers”) There are two ways to do this.

Unfortunately neither one works well with Microsoft Excel. Excel CAN save files to the CSV [comma-separated-value] format. But it does this in a way that is confusing to QGIS.

Instead use the open source Libre Office. It has “Calc,” an Excel equivalent. You can open your data [even if it was created in Excel] in Calc. Then you can do one of two things.

EITHER

Save your spreadsheet data in the DBF format and import that into QGIS as a regular vector file [not as a text-delimited file]. See https://www.mapbox.com/tilemill/docs/guides/joining-data/ for a tutorial

OR

Save the spreadsheet data in the CSV format.
– Then use a plain text editor to make a file with the same name, but ending in .csvt. That file needs to have a single line with the words “STRING”,”STRING”,”STRING”,”STRING”,”STRING”,”INTEGER”, [including the quotation marks and commas] where each of the words stands for each of the columns in your file.
– QGIS will use this csvt file to identify the kind of data you are importing. If you don’t do this, QGIS thinks every column is text [or “string”] and you won’t be able to do mathematical operations like calculate population density.
– Import that csv file as a text-delimited file. QGIS will find the cvst file because they have the same name and are in the same directory.
– For a tutorial on this method, see http://www.qgistutorials.com/en/docs/performing_table_joins.html

 

New Orleans in QGIS: Creating New Vector Data from Historical Maps

This tutorial is designed to reinforce the skills you learned in Programming Historian QGIS Tutorial#3

  1. Download the NOLA zipfile from Blackboard and unzip it to a folder on your computer.
  2. Start a new project; set the CRS: type 26982 to bring up NAD83/ Louisiana south
  3. Add Vector: Load the NaturalEarth [ne] shapefile basemap for Louisiana: ne_Louisiana_10m_admin_1.shp; Turn the fill color off
  4. Add Vector: Load the Open Street Map [OSM] shapemap basemaps for New Orleans – go in this order and look at each. As you look for the files, notice the size of each of them. [Which file is the largest? Which is the smallest? Why?] Once they load, use the right-click “Zoom to Layer” feature and then the magnifying glass. Drag them into the stack-order that makes the most sense to you.
  5. OSM_NOLA_land_coast_polygons.shp
  6. OSM_NOLA_admin_any.shp
  7. OSM_NOLA_waterareas_any.shp
  8. OSM_NOLA_roads_any.shp
  9. OSM_NOLA_buildings_any.shp
  10. Turn labels on for the roads layer so you can see the names of the roads
  11. Turn the buildings layer off to make the map easier to view
  12. Add Raster: Load the 1854 Norman Map [this is actually a late 1800s re-creation]. Note: I have already georeferenced this file. Notice the discrepancies in the georeferencing between the historical map and the OSM basemaps. Where are they?
  13. Add Raster: Load the page from 1883 Robinson Atlas of New Orleans. Note: I have already georeferenced this file.
  14. Create a point shapefile called “points_interest’. In that file you will use points to locate buildings you think have disappeared. [HINT: for more convenient viewing, download the Norman and Robinson maps from Blackboard and view them in a separate image viewer]
  15. Build an attribute table for these points, with these attributes
    • Name
    • Year [will be the same as the map]
  16. Edit the new shapefile
    • Add 4 points from the 1854 Norman Map
    • Add 2 points from the 1883 Robinson Atlas page
    • Change “properties” to display the new name and date info
  17. Create a line shapefile for roads and an attribute table with these fields
    • Name
    • Year
  18. Trace 4 roads from the Norman map and them to compare to modern roads
  19. Create a new polygon shapefile with “building_name” and “year” attributes
    • Trace 2 buildings as polygons, assisted by the ‘snapping’ function
  20. Save the whole project as a “NOLA.qgs” file so you can load it later.
  21. Zoom in on downtown New Orleans with a view that shows your new vector files but NOT the historical maps.
  22. Open Print Composer; then Layout, then Add Map to show this downtown area. Leave enough space at the top or bottom of the page for your title
  23. Go back to the main screen of QGIS, Zoom out to show the full extent of Louisiana. Turn off the buildings and roads areas [to speed up loading]
  24. Then back in Print Composer, add an insert map [Layout/Add Map] that shows the whole state.
    • Put frames around both Map0 and Map1
    • Add a scalebar in Map0, with units in feet [Layout/Add Scalebar]
    • Add a Title to the map [Layout/AddLabel] and add another smaller label identifying the sources of the data.
  25. Save the printer composer file and then export a PDF[Composer/Export as PDF]. Put your last name in the PDF filename and upload it to Blackboard

Data sources for this tutorial:

  1. Base map of Louisiana/Texas, etc. from http://NaturalEarthData.com [cultural vectors];
  2. Base map showing many specific features of New Orleans https://data.nola.gov/
  3. Detailed base map of city and surrounding area; http://www.Mapzen.com — features metro extracts of OpenStreetMap [OSM]
  4. Benjamin Norman, Norman’s Plan of New Orleans & Environs [New Orleans?, 1854]. https://www.loc.gov/item/2012593335/
  5. Elisha Robinson, Atlas of the Citiy of New Orleans, Louisiana, based upon surveys furnished by John F. Braun. New York: E. Robinson, 1883. http://www.orleanscivilclerk.com/robinson/guide.htm

 

Barbados in QGIS: A Follow-up to the Programming Historian Tutorial on Adding Layers

This tutorial is designed so you can practice the skills you used in the Programming Historian QGIS Tutorial about adding layers

  1. Make a folder or directory called “Barbados” on your computer.
  2. Download the following Barbados data sets from DIVA-GIS [Google it] into that directory and unzip them; each should be in its own sub-directory.
    • Administrative Areas BRB_adm.ZIP
    • Roads BRB_rds.ZIP
  3. Open QGIS and set up up a new project.
  4. Set up CRS (Coordinate Reference System) so that the project is using the Barbados 1938 Geographic Coordinate system.
  5. Build a base map: Open these vectors, then change the way they look using the “properties”
    • BRB_adm0.shp; change so there is no color fill. Remember “fill style” = “no brush”
    • BRB_adm1.shp; same as above
    • BRB_roads.shp; change the color and width of the lines so they are easier to see
  6. Look at the attribute table of BRB_adm1.shp. These show the country’s 10 parishes. Note which one of the columns gives the name of the parish. Write down the name of that column. Close the attribute table. Go into the “properties” for BRB_adm1.shp into “labels”. Change so that your map shows the names of the parishes in a large font.
  7. Go to Blackboard and from the Barbados tutorial area, download the file named Dominia-angolorum-BarbadosTIF.zip. Unzip it and import the .tif file into QGIS as a raster file. Note: I have already geo-referenced this file.
  8. Go back to BRB_adm0.shp and BRB_adm1.shp and change the width of the lines so they are visible.
  9. In the left-hand “layers” panel, drag the Dominia-angolorum … layer so you can see the parish lines over the historical map.
  10. Go back to Blackboard and download the file named Thompson_Barbados_1817.tif. Import that into QGIS. [Note: I have already geo-referenced this file.]
  11. Save your work. Close QGIS

Data Sources for this Tutorial

Country GIS base map data

http://www.diva-gis.org/gdata

Historical maps

The map “Dominia anglorum in præcipuis insulis Americæ ut sunt insula” can be downloaded aat https://www.loc.gov/item/74690902/

Other sites that are likely to have similar maps are:
* http://DavidRumsey.com
* The John Carter Brown Library Map Collection

HIST5360: Transatlantic Revolutions and Transformations, Fall 2016

 

Thursday, 7:00-9:50pm; University Hall, Room 321

Important Information

  • Instructor: John Garrigus
  • Office number: University Hall 201b or UH 343
  • Telephone number in UH201b: 817-272-2869 [I prefer email]
  • Email address: garrigus@uta.edu
  • Faculty Profile: https://www.uta.edu/profiles/john-garrigus
  • Web page: https://johngarrigus.com
  • Zotero library: https://www.zotero.org/garrigus/items
  • Office hours: Wednesdays 1 to 3; Thursdays, 3 to 5

Course Description:

This colloquium surveys recent historical literature on the “Age of Atlantic Revolution”. Topics include political and social revolutions as well as economic transformations in England, British America, France, Haiti, and Argentina. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) will be an important tool in this course, which requires no prior GIS experience.

Learning Outcomes:

After successfully completing this class, students will be able to:

  1. describe and evaluate the concept of “The Age of Atlantic Revolutions”.
  2. describe and evaluate the central issues in the historiography of this field.
  3. produce critical appraisals of course readings, orally and in writing.
  4. produce an historical map in QGIS.
  5. contribute to a collaboratively written QGIS tutorial in GitHub.

Required Books

  1. Klooster, Wim. Revolutions in the Atlantic World: a Comparative History. New York: New York University Press, 2009. 9780814747889
  2. Linebaugh, Peter, and Marcus Rediker. The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners, and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic. Boston: Beacon Press, 2000. 9780807050064
  3. Pincus, Steven C. A. 1688: The First Modern Revolution. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009. 0300171439
  4. O’Shaughnessy, Andrew. An Empire Divided: The American Revolution and the British Caribbean. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000.
  5. Donoghue, John. Fire Under the Ashes: An Atlantic History of the English Revolution. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013.
  6. Dubois, Laurent. Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution. Belknap Press, 2004. 0674013042
  7. Polasky, Janet L. Revolutions without Borders: The Call to Liberty in the Atlantic World (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2015).
  8. Johnson, Lyman L. Workshop of Revolution: Plebeian Buenos Aires and the Atlantic World, 1776-1810. (Durham: Duke University Press, 2011).

Required Articles and Chapters

  1. Palmer, Robert R. “The World Revolution of the West: 1763-1801,” Political Science Quarterly 69 (March 1954): 1-14.
  2. Cox, Marvin. “A Reassessment of R. R. Palmer’s The Age of Democratic Revolution,” The History Teacher 24, no. 3 (May 1, 1991): 343-52, doi:10.2307/494623.
  3. Inikori, Joseph E. Chapters 9 & 10 in Africans and the Industrial Revolution in England : A Study in International Trade and Economic Development. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
  4. Inikori, Joseph. “Slavery and the Development of Industrial Capitalism in England,” The Journal of Interdisciplinary History. 17, no. 4 (April 1, 1987): 771-93.

Required Electronic Tools and Policies:

  1. You must have access to a computer that can run QGIS; ideally, this would be a laptop that you can bring to class. You can download this free, open-source software at https://www.qgis.org/en/site/forusers/download.html
  2. You must have access to a computer that can run the GitHub Desktop, available free for Mac and Windows at https://desktop.github.com/
  3. I encourage you to use the bibliography manager Zotero [free from http://www.zotero.org] to produce your footnotes and bibliography in this course.
  4. You won’t give me “papers” but will upload all assignments as Word documents to our BlackBoard page or as Markdown code to GitHub. I’ll return the work with written comments in the same way.
  5. I will post all grades to our class BlackBoard page.

Grading:

At the end of the semester, students who have accumulated 900 or more points will receive a “A”; 800 to 899 is a “B”; 700 to 799 is a “C”; and 600 to 699 is “D”. Less than 600 points is a failing grade.

Assignment Points
Class participation 100
Class presentation 90
QGIS tutorials 100
GitHub collaboration 100
Final map 100
3 reaction papers of 500 words 210
Final essay of 3,000 words 300
TOTAL 1000

Major Assignments and Examinations:

Class Participation: every week

Attendance and participation in our class discussions are important parts of this collooquium. I take attendance and make notes on your participation at every class meeting. I’m not grading you on your brilliance but on your willingness to explore new ideas and offer feedback to your classmates.

Class Presentation: choose your week

At the meeting before we start a new book or article, one student will make a presentation of approximately 15 minutes about the upcoming author. This should be a kind of intellectual biography, which I will grade on your research and presentation skills. What articles and books has she published? When and where did he attend graduate school? Which scholars or ideas have most influenced her? What special tools or perspectives does he generally bring to his work? I’m happy to give you pointers if you have trouble finding material.

GIS assignments

We’ll do  3 kinds of GIS assignments: QGIS tutorials, collaborating via GitHub, and making a final map.

QGIS tutorials: due Week 4 <2016-09-15> and Week 5 <2016-09-22>

GIS is an important tool for historians and in this class you’ll develop some basic skills in QGIS, a free open-source GIS program, by completing a number of tutorials, in and outside of class. Those who have already completed these tutorials in an earlier class, will make their own versions, teaching the same QGIS skills with different geographic locations. Due:

GitHub collaboration: due Week 4 <2016-09-15> and Week 5 <2016-09-22>
  • GitHub is a website that allows collaborators to share files and keep track of the changes they make in those files. Programmers invented this technology, which is called “version control.” However it can be used by any team trying to create or improve a digital product, even if that product is a GIS tutorial or an historical dataset. In this class we’ll use GitHub to improve the GIS tutorials I’ve written for this class.
  • GitHub uses an easy-to-learn syntax called Markdown. [This syllabus was written in Markdown.] We’ll learn Markdown too.
  • Students who have completed my QGIS tutorials in an earlier semester, will make their own version of 2 of the tutorials. They will post them to GitHub, so other class members can improve them.
  • Students who have never worked with my QGIS tutorials will use GitHub to improve one of my tutorials, or one written by another class member. For example, they might clarify wording, insert a comments about an unclear instruction, add screenshots, and improve the formatting.
Final map: due Week 16 <2016-12-08>
  • You will make a map in QGIS and submit it at the end of the semester
  • Your map can be one of two things:
  • A map related to the Age of Revolutions, made with historical data that I supply. You will submit this as a QGIS file via GitHub.
  • A map related to your own historical interests, meeting criteria that you and I set together. You will submit this as an image file via Blackboard.

Three Reaction Papers: due Week 3 <2016-09-08 Thu>; Week 9 <2016-10-20 Thu>; Week 12 <2016-11-10 Thu>

  • Due via Blackboard upload before the following day at noon.
  • A reaction paper should be at least 500 words long. In it you describe the thesis of the book and, as specifically and thoughtfully as you can, how it affected your understanding of the Age of Revolution.

Final Essay: due Week 16 <2016-12-08>

At the end of this semester you’ll turn in an interpretive essay of about 3,000 words, roughly 10 pages, about the question — What is the Age of Revolution? Is it a useful concept? Why or why not? How would you define or describe that Age? When did it start? When did it end? What events would you include or exclude?

Important policies

Attendance: At The University of Texas at Arlington, taking attendance is not required but attendance is a critical indicator in student success. Each faculty member is free to develop his or her own methods of evaluating students’ academic performance, which includes establishing course-specific policies on attendance. As the instructor of this section, I take attendance every meeting and include this as part of the class participation grade. However, while UT Arlington does not require instructors to take attendance in their courses, the U.S. Department of Education requires that the University have a mechanism in place to mark when Federal Student Aid recipients “begin attendance in a course.” UT Arlington instructors will report when students begin attendance in a course as part of the final grading process. Specifically, when assigning a student a grade of F, faculty report the last date a student attended their class based on evidence such as a test, participation in a class project or presentation, or an engagement online via Blackboard. This date is reported to the Department of Education for federal financial aid recipients.

Drop Policy: Students may drop or swap (adding and dropping a class concurrently) classes through self-service in MyMav from the beginning of the registration period through the late registration period. After the late registration period, students must see their academic advisor to drop a class or withdraw. Undeclared students must see an advisor in the University Advising Center. Drops can continue through a point two-thirds of the way through the term or session. It is the student’s responsibility to officially withdraw if they do not plan to attend after registering. Students will not be automatically dropped for non-attendance. Repayment of certain types of financial aid administered through the University may be required as the result of dropping classes or withdrawing. For more information, contact the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships (http://wweb.uta.edu/aao/fao/).

Disability Accommodations: UT Arlington is on record as being committed to both the spirit and letter of all federal equal opportunity legislation, including The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), The Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act (ADAAA), and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. All instructors at UT Arlington are required by law to provide “reasonable accommodations” to students with disabilities, so as not to discriminate on the basis of disability. Students are responsible for providing the instructor with official notification in the form of a letter certified by the Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD).  Only those students who have officially documented a need for an accommodation will have their request honored. Students experiencing a range of conditions (Physical, Learning, Chronic Health, Mental Health, and Sensory) that may cause diminished academic performance or other barriers to learning may seek services and/or accommodations by contacting:

The Office for Students with Disabilities, (OSD)  www.uta.edu/disability or calling 817-272-3364. Information regarding diagnostic criteria and policies for obtaining disability-based academic accommodations can be found at www.uta.edu/disability.

Counseling and Psychological Services, (CAPS)   www.uta.edu/caps/ or calling 817-272-3671 is also available to all students to help increase their understanding of personal issues, address mental and behavioral health problems and make positive changes in their lives.

Electronic Communication: UT Arlington has adopted MavMail as its official means to communicate with students about important deadlines and events, as well as to transact university-related business regarding financial aid, tuition, grades, graduation, etc. All students are assigned a MavMail account and are responsible for checking the inbox regularly. There is no additional charge to students for using this account, which remains active even after graduation. Information about activating and using MavMail is available at http://www.uta.edu/oit/cs/email/mavmail.php.

Campus Carry:  Effective August 1, 2016, the Campus Carry law  (Senate Bill 11) allows those licensed individuals to carry a concealed handgun in buildings on public university campuses, except in locations the University establishes as prohibited. Under the new law, openly carrying handguns is not allowed on college campuses. For more information, visit http://www.uta.edu/news/info/campus-carry/

Student Feedback Survey: At the end of each term, students enrolled in face-to-face and online classes categorized as “lecture,” “seminar,” or “laboratory” are directed to complete an online Student Feedback Survey (SFS). Instructions on how to access the SFS for this course will be sent directly to each student through MavMail approximately 10 days before the end of the term. Each student’s feedback via the SFS database is aggregated with that of other students enrolled in the course.  Students’ anonymity will be protected to the extent that the law allows. UT Arlington’s effort to solicit, gather, tabulate, and publish student feedback is required by state law and aggregate results are posted online. Data from SFS is also used for faculty and program evaluations. For more information, visit http://www.uta.edu/sfs.

Final Review Week: for semester-long courses, a period of five class days prior to the first day of final examinations in the long sessions shall be designated as Final Review Week. The purpose of this week is to allow students sufficient time to prepare for final examinations. During this week, there shall be no scheduled activities such as required field trips or performances; and no instructor shall assign any themes, research problems or exercises of similar scope that have a completion date during or following this week unless specified in the class syllabus. During Final Review Week, an instructor shall not give any examinations constituting 10% or more of the final grade, except makeup tests and laboratory examinations. In addition, no instructor shall give any portion of the final examination during Final Review Week. During this week, classes are held as scheduled. In addition, instructors are not required to limit content to topics that have been previously covered; they may introduce new concepts as appropriate.

Emergency Exit Procedures: [Required for face-to-face courses; should be omitted for online courses] Should we experience an emergency event that requires us to vacate the building, students should exit the room and move toward the nearest exit, which is located [insert a description of the nearest exit/emergency exit]. When exiting the building during an emergency, one should never take an elevator but should use the stairwells. Faculty members and instructional staff will assist students in selecting the safest route for evacuation and will make arrangements to assist individuals with disabilities.

Non-Discrimination Policy: The University of Texas at Arlington does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, disabilities, genetic information, and/or veteran status in its educational programs or activities it operates. For more information, visit uta.edu/eos.

 Title IX Policy: The University of Texas at Arlington (“University”) is committed to maintaining a learning and working environment that is free from discrimination based on sex in accordance with Title IX of the Higher Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX), which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in educational programs or activities; Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), which prohibits sex discrimination in employment; and the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act (SaVE Act). Sexual misconduct is a form of sex discrimination and will not be tolerated. For information regarding Title IX, visit www.uta.edu/titleIX or contact Ms. Jean Hood, Vice President and Title IX Coordinator at (817) 272-7091 or jmhood@uta.edu.

Academic Integrity: Students enrolled all UT Arlington courses are expected to adhere to the UT Arlington Honor Code:

I pledge, on my honor, to uphold UT Arlington’s tradition of academic integrity, a tradition that values hard work and honest effort in the pursuit of academic excellence.

I promise that I will submit only work that I personally create or contribute to group collaborations, and I will appropriately reference any work from other sources. I will follow the highest standards of integrity and uphold the spirit of the Honor Code.

UT Arlington faculty members may employ the Honor Code in their courses by having students acknowledge the honor code as part of an examination or requiring students to incorporate the honor code into any work submitted. Per UT System Regents’ Rule 50101, §2.2, suspected violations of university’s standards for academic integrity (including the Honor Code) will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct. Violators will be disciplined in accordance with University policy, which may result in the student’s suspension or expulsion from the University. Additional information is available at https://www.uta.edu/conduct/.

Student Support Services: [Required for all undergraduate courses] UT Arlington provides a variety of resources and programs designed to help students develop academic skills, deal with personal situations, and better understand concepts and information related to their courses. Resources include tutoring, major-based learning centers, developmental education, advising and mentoring, personal counseling, and federally funded programs. For individualized referrals, students may visit the reception desk at University College (Ransom Hall), call the Maverick Resource Hotline at 817-272-6107, send a message to resources@uta.edu, or view the information at http://www.uta.edu/universitycollege/resources/index.php.

Class Schedule

Week 1 <2016-08-25 Thu>

  • In class: Work through the 1st tutorial in the Mapping and GIS area of The Programming Historian, on Google Maps and Google Earth
  • Garrigus model presentation: Jeremy Popkin
  • For next week: Read Palmer, Cox, and Klooster

Week 2 <2016-09-01 Thu>

  • Presentation on Klooster
  • Presentation on Palmer
  • Discuss Klooster, Palmer and Cox
  • In class we will learn how to use Markdown
  • For next week, read Linebaugh and Rediker

Week 3 <2016-09-08 Thu>

  • Presentation on Linebaugh
  • Presentation on Rediker
  • Discuss Linebaugh and Rediker
  • In class we will
    • learn how to use GitHub Desktop and Markdown to collaborate
    • review how to install a recent version of QGIS on your laptop
  • Due by 11:59pm, reaction paper on Linebaugh and Rediker, The Many Headed Hydra
  • For next week, there’s no reading. Instead:

Week 4 <2016-09-15 Thu>

  • Presentation on Karl Marx’s model of revolution
  • In class, we will use this tutorial to:
    • Learn how to find and import various shapefiles constructing the map of a Caribbean island
    • Manipulate and categorize the attribute tables that underlie those shapefiles
    • Import a raster file containing a previously georeferenced historical map
    • We’ll also work with new geographic versions of this Caribbean island tutorial  on GitHub, branched by experienced students
  • We will also use this tutorial to:
    • Import two previously georeferenced maps of Louisiana
    • Create several new vector [data] layers based on data that you input from these two rasters, recording vanished towns, roads
    • We’ll also work with new geographic versions of this tutorial on GitHub, branched by experienced students
  • Again, there’s no reading for next week. Instead:
    • new-to-GIS students: complete the georeferencing tutorial in the Mapping and GIS area of The Programming Historian
    • new-to-GIS students: use GitHub to improve one of the tutorials created by experienced students
    • experienced students: pick the Garrigus QGIS Texas or census “table-join” tutorial on GitHub and make your own branch

Week 5 <2016-09-22 Thu>

  • Presentation on Tocqueville’s 1856 model of the French Revolution
  • In class we will
    • Use this tutorial to georeference historical maps of Texas
    • We’ll also work through the new geographic versions of this tutorial drafted by experienced students
    • Use this tutorial to learn how to import historical data into QGIS and connect it to spatial data
    • We’ll also work through the new geographic versions of this tutorial on GitHub, branched by experienced students
  • For next week: Back to our books! Read Donaghue

Week 6 <2016-09-29 Thu>

  • Presentation on Donaghue
  • Discuss Donaghue
  • Discuss possible map projects
  • For next week: Read Pincus, chaps 1-9

Week 7 <2016-10-06 Thu>

  • Presentation on Pincus
  • Discuss Pincus, chaps 1-9
  • For next week: read Pincus, chaps 10-15

Week 8 <2016-10-13 Thu>

  • Discuss Pincus, chaps 10-15
  • Presentation on O’Shaughnessy
  • For next week: read O’Shaughnessy

Week 9 <2016-10-20 Thu>

  • Discuss O’Shaughnessy
  • Due at 11:59pm: reaction paper on O’Shaughnessy, An Empire Divided
  • Presentation on Inikori
  • For next week: read Inikori

Week 10 <2016-10-27 Thu>

  • Discuss Inikori
  • Presentation on Polasky
  • For next week: read Polasky

Week 11 <2016-11-03 Thu>

  • Discuss Polasky
  • Presentation on Dubois
  • For next week: read Dubois

Week 12 <2016-11-10 Thu>

  • Discuss Dubois
  • Due at 11:59pm, reaction paper on Dubois, Avengers of the New World
  • Presentation on Johnson
  • For next week: work on final map
  • For two weeks: read Johnson

Week 13 <2016-11-17 Thu> No Meeting

  • Work on final map
  • Work on final paper

Week 14 <2016-11-24 Thu> No Meeting

  • Work on final map
  • Work on final paper
  • For next week: read Johnson

Week 15 <2016-12-01 Thu> Last class meeting

  • Discuss Johnson
  • Discuss maps and papers
  • Makeup presentations [TBD]

Final Project and Map Due <2016-12-08 Thu>

As the instructor for this course, I reserve the right to adjust this schedule in any way that serves the educational needs of the students. John Garrigus

Emergency Phone Numbers:  In case of an on-campus emergency, call the UT Arlington Police Department at 817-272-3003 (non-campus phone), 2-3003 (campus phone). You may also dial 911. Non-emergency number 817-272-3381

HIST4369: Caribbean History, Spring 2014

MWF 11-11:50am; University Hall, Room 16

How to contact Professor Garrigus:

  1. Email: garrigus@uta.edu, but please use the BlackBoard email when possible.
  2. Office: University Hall 201b; [Note that this is on the 2nd floor]
  3. Office Hours: 4pm to 6pm Mondays or Mondays and Wednesdays 1 to 3pm; please make make an appointment with me if these times are not convenient.
  4. Office Phone: 817-272-2869
  5. BlackBoard: http://elearn.uta.edu; you will find all class handouts here and submit all projects electronically
  6. Website: http://wweb.uta.edu/faculty/garrigus

Description:

This course will present a picture of the Caribbean quite different from that held by many North Americans. For 500 years, this region has been the site of encounters and clashes among Native Americans, Europeans, Africans, and Asians. For three centuries Europe’s leading states fought each other to control these islands, which were the most valuable real estate in the Atlantic world. At the same time Dutch, English, French and Spanish colonists imported millions of enslaved men, women, and children from Africa to work on the sugar and coffee plantations that made the region so profitable for its masters. Supported by racism and colonialism, plantation slavery left its mark on the Caribbean long after emancipation and independence.

But poverty and powerlessness could not prevent Caribbean people from developing their own resilient and resourceful cultures, forged in resistance to slavery and rooted in a shared African heritage. In music, religion, and literature the Caribbean has given the world new voices and modes of expression that many North Americans value, though often without understanding their origins.

The goal of this class is to trace the emergence of modern multi-ethnic Caribbean nations from the slave colonies of the not-so-distant past. We will show that that though they provide tourists with a picturesque “escape” destination, the islands of the Caribbean have played a central role in the history of the Atlantic world for the last 500 years.

Learning Outcomes:

  1. Students will be able to identify major Caribbean countries on a map. This will be assessed on a map quiz.
  2. Students will be able to construct reasonable interpretations of primary documents, books, and films about Caribbean history. This will be assessed in class discussions, and eight book quizzes.
  3. Students will be able to evaluate the impact on Caribbean peoples of factors including geography, global trade, slavery, racism, and imperialism. This will be assessed in four short country reports.
  4. Students will describe the connection between Caribbean history and the processes of globalization.. This will be assessed in the final project.

Requirements:

This course is designed so that you can succeed whether or not you have never studied the history of the Caribbean or Latin America before.

Required Books:

  1. Jamaica Kincaid, A Small Place. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. ISBN: 9780374527075
  2. Trevor Burnard, Mastery, Tyranny, and Desire: Thomas Thistlewood and His Slaves in the Anglo-Jamaican World. University of North Carolina Press, 2003. ISBN: 0807855251
  3. Laurent Dubois and John D. Garrigus, Slave Revolution in the Caribbean, 1789-1804: A Brief History with Documents. Bedford St. Martin’s Press, 2006. ISBN: 031241501x
  4. Karen McCarthy Brown, Mama Lola: A Vodou Priestess in Brooklyn. University of California Press, 2001. ISBN: 0520224752
  5. Aviva Chomsky, et. al. The Cuba Reader: History, Culture, Politics Duke University Press, 2004. ISBN: 0822331977

Description of Major Assignments with Dates

Map quiz

  • Date: 01-22 Wed
  • I’ll pick ten countries on an map of the Caribbean and ask you to identify each of them, together with the main European language spoken there.

Eight book quizzes

  • Dates: 01-24 Fri; 02-31 Fri; 02-07 Fri; 02-14 Fri; 02-21 Fri; 03-28 Fri; 04-11 Fri; 04-25 Fri; 05-02 Fri
  • For each of our books you will find a study guide on Blackboard, with four to nine discussion questions and a list of important terms. Eight times during the semester [see schedule] we’ll have a 30-minute quiz on the book, consisting of four multiple choice questions on the terms and an essay on one of the discussion questions. You may drop the lowest quiz score.
  • On 2-14 Fri you will take the quiz on Blackboard. This quiz will mostly consist of objective questions of the Dubois reading, plus multiple-choice questions over the on-line lectures for that week. You will be able to take this quiz twice.

Four country project assignments

  • You’ll choose a Caribbean country to study over the course of the semester. Over the course of the semester you’ll submit four five-page papers on pre-assigned aspects of the history and culture of that country.
  • Dates: 02-17 Mon; 03-07 Fri; 04-18 Fri; 04-25 Fri

Class participation

I base this on two elements: your regular attendance and your oral/written participation in class, especially on our pre-announced discussion days.

Final project

  • Date: 05-09 Fri
  • At the end of the semester you’ll use a template I provide to combine your four country project assignments into a single project on the country you picked.

Grading Policy:

At the end of the semester, students who have accumulated 900 or more
points will receive a “A”; 800 to 899 is a “B”; 700 to 799 is a “C”;
and 600 to 699 is “D”. Less than 600 points is a failing grade.

 
Assignment Points
Map quiz 100
Eight quizzes 400
Four country projects 200
Final Project 200
Class participation 100
TOTAL 1000

Attendance Policy:

I take attendance every day. Students are allowed only four absences. Starting with the fifth absence a student will lose 30 points from the final grade for each subsequent absence.

Academic Integrity:

All students enrolled in this course are expected to adhere to the UT Arlington Honor Code:

I pledge, on my honor, to uphold UT Arlington’s tradition of academic integrity, a tradition that values hard work and honest effort in the pursuit of academic excellence.

I promise that I will submit only work that I personally create or contribute to group collaborations, and I will appropriately reference any work from other sources. I will follow the highest standards of integrity and uphold the spirit of the Honor Code.

UT Arlington faculty members may employ the Honor Code as they see fit in their courses, including (but not limited to) having students acknowledge the honor code as part of an examination or requiring students to incorporate the honor code into any work submitted. Per UT System Regents’ Rule 50101, §2.2, suspected violations of university’s standards for academic integrity (including the Honor Code) will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct. Violators will be disciplined in accordance with University policy, which may result in the student’s suspension or expulsion from the University.

Garrigus Statement on Plagiarism:

I realize that you may not clearly understand what plagiarism is
depending on your previous academic experiences. Please ask me for
clarification if you have any questions after reading the following paragraph.

Plagiarism occurs when you present someone else’s words or ideas
as your own. Avoid plagiarism in all class assignments,
including on-line discussion boards as
well as more traditional papers and projects. When you copy
paragraphs, sentences, and phrases from someone else, from the
Internet, from encyclopedias, or from other works you are committing
plagiarism. What you may not realize is that paraphrasing
(copying a sentence and changing a few key words) is also
plagiarism. Avoid plagiarism by always explaining ideas in
your own language. If you must reproduce someone else’s words, use
quotation marks and give that writer credit in a footnote or
endnote.

Drop Policy:

Students may drop or swap (adding and dropping a class concurrently)
classes through self-service in MyMav from the beginning of the
registration period through the late registration period. After the
late registration period, students must see their academic advisor to
drop a class or withdraw. Undeclared students must see an advisor in
the University Advising Center. Drops can continue through a point
two-thirds of the way through the term or session. It is the student’s
responsibility to officially withdraw if they do not plan to attend
after registering. Students will not be automatically dropped for
non-attendance. Repayment of certain types of financial aid
administered through the University may be required as the result of
dropping classes or withdrawing. Contact the Financial Aid Office for
more information.

Americans With Disabilities Act:

The University of Texas at Arlington is on record as being committed
to both the spirit and letter of all federal equal opportunity
legislation, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). All
instructors at UT Arlington are required by law to provide “reasonable
accommodations” to students with disabilities, so as not to
discriminate on the basis of that disability. Any student requiring an
accommodation for this course must provide the instructor with
official documentation in the form of a letter certified by the staff
in the Office for Students with Disabilities, University
Hall 102. Only those students who have officially documented a need
for an accommodation will have their request honored. Information
regarding diagnostic criteria and policies for obtaining
disability-based academic accommodations can be found at
http://www.uta.edu/disability or by calling the Office for Students with
Disabilities at (817) 272-3364.

Student Support Services:

UT Arlington provides a variety of resources and programs designed to help students develop academic skills, deal with personal situations, and better understand concepts and information related to their courses. Resources include tutoring, major-based learning centers, developmental education, advising and and mentoring, personal counseling, and federally funded programs. For individualized referrals, students may visit the reception desk at University College (Ransom Hall), call the Maverick Resource Hotline at 817-272-6107, send a message to resources@uta.edu, or view the information at http://www.uta.edu/resources.

Electronic Communication Policy:

UT Arlington has adopted MavMail as its official means to communicate with students about important deadlines and events, as well as to transact university-related business regarding financial aid, tuition, grades, graduation, etc. All students are assigned a MavMail account and are responsible for checking the inbox regularly. There is no additional charge to students for using this account, which remains active even after graduation. Information about activating and using MavMail is available at http://www.uta.edu/oit/cs/email/mavmail.php.

Student Feedback Survey:

At the end of each term, students enrolled in classes categorized as “lecture,” “seminar,” or “laboratory” shall be directed to complete an online Student Feedback Survey (SFS). Instructions on how to access the SFS for this course will be sent directly to each student through MavMail approximately 10 days before the end of the term. Each student’s feedback enters the SFS database anonymously and is aggregated with that of other students enrolled in the course. UT Arlington’s effort to solicit, gather, tabulate, and publish student feedback is required by state law; students are strongly urged to participate. For more information, visit http://www.uta.edu/sfs.

Final Review Week:

A period of five class days prior to the first day of final examinations in the long sessions shall be designated as Final Review Week. The purpose of this week is to allow students sufficient time to prepare for final examinations. During this week, there shall be no scheduled activities such as required field trips or performances; and no instructor shall assign any themes, research problems or exercises of similar scope that have a completion date during or following this week unless specified in the class syllabus. During Final Review Week, an instructor shall not give any examinations constituting 10% or more of the final grade, except makeup tests and laboratory examinations. In addition, no instructor shall give any portion of the final examination during Final Review Week. During this week, classes are held as scheduled. In addition, instructors are not required to limit content to topics that have been previously covered; they may introduce new concepts as appropriate.

Emergency Exit Procedures:

Should we experience an emergency event that requires us to vacate the building, students should exit the room and move toward the nearest exit, which is located just outside our classroom door. When exiting the building during an emergency, one should never take an elevator but should use the stairwells. Faculty members and instructional staff will assist students in selecting the safest route for evacuation and will make arrangements to assist handicapped individuals.

Schedule

Week 1: Beginnings

  • 2014-01-13 Mon What’s in a Name?
  • 2014-01-15 Wed Native Peoples of the Caribbean
  • 2014-01-17 Fri NO CLASS

Week 2: Caribbean Plantation Slavery, part 1

  • 2014-01-20 Mon Martin Luther King Holiday; No classes at UTA
  • 2014-01-22 Wed Columbus and the Origins of Caribbean Slavery; map quiz
  • 2014-01-24 Fri Quiz on Jamaica Kincaid; discussion of Kincaid;

Week 3: Caribbean Plantation Slavery, part 2

  • 2014-01-27 Mon The Barbadian Sugar Revolution; How to Make Sugar
  • 2014-01-29 Wed Pirates of the Caribbean;
  • 2014-01-31 Fri Quiz on Burnard, pp 1-101; discussion of Burnard;

Week 4: Caribbean Plantation Slavery, part 3

  • 2014-02-03 Mon Africa and the Slave Trade
  • 2014-02-05 Wed Slavery, Industrialization and Resistance in the Greater Antilles
  • 2014-02-07 Fri Quiz on Burnard; pp 137-174; 209-271; discussion of Burnard; Sugar and Industrialization

ALL ON BLACKBOARD Week 5: The Haitian Revolution, part 1

  • 2014-02-10 Mon Lectures on Blackboard: Overview of The French and Haitian Revolutions (1789-1804); read Dubois/Garrigus, pp 7-40
  • 2014-02-12 Wed Lectures on Blackboard: Civil War in Saint-Domingue:
  • 2014-02-14 Fri Lectures on Blackboard: Slave Uprising and Emancipation; Blackboard QUIZ on Dubois pp 7-85 and on on-line lectures

Week 6: The Haitian Revolution, part 2

  • 2014-02-17 Mon Plantation Uprising; What did Toussaint Louverture stand for? discussion of Dubois, pp 120-132, 138-158; 167-70; first country project due on Blackboard by 11:59pm
  • 2014-02-19 Wed Free “Black” Haiti / The Impact of Haitian Freedom;
  • 2014-02-21 Fri Quiz on Dubois; discussion of Dubois

Week 7: End of Slavery in British Territories

  • 2014-02-24 Mon Britain Abolishes the Slave Trade
  • 2014-02-26 Wed The End of British Plantation Slavery
  • 2014-02-28 Fri Jamaica’ Morant Bay Rebellion

Week 8: Slavery Continues

  • 2014-03-03 Mon; Asian Sugar Workers in the Caribbean
  • 2014-03-05 Wed The Rise of Cuban Sugar
  • 2014-03-07 Fri Cuban Sugar Workers; second country project due on Blackboard, 11:59pm

Spring Break

Week 9: The Spanish Caribbean and the USA

  • 2014-03-17 Mon End of Slavery in the French and Spanish Caribbean
  • 2014-03-19 Wed Sugar Shack Alley (Martinique, 1983)
  • 2014-03-21 Fri Cuba and the “Spanish-American” War

Week 10: Life After Slavery

  • 2014-03-24 Mon US Imperialism and the Caribbean
  • 2014-03-26 Wed Trujillo: Dictator of the Dominican Republic
  • 2014-03-28 Fri Quiz on Brown, Chapter 1-6/ discussion of Brown, Chapters 1-6

Week 11: The 1920s-1940s

  • 2014-03-31 Mon Caribbean Migrants in the 1920s
  • 2014-04-02 Wed The Great Depression in the Caribbean;
  • 2014-04-04 Fri AfroCubanismo, Négritude and Marcus Garvey

Week 12: The “Independent” Caribbean

  • 2014-04-07 Mon World War II and Decolonization; Fidel Castro and his Revolution
  • 2014-04-09 Wed Fidel and the Cold War in the Caribbean
  • 2014-04-11 Fri Quiz on Brown, Chapters 7-12/ discussion of Brown, Chapters 7-12

Week 13: Nation and Culture in the Caribbean

  • 2014-04-14 Mon The Harder They Come(Jamaica, 1972)
  • 2014-04-16 Wed The Harder They Come, continued
  • 2014-04-18 Fri Rastafarianism; Third country project due on Blackboard, 11:59pm

Week 14: Cold War and Neocolonialism

  1. 2014-04-21 Mon Cold War in the Caribbean, part 2; Life and Debt (US, 2001)
  2. 2014-04-23 Wed Life and Debt (US, 2001)
  3. 2014-04-25 Fri Quiz on Chomsky, TBD/ discussion of Chomsky

Week 15: After the Cold War

  • 2014-04-28 Mon Cold War in the Caribbean, part 3; fourth country project due by 11:59pm
  • 2014-04-30 Wed Cuba’s “Special Period”
  • 2014-05-02 Fri Quiz on Chomsky, TBD/ discussion of Chomsky

Final Project

  • 2014-05-09 Fri Final project due on Blackboard by 11 am.

All procedures and policies in this course are subject to change in the event of unforeseen circumstances.

Cuba Reader Selections

Week 13

  1. Rhumba, Yvonne Daniel 74
  2. US Cartoonists Portray Cuba, John J. Johnson 135
  3. Afrocubanismo and Son, Robin Moore 192
  4. Drums in My Eyes, Nicolas Guillen 201
  5. Life at the Mill, Ursinio Rojas 226
  6. Migrant Workers in the Sugar Industry, Levi Marrero 234
  7. Waiting Tables in Havana, Cipriano Chinea Falero and Lynn Geldof, 253
  8. The Brothel of the Caribbean, Tomas Fernandez. Robaina 257
  9. A Conversation on Santeria and Palo Monte, Oscar Lewis, Ruth M. Lewis, and Susan M. Rigdon 498
  10. Silence on Black Cuba, Carlos Moore 419

Week 14; Cuba Quiz 1

  1. The Platt Amendment, President Theodore Roosevelt 147
  2. Imperialism and Sanitation, Nancy Stepan 150
  3. A Child of the Platt Amendment, Renee Mendez. Capote 154
  4. History Will Absolve Me, Fidel Castro 306
  5. Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War, Che Guevara 315
  6. The Cuban Story in the New York Times, Herbert L. Matthews 326
  7. Castro Announces the Revolution, Fidel Castro 341
  8. How the Poor Got More, Medea Benjamin, Joseph Collins,and Michael Scott 344
  9. Man and Socialism, Ernesto “Che” Guevara 370
  10. 1961: The Year of Education, Richard R. Fagen 386
  11. The Family Code, Margaret Randall 399
  12. From Utopianism to Institutionalization, Juan Antonio Blanco and Medea Benjamin 433

Week 15; Cuba Quiz 2

  1. The U.S. Government Responds to Revolution, Foreign Relations of the United States 530
  2. Castro Calls on Cubans to Resist the Counterrevolution, Fidel Castro 536
  3. Operation Mongoose, Edward Lansdale 540
  4. The Assassination Plots, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities 552
  5. From Welcomed Exiles to Illegal Immigrants, Felix Roberto Masud-Piloto 561
  6. We Came All the Way From Cuba So You Could Dress Like This?, Achy Obejas 568
  7. City on the Edge, Alejandro Portes and Alex Stepick 581
  8. From Communist Solidarity to Communist Solitary, Susan Eckstein 607
  9. Emigration in the Special Period, Steve Fainaru and Ray Sanchez 637
  10. One More Assassination Plot, Juan Tamayo 666
  11. An Errand in Havana, Miguel Barnet 671

 

HIST5311: The French Atlantic: 1500- 1848, Fall 2014

Wed 7pm-9:50pm; University Hall, Room 16

How to contact Professor Garrigus:

  1. Email: garrigus@uta.edu, but please use the BlackBoard email when possible.
  2. Office: University Hall 201b; [Note that this is on the 2nd floor]
  3. Office Hours: Wednesday and Thursday, 2:00 to 4:00pm; please make an appointment with me if these times are not convenient.
  4. Office Phone: 817-272-2869
  5. BlackBoard: http://elearn.uta.edu; you will find all class handouts here and this is the place where you submit all papers electronically
  6. Website: http://wweb.uta.edu/faculty/garrigus

Description:

The identity question is especially important in the French Atlantic. European empires dominated the Atlantic basin in the eighteenth century but the American and French Revolutions transformed this situation, helping the nation-state replace these New World empires. However only one independent nation-state – Haiti – emerged in the French Atlantic. The fate of French-speaking people in the New World after France lost its American empire in the early 1800s is NOT a major focus of the reading but it is a subject for class presentations and discussions.

Learning Outcomes:

After successfully completing this class, students will be able to:

  1. describe and evaluate the concept of “The French Atlantic”.
  2. describe and evaluate the central issues in the recent historiography of this field.
  3. produce critical appraisals of course readings, orally and in writing.

Required Books:

  1. Shannon Lee Dawdy, Building the Devil’s Empire: French Colonial New Orleans (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008).
  2. Allan Greer, Mohawk Saint: Catherine Tekakwitha and the Jesuits (Oxford University Press, USA, 2004).
  3. Robert W. Harms and Robert Harms, The Diligent: A Voyage through the Worlds of the Slave Trade (New York: Basic Books, 2003).
  4. Christopher Hodson, The Acadian Diaspora: An Eighteenth-Century History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012).
  5. Christopher L. Miller, The French Atlantic Triangle: Literature and Culture of the Slave Trade (Durham: Duke University Press, 2008).
  6. Jeremy D. Popkin, You Are All Free: The Haitian Revolution and the Abolition of Slavery (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010).
  7. Brett Rushforth, Bonds of Alliance: Indigenous and Atlantic Slaveries in New France (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2012).
  8. Sophie White, Wild Frenchmen and Frenchified Indians: Material Culture and Race in Colonial Louisiana (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012).

Grading:

At the end of the semester, students who have accumulated 900 or more
points will receive a “A”; 800 to 899 is a “B”; 700 to 799 is a “C”;
and 600 to 699 is “D”. Less than 600 points is a failing grade.

Assignment Points
1 precis 20
Class participation 130
Presentation 100
10 discussion board postings 100
3 reaction papers of 300 words 300
Final essay of 3,000 words 350
TOTAL 1000

Major Assignments with Dates

One precis

Presentation

  • Due date: sign-up sheet (one or two per week)
  • Graded on whether your presentation: engages the audience, connects to course themes, shows evidence of critical thinking
  • Your choice of the following:
    1. Author introduction: At the meeting before we start a new book, one student will make a presentation about the upcoming author. This should be a kind of intellectual biography, which I will grade on your research and presentation skills. What articles and books has she published? When and where did he attend graduate school? Which scholars or ideas have most influenced her? What special tools or perspectives does he generally bring to hiswork? I’m happy to give you pointers if you have trouble finding material.
    2. Historiography review: You’ll present an outside book (must be cleared with me first) on one of our main class topics: religion, slavery, trade, urban life, identity, or revolution in New World empires. Ideally this would be a book about the British, Spanish, Portuguese or Dutch Atlantic.
    3. Historical map presentation: (only open to those who are taking or have taken Dr. Demhardt’s Introduction to Historical Cartography). You’ll make a presentation analyzing an historical map from the periods and regions we are studying.
    4. Show-N-Tell: You will find some piece of contemporary news reporting, video, on-line primary source document, or image that sheds light on the idea of the “French Atlantic”. You will present it to the class with a critical analysis of the author(s), his or her perspective, when and why it was created, the context and the connection between claims and evidence.

Three reaction papers

  • Due via Blackboard upload after class before 11:59pm
  • Due dates: Wed 9-24 (Rushforth); 10-29 (Hodson); 11-12 (Popkin)
  • A reaction paper is at least 300 words long but it may be longer. In it you describe the thesis of the book and, as specifically and thoughtfully as you can, how it affected your understanding of the French Atlantic.

Class participation

Attendence and participation in our class discussions are important
parts of this colloquium. I take attendance and make notes on your
participation at every class meeting. I’m not grading you on your
brilliance but on your willingness to explore new ideas and offer
feedback to your classmates.

Discussion board:

I expect you to post comments on our BlackBoard discussion board every
week [weeks 3 through 13] by 5pm Wednesday, the day of our class. You should note what were the “fuzziest” points in the reading for you and also post two or three discussion questions about the reading. You should also read and respond to the postings by other members of the class. I’ll assign a grade to these comments and they will form the basis for our in-class discussions.

Final essay

  • At the end of this semester you’ll turn in an interpretive essay of about 3,000 words, roughly 10 pages, using our readings and discussions to answer the question – What is [or was] the “French Atlantic”? Is it a useful concept? Why or why not? How would you define or describe it?
  • Due date: 12-10 Wed

Important Policies

Academic Integrity:

All students enrolled in this course are expected to adhere to the UT Arlington Honor Code, which must be included in every substantial writing assignment in this class.

I pledge, on my honor, to uphold UT Arlington’s tradition of academic integrity, a tradition that values hard work and honest effort in the pursuit of academic excellence.

I promise that I will submit only work that I personally create or contribute to group collaborations, and I will appropriately reference any work from other sources. I will follow the highest standards of integrity and uphold the spirit of the Honor Code.

Instructors may employ the Honor Code as they see fit in their courses, including (but not limited to) having students acknowledge the honor code as part of an examination or requiring students to incorporate the honor code into any work submitted. Per UT System Regents’ Rule 50101, §2.2, suspected violations of the University’s standards for academic integrity (including the Honor Code) will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct. Violators will be disciplined in accordance with University policy, which may result in the student’s suspension or expulsion from the University.

Attendance:

At The University of Texas at Arlington, taking attendance is not required. Rather, each faculty member is free to develop his or her own methods of evaluating students’ academic performance, which includes establishing course-specific policies on attendance. As the instructor of this course, I record attendance weekly and factor it into your class participation grade.

Drop Policy:

Students may drop or swap (adding and dropping a class concurrently)
classes through self-service in MyMav from the beginning of the
registration period through the late registration period. After the
late registration period, students must see their academic advisor to
drop a class or withdraw. Undeclared students must see an advisor in
the University Advising Center. Drops can continue through a point
two-thirds of the way through the term or session. It is the student’s
responsibility to officially withdraw if they do not plan to attend
after registering. Students will not be automatically dropped for
non-attendance. Repayment of certain types of financial aid
administered through the University may be required as the result of
dropping classes or withdrawing. Contact the Financial Aid Office for
more information.

Americans With Disabilities Act:

UT Arlington provides a variety of resources and programs designed to help students develop academic skills, deal with personal situations, and better understand concepts and information related to their courses. Resources include tutoring, major-based learning centers, developmental education, advising and mentoring, personal counseling, and federally funded programs. For individualized referrals, students may visit the reception desk at University College (Ransom Hall), call the Maverick Resource Hotline at 817-272-6107, send a message to resources@uta.edu, or view the information at www.uta.edu/resources.

Title IX:

The University of Texas at Arlington is committed to upholding U.S. Federal Law “Title IX” such that no member of the UT Arlington community shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity. For more information, visit http://www.uta.edu/titleIX.

Student Support Services:

The University of Texas at Arlington supports a variety of student
success programs to help you connect with the University and achieve
academic success. These programs include learning assistance,
developmental education, advising and mentoring, admission and
transition, and federally funded programs. For individualized referrals to resources for any reason, students may contact the Maverick Resource hot-line at 817-272-6107 or visit www.uta.edu/resources for more information.

Electronic Communication Policy:

The University of Texas at Arlington has adopted the University “MavMail” address as the sole official means of communication with students. MavMail is used to remind students of important deadlines, advertise events and activities, and permit the University to conduct official transactions exclusively by electronic means. For example, important information concerning registration, financial aid, payment of bills, and graduation are now sent to students through the MavMail system. All students are assigned a MavMail account. Students are responsible for checking their MavMail regularly. Information about activating and using MavMail is available at http://www.uta.edu/oit/email/. There is no additional charge to students for using this account and it remains active even after they graduate from UT Arlington.

Grade Grievance Policy:

Students should meet in person with the instructor to discuss any concerns about their grade.

Emergency Exit Procedures:

Should we experience an emergency event that requires us to vacate the building, students should exit the room and move toward the nearest exit, which is located just outside our classroom door. When exiting the building during an emergency, one should never take an elevator but should use the stairwells. Faculty members and instructional staff will assist students in selecting the safest route for evacuation and will make arrangements to assist handicapped individuals.

Schedule

Week 1: 2014-08-27 Wed What is Atlantic History?

  • Before class read Bailyn, Contours, pp. 59-111

Week 2: 2014-09-03 Wed What is the French Atlantic?

  • Read Dubois, “French Atlantic,” from Greene and Morgan, eds., Atlantic History: A Critical Appraisal (2009), 137-161
  • Read Miller, “Introduction,” from French Atlantic Triangle pp. 3-39
  • Read Seed, “Introduction” and Ch2 from Ceremonies of Possession: Europe’s Conquest of the New World, 1492-1640 (1995), 1-15 and 41-68
  • Read Vidal, “Reluctance”, The Southern Quarterly (2006), 153-189.
  • Precis on one of the four readings due by 5pm before class

Week 3: 2014-09-10 Wed Jesuits and Indians

  • Read Greer [272 pp]
  • Post to discussion board
  • 2014-09-20 Sat Professor Jeremy Popkin, one of the authors we’ll be reading, will be speaking at the 15th annual International Graduate Student Conference on Transatlantic history. I highly recommend you attend his talk if at all possible. See http://transatlantic-history.org for details.

Week 4: 2014-09-17 Wed Frenchmen, Indians and Slaves, pt. 1

  • Read Miller 40-61
  • Read Rushforth, pp. 1-192
  • Post to discussion board

Week 5: 2014-09-24 Wed Frenchmen, Indians and Slaves, pt. 2

  • Read Rushforth pp. 193-382
  • Reaction paper due before 11:59pm
  • Post to discussion board

Week 6: 2014-10-01 Wed Frenchmen, Africans and Slaves, pt. 1

  • Read Harms, pp. xi-196
  • Post to discussion board

Week 7: 2014-10-08 Wed Frenchmen, Africans and Slaves, pt. 2

  • Read Harms, pp. 197-408
  • Post to discussion board

Week 8: 2014-10-15 Wed New Orleans

  • Read Dawdy, xiii-246
  • Post to discussion board

Week 9: 2014-10-22 Wed Frenchmen or Others?

  • Read White 1-232
  • Post to discussion board

Week 10: 2014-10-29 Wed Frenchmen and Acadians

  • Read Hodson 1-212
  • Reaction paper due before 11:59pm
  • Post to discussion board

Week 11: 2014-11-05 Wed The Haitian Revolution, pt. 1

  • Read Blackburn, “Haitians Claim the Rights of Man” pp. 173-219 in Blackburn, The American Crucible (2011)
  • Read Popkin, pp. 1-188
  • Post to discussion board

Week 12: 2014-11-12 Wed The Haitian Revolution, pt. 2

  • Read Popkin, pp. 189-396
  • Reaction paper due before 11:59pm
  • Post to discussion board

Week 13: 2014-11-19 Wed The French Atlantic Remembered, pt. 1

  • Read Miller, pp. 62-175

No class on 2014-11-26 Wed

Week 14: 2014-12-03 Wed The French Atlantic Remembered, pt. 2

  • Read Miller, pp. 179-400

Final Project due on Blackboard on 2014-12-10 Wed by 11:59 pm

All procedures and policies in this course are subject to change in the event of unforeseen circumstances.

 

HIST4366: Latin America: Origins Through Independence, Fall 2014 on-line syllabus

Contact Professor Garrigus:

  1. Email: please use the BlackBoard email when possible; otherwise write garrigus@uta.edu with “4366” in the subject line.
  2. Office: University Hall 201b; [Note that this is on the 2nd floor]
  3. Office Hours: Wednesday, and Thursday 2 to 4; you can also make an appointment via email to talk on the phone, in person, or via Skype
  4. Office Phone: 817-272-2869
  5. BlackBoard: http://elearn.uta.edu
  6. Website: http://wweb.uta.edu/faculty/garrigus

Description:

Focusing on the years from 1300 to 1825, this course charts the emergence of creole cultures in Mexico, Central America and South America in the years before political independence from Europe. We will focus on the cultural, social, and economic history of Latin America and, necessarily, on the indigenous, Iberian, and West African societies that shaped it. As we will do this we will use and discuss the intellectual tools and approaches historians use to understand the past. Our readings reflect the ongoing “revisionism” that is an essential aspect of historical thinking.

Learning Outcomes:

  1. Students will be be able to accurately describe interpretations of specific aspects of the history of colonial Latin America as expressed in class readings and lectures. (assessed in on-line quizzes and country projects)
  2. Students will demonstrate critical thinking in the interpretation of images, video, and texts about the history of Latin America (assessed in weekly discussion board postings)
  3. Students will be able to research and write original essays connecting class lectures and readings with events in the colonial history of a specific Latin American country (assessed in country projects)

Expectations

What I expect of you:

  • I expect you to be in contact with me via the Blackboard email system about any questions or issues that you are having. The discussion boards are also a good place to raise general questions or concerns and I may put my answers there as well.
  • I expect you to keep up with the weekly pace of the class. Each week, starting on Monday, will have its own separate web page, with links to the lectures, quizzes, and discussion boards.
  • I expect you withdraw from the class if you find that you can’t keep up with the course for any reason. I don’t have the power to do this. The sooner you drop, the better for your finances and transcript.
  • I expect you to be able to find a solution for any technical problem that comes up during the semester. This sounds harsh, but we all need to recognize that there is very little I can do to help you with a computer crash or a prolonged lack of Internet service. If you run into problems on your end that can’t be fixed over a period of, say, two weeks, I recommend that you drop the class. My goal in saying this is to get you to cut your losses and withdraw before your GPA suffers.
  • If you are one of the Show-N-Tell leaders for a given week, I expect you to post your materials or link to that week’s discussion board by 8am Monday of that week.
  • I expect you to look carefully at the posted criteria [I call them “grading grids”] for the different projects before you undertake them; you will find these under “Assignment Descriptions.”
  • I take plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty quite seriously, maybe more than other history instructors you have had.
  • I expect you to study the plagiarism definitions and consequences in the “Class Policies” section of the syllabus and to ask me if you have general or specific questions, at any time in the semester.

What you can expect of me:

  1. I will answer your email within 24 hours if you send it through the BlackBoard mail system.
  2. I’ll give you ten days–Monday through Wednesday–to complete the discussion work and take the weekly quiz on the lectures. For example, the assignments for a unit that starts on Monday, September 1 will be open until 11:59pm Wednesday, September 10. However, once the deadline is past, you’ll be locked out.
  3. I will let you take the weekly quizzes twice, counting the highest score. Individually these quizzes are not worth a lot, but they are designed to prepare you for the exams and to reinforce the material in the lecture.
  4. I will give you extensions of a few days for our essay exams and final project IF you are keeping up with the quizzes and discussion.
  5. I will give you detailed feedback on your essay exams based on the grading grids. On subsequent exams you can expect me to grade you on whether you used my feedback to improve your work.
  6. I will be glad to meet you in person! You are welcome to drop by during my on-campus office hours but I may have another appointment. Making your own appointment with me is the best thing ! If you would like to meet in person but can’t come to office hours, send me a message and I’ll try to find a mutually convenient time we can get together on campus.

Required Materials:

  1. Charles C. Mann, 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus (Vintage Books, 2006) ISBN: 9781400032051
  2. Matthew Restall, Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest (Oxford University Press, 2004) ISBN: 9780195176117
  3. Junia Ferreira Furtado, Chica da Silva: A Brazilian Slave of the Eighteenth Century (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009).
  4. John Charles Chasteen, Americanos: Latin America’s Struggle for Independence (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2008).
  5. Computer equipment: I highly recommend that you have broadband access and a traditional computer/laptop as opposed to a cell phone or IPad. The course lectures are delivered in various streaming video formats that change from week to week and it is possible that portable devices won’t support these formats. The Blackboard on-line quizzes are NOT guaranteed to work on these portable devices either.

Major Assignments

Syllabus quiz:

We’ll start this course with a multiple-choice quiz over the course syllabus documents and policies. Like all our quizzes, you can take it twice and keep the highest score.

Readings, Lectures and Quizzes

On a weekly basis, you’ll read one of our 4 books and watch on-line lectures in screencast format. Some of the lectures will review important or difficult elements of the reading, and others will go deeper into historical topics. The lectures are NOT substitutes for reading the books, but are designed to help you get more out of them. You’ll have about 30 minutes of screencast lectures to watch every week, with a weekly multiple-choice quiz of about 7 questions on the content. You’ll be able to take each quiz twice within a 9-day window. Your highest score will count.

Quizzes on “Unpacking the Evidence”:

For four weeks during the semester, you will be assigned to read the materials and do the exercises on a website called World History: Unpacking the Evidence. [http://chnm.gmu.edu/worldhistorysources/whmunpacking.html] One week, for example, we will do a unit on using images (paintings, photographs) as primary sources, for example. Another week the unit will be about using official documents. There will be a 5-question multiple-choice quiz on these materials during each of these four weeks. “Unpacking the Sources” will also provide you with the know-how to complete your Show-N-Tell assignment. And for each of those four weeks the Unpacking the Evidence site will be the basis of our weekly discussion.

Show-N-Tell (SNT):

In week one you will pick one of the four types of primary sources [images, maps, official documents, and personal accounts] we will cover in “Unpacking the Evidence.” Then you will sign up to do an SNT, analyzing an example of that type of primary source, using the skills we will study in “Unpacking the Evidence”. The course schedule shows when each of the different primary sources has its SNT week on the discussion board. You will then choose your specific primary source from a list I will provide. For example, if you choose to do your SNT on an image, you would select an image from among those I supply on Blackboard. Then on the Monday that begins Week 3, all the image people will post their image [or text, for others] on the discussion board, along with a critical analysis of that material. I will supply you will a detailed template for this analysis. During week 3, all the other students in the class will review and critique the image analyses posted for these SNTs. Part of your SNT grade is for playing an active role in the class discussion of your post during that week.

Weekly discussions:

During each of the 9 weeks when you aren’t doing an SNT, you’ll be making two discussion posts about the “Unpacking” website, or the SNTs posted that week. I’ll assign you a discussion grade of 1 to 10 for each of those 9 weeks.

Country Projects:

  • You’ll choose one Latin American country in week one and will write three five-page papers about that country. These “Country Projects” will ask you to explain and illustrate how themes from the assigned books can be seen in the history and culture of your country.
  • Country Project #1 is due on 5pm Friday, September 12
  • Country Project #2 is due on 5pm Friday, October 3
  • Country Project #3 is due on 5pm Friday, November 7

Final Country Project:

  • At the end of the semester you’ll use a template I provide to combine your three country project assignments, plus a fourth segment written about independence, into a single larger paper about the country you picked.
  • Final Country Project is due 11:59pm, Monday, December 8

Grading Policy:

At the end of the semester, students who have accumulated 900 or more
points will receive a “A”; 800 to 899 is a “B”; 700 to 799 is a “C”;
and 600 to 699 is “D”. Less than 600 points is a failing grade.

Assignment Points
Syllabus quiz 50
4 quizzes on “Unpacking” 20
14 quizzes @ 7 pts 98
9 discussions @ 10 pts 90
1 Show-N-Tell presentation 92
Country Project 1 100
Country Project 2 140
Country Project 3 160
Final Country Project 250
TOTAL 1000

Important Policies

Academic Integrity:

All students enrolled in this course are expected to adhere to the UT Arlington Honor Code, which must be included in every substantial writing assignment in this class, including all 4 Country Projects and the Show-And-Tell.

I pledge, on my honor, to uphold UT Arlington’s tradition of academic integrity, a tradition that values hard work and honest effort in the pursuit of academic excellence.

I promise that I will submit only work that I personally create or contribute to group collaborations, and I will appropriately reference any work from other sources. I will follow the highest standards of integrity and uphold the spirit of the Honor Code.

Instructors may employ the Honor Code as they see fit in their courses, including (but not limited to) having students acknowledge the honor code as part of an examination or requiring students to incorporate the honor code into any work submitted. Per UT System Regents’ Rule 50101,
§2.2, suspected violations of the University’s standards for academic integrity (including the Honor Code) will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct. Violators will be disciplined in accordance with University policy, which may result in the student’s suspension or expulsion from the University.

Attendance:

At The University of Texas at Arlington, taking attendance is not required. Rather, each faculty member is free to develop his or her own methods of evaluating students’ academic performance, which includes establishing course-specific policies on attendance. As the instructor of this on-line course, I use the weekly quizzes and discussion assignments to gauge your active involvement in the class but I do not have a separate attendance grade.

Drop Policy:

Students may drop or swap (adding and dropping a class concurrently)
classes through self-service in MyMav from the beginning of the
registration period through the late registration period. After the
late registration period, students must see their academic advisor to
drop a class or withdraw. Undeclared students must see an advisor in
the University Advising Center. Drops can continue through a point
two-thirds of the way through the term or session. It is the student’s
responsibility to officially withdraw if they do not plan to attend
after registering. Students will not be automatically dropped for
non-attendance. Repayment of certain types of financial aid
administered through the University may be required as the result of
dropping classes or withdrawing. Contact the Financial Aid Office for
more information.

Americans With Disabilities Act:

UT Arlington provides a variety of resources and programs designed to help students develop academic skills, deal with personal situations, and better understand concepts and information related to their courses. Resources include tutoring, major-based learning centers, developmental education, advising and mentoring, personal counseling, and federally funded programs. For individualized referrals, students may visit the reception desk at University College (Ransom Hall), call the Maverick Resource Hotline at 817-272-6107, send a message to resources@uta.edu, or view the information at www.uta.edu/resources.

Title IX:

The University of Texas at Arlington is committed to upholding U.S. Federal Law “Title IX” such that no member of the UT Arlington community shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity. For more information, visit http://www.uta.edu/titleIX.

Student Support Services:

The University of Texas at Arlington supports a variety of student
success programs to help you connect with the University and achieve
academic success. These programs include learning assistance,
developmental education, advising and mentoring, admission and
transition, and federally funded programs. For individualized referrals to resources for any reason, students may contact the Maverick Resource hot-line at 817-272-6107 or visit www.uta.edu/resources for more information.

Electronic Communication Policy:

The University of Texas at Arlington has adopted the University “MavMail” address as the sole official means of communication with students. MavMail is used to remind students of important deadlines, advertise events and activities, and permit the University to conduct official transactions exclusively by electronic means. For example, important information concerning registration, financial aid, payment of bills, and graduation are now sent to students through the MavMail system. All students are assigned a MavMail account. Students are responsible for checking their MavMail regularly. Information about activating and using MavMail is available at http://www.uta.edu/oit/email/. There is no additional charge to students for using this account and it remains active even after they graduate from UT Arlington.

Grade Grievance Policy:

Students should meet in person with the instructor to discuss any concerns about their grade.

Schedule

Week 0: 2014-08-21 Thu The World in the 1400s and “The Encounter”

  • Take syllabus quiz
  • Sign up for Show-N-Tell
  • Approx. 27 minutes of on-line lectures, plus quiz
  • Email Dr. G. about your country project choice
  • Read Mann, ix-xii, Chasteen, Preface; Mann, Ch1 (3-30)
  • Make 2 discussion postings about the reading and your country choice

Week 1: 2014-08-25 Mon The Achievements of Early Americans

  • Approx. 25 minutes of on-line lectures plus quiz
  • Go to Using Images As Primary Sources; read “Getting Started,” “Questions to Ask,” “Sample Analysis”
  • Complete “You Be the Historian” exercise; take “Unpacking” quiz;
  • Make 2 discussion posts on “Using Images”
  • Read Mann, Ch2 (33-67), Ch3 (68-106) and Ch4 (107-150)

Week 2: 2014-09-01 Mon Early Americans and the Environment

  • Image Show-N-Tell postings due Monday 8am
  • Approx. 33 Minutes of on-line lectures plus quiz
  • Read Mann, Ch 6 (194-227), Ch7 (228-270)and Ch9 (315-349)
  • Make 2 discussion postings about the SNTs on images

Week 3: 2014-09-08 Mon Looking More Closely at the Conquest; CP1 due

  • CP1 due at 5pm Friday
  • Approx. 27 minutes of on-line lectures plus quiz
  • Restall, xiii-xix & Ch1 (1-27); Restall, Ch2 (24-43)
  • Make 2 discussion postings

Week 4: 2014-09-15 Mon African & Indian Conquistadors

  • Go to Using Maps as Primary Sources; read “Getting Started,” “Questions to Ask,” “Sample Analysis”
  • Complete “You Be the Historian” exercise; take “Unpacking” quiz;
  • Approx. 20 minutes of on-line lectures plus quiz
  • Make 2 discussion postings about “Using Maps”
  • Restall Ch3 (44-63); Restall Ch4 (64-76) & Ch5 (77-99)

Week 5: 2014-09-22 Mon Stories about Destruction of Civilizations

  • Maps SNT postings due Monday 8am
  • Approx. 18 minutes of on-line lectures plus quiz
  • Restall, Ch6 (100-130); Restall Ch7 (131-145) & Epilogue (147-157)

Week 6: 2014-09-29 Mon People of mixed ancestry; CP2 due

  • CP2 due Friday at 5pm
  • Approx. 23 minutes of on-line lectures plus quiz
  • Make 2 discussion postings about the SNTs on maps
  • Furtado, preface (xvii-xxv); Introduction (1-19); Furtado, Ch1 (20-39)

Week 7: 2014-10-06 Mon Colonial economies

  • Go to Using Official Documents as Primary Sources; read “Getting Started,” “Questions to Ask,” “Sample Analysis”
  • Complete “You Be the Historian” exercise; take “Unpacking” quiz;
  • Approx. 20 minutes of on-line lectures plus quiz
  • Make 2 discussion postings about “Using Official Documents”

Week 8: 2014-10-13 Mon Brazil and Africa

  • Approx. 30 minutes of on-line lectures plus quiz
  • Furtado, Ch2 (40-68), Furtado, Ch3 (69-103)
  • Make 2 discussion postings

Week 9: 2014-10-20 Mon Urban spaces

  • Official documents SNTs due Monday 8am
  • Approx. 33 minutes of on-line lectures plus quiz
  • Make 2 discussion postings about the SNTs on official documents
  • Furtado, Ch4 (104-129); Furtado, Ch5 (130-161)

Week 10: 2014-10-27 Mon Reforming Two Empires

  • Approx. 23 minutes of on-line lectures plus quiz
  • Furtado, Ch6 (162-192); Furtado, Ch7 & Ch8 (193-238)
  • Make 2 discussion postings

Week 11: 2014-11-03 Mon The American, French and Haitian Revolutions; CP3 due

  • CP3 due Friday at 5pm
  • Go to Using Personal Accounts as Primary Sources; read “Getting Started,” “Questions to Ask,” “Sample Analysis”
  • Complete “You Be the Historian” exercise; take “Unpacking” quiz;
  • Approx. 20 minutes of on-line lectures plus quiz
  • Make 2 discussion postings about “Using Personal Accounts”
  • Approx. 9 minutes of on-line lectures plus quiz
  • Read Furtado, Ch9 (239-258), Furtado, Ch11 (284-304)

Week 12: 2014-11-10 Mon Spain’s Crisis

  • Personal accounts SNTs due Monday 8am
  • Approx. 26 minutes of on-line lectures plus quiz
  • Make 2 discussion postings about the SNTs on personal accounts
  • Read Chasteen, 6-34; Chasteen, 35-65

Week 13: 2014-11-17 Mon Revolutions in Mexico and Argentina

  • Approx. 30 minutes of on-line lectures plus quiz
  • Read Chasteen, 66-105; 105-158
  • Make 2 discussion posts

Week 14: 2014-11-24 Mon Bolivar and San Martin; Independence Overview

  • Approx. 20 minutes of on-line lectures plus quiz
  • 2 discussion postings
  • Chasteen, 159-181; 182-192

Week 15: 2014-12-01 Mon Final project

  • Final project due on Blackboard by 11:59pm 2014-12-08 Mon

All procedures and policies in this course are subject to change in the event of unforeseen circumstances.

 

HIST4369: Caribbean History, Spring 2015

MWF 10-10:50am; University Hall, Room 08

How to contact Professor Garrigus:

  1. Email: garrigus@uta.edu, but please use the BlackBoard email when possible.
  2. Office: University Hall 201b; [Note that this is on the 2nd floor]
  3. Office Hours: 11am to noon Mondays; 2 to 3pm Wednesdays; 1 to 2pm Fridays; please make make an appointment with me if these times are not convenient.
  4. Office Phone: 817-272-2869
  5. BlackBoard: http://elearn.uta.edu; you will find all class handouts here and submit all projects electronically
  6. Website: http://wweb.uta.edu/faculty/garrigus

Description:

This course will present a picture of the Caribbean quite different from that held by many North Americans. For 500 years, this region has been the site of encounters and clashes among Native Americans, Europeans, Africans, and Asians. For three centuries Europe’s leading states fought each other to control these islands, which were the most valuable real estate in the Atlantic world. At the same time Dutch, English, French and Spanish colonists imported millions of enslaved men, women, and children from Africa to work on the sugar and coffee plantations that made the region so profitable for its masters. Supported by racism and colonialism, plantation slavery left its mark on the Caribbean long after emancipation and independence.

But poverty and powerlessness could not prevent Caribbean people from developing their own resilient and resourceful cultures, forged in resistance to slavery and rooted in a shared African heritage. In music, religion, and literature the Caribbean has given the world new voices and modes of expression that many North Americans value, though often without understanding their origins.

The goal of this class is to trace the emergence of modern multi-ethnic Caribbean nations from the slave colonies of the not-so-distant past. We will show that that though they provide tourists with a picturesque “escape” destination, the islands of the Caribbean have played a central role in the history of the Atlantic world for the last 500 years.

Learning Outcomes:

  1. Students will be able to identify major Caribbean countries on a map. This will be assessed on a map quiz.
  2. Students will be able to construct reasonable interpretations of primary documents, books, and films about Caribbean history. This will be assessed in class discussions, and eight book quizzes.
  3. Students will be able to evaluate the impact on Caribbean peoples of factors including geography, global trade, slavery, racism, and imperialism. This will be assessed in four short country reports.
  4. Students will describe the connection between Caribbean history and the processes of globalization.. This will be assessed in the final project.

Requirements:

This course is designed so that you can succeed whether or not you have never studied the history of the Caribbean or Latin America before.

Required Books:

  1. Jamaica Kincaid, A Small Place. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. ISBN: 9780374527075
  2. Trevor Burnard, Mastery, Tyranny, and Desire: Thomas Thistlewood and His Slaves in the Anglo-Jamaican World. University of North Carolina Press, 2003. ISBN: 0807855251
  3. Jeremy Popkin, A Concise History of the Haitian Revolution Wiley-Blackwell, 2012. ISBN: 978405198219
  4. Karen McCarthy Brown, Mama Lola: A Vodou Priestess in Brooklyn. University of Califobnia Press, 2001. ISBN: 0520224752
  5. Aviva Chomsky, A History of the Cuba Revolution Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. ISBN: 978405187732

Description of Major Assignments with Dates

Map quiz

  • Date: 01-26 Mon
  • I’ll pick ten countries on a blank map of the Caribbean and ask you to identify each of them, together with the main European language spoken there.

Eight book quizzes

  • Dates: 01-30 Fri; 02-06 Fri; 02-13 Fri; 02-20 Fri; 02-27 Fri; 04-03 Fri; 04-17 Fri; 05-01 Fri; 05-08 Fri
  • For each of our books you will find a study guide on Blackboard, with four to nine discussion questions and a list of important terms. Eight times during the semester [see schedule] we’ll have a 30-minute quiz on the book, consisting of four multiple choice questions on the terms and an essay on one of the discussion questions. You may drop the lowest quiz score.
  • On 1-30 Fri you will take the quiz on Blackboard. It will be heavily based on the Book Guide, with multiple-choice questions of the vocabulary and 1 essay question selected from those listed in the Book Guide.

Four country project assignments

  • You’ll choose a Caribbean country to study over the course of the semester. Over the course of the semester you’ll submit four five-page papers on pre-assigned aspects of the history and culture of that country.
  • Dates: 02-23 Mon; 03-20 Fri; 04-24 Fri; 05-04 Mon

Class participation

I base this on two elements: your regular attendance and your oral/written participation in class, especially on our pre-announced discussion days.

Final project

  • Date: 05-11 Mon
  • At the end of the semester you’ll use a template I provide to combine your four country project assignments into a single project on the country you picked.

Grading Policy:

At the end of the semester, students who have accumulated 900 or more
points will receive a “A”; 800 to 899 is a “B”; 700 to 799 is a “C”;
and 600 to 699 is “D”. Less than 600 points is a failing grade.

Assignment Points
Map quiz 100
Eight quizzes 400
Four country projects 200
Final Project 200
Class participation 100
TOTAL 1000

Attendance Policy:

At The University of Texas at Arlington, taking attendance is not required. Rather, each faculty member is free to develop his or her own methods of evaluating students’ academic performance, which includes establishing course-specific policies on attendance. As the instructor of this section, I take attendance every day. Students are allowed only four absences. Starting with the fifth absence a student will lose 30 points from the final grade for each subsequent absence.

Academic Integrity:

All students enrolled in this course are expected to adhere to the UT Arlington Honor Code:

I pledge, on my honor, to uphold UT Arlington’s tradition of academic integrity, a tradition that values hard work and honest effort in the pursuit of academic excellence.

I promise that I will submit only work that I personally create or contribute to group collaborations, and I will appropriately reference any work from other sources. I will follow the highest standards of integrity and uphold the spirit of the Honor Code.

UT Arlington faculty members may employ the Honor Code as they see fit in their courses, including (but not limited to) having students acknowledge the honor code as part of an examination or requiring students to incorporate the honor code into any work submitted. Per UT System Regents’ Rule 50101, §2.2, suspected violations of university’s standards for academic integrity (including the Honor Code) will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct. Violators will be disciplined in accordance with University policy, which may result in the student’s suspension or expulsion from the University.

Drop Policy:

Students may drop or swap (adding and dropping a class concurrently)
classes through self-service in MyMav from the beginning of the
registration period through the late registration period. After the
late registration period, students must see their academic advisor to
drop a class or withdraw. Undeclared students must see an advisor in
the University Advising Center. Drops can continue through a point
two-thirds of the way through the term or session. It is the student’s
responsibility to officially withdraw if they do not plan to attend
after registering. Students will not be automatically dropped for
non-attendance. Repayment of certain types of financial aid
administered through the University may be required as the result of
dropping classes or withdrawing. Contact the Financial Aid Office for
more information.

Americans With Disabilities Act:

The University of Texas at Arlington is on record as being committed
to both the spirit and letter of all federal equal opportunity
legislation, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). All
instructors at UT Arlington are required by law to provide “reasonable
accommodations” to students with disabilities, so as not to
discriminate on the basis of that disability. Any student requiring an
accommodation for this course must provide the instructor with
official documentation in the form of a letter certified by the staff
in the Office for Students with Disabilities, University
Hall 102. Only those students who have officially documented a need
for an accommodation will have their request honored. Information
regarding diagnostic criteria and policies for obtaining
disability-based academic accommodations can be found at
http://www.uta.edu/disability or by calling the Office for Students with
Disabilities at (817) 272-3364.

Title IX:

The University of Texas at Arlington is committed to upholding U.S. Federal Law “Title IX” such that no member of the UT Arlington community shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity. For more information, visit http://www.uta.edu/titleIX.

Student Support Services:

UT Arlington provides a variety of resources and programs designed to help students develop academic skills, deal with personal situations, and better understand concepts and information related to their courses. Resources include tutoring, major-based learning centers, developmental education, advising and and mentoring, personal counseling, and federally funded programs. For individualized referrals, students may visit the reception desk at University College (Ransom Hall), call the Maverick Resource Hotline at 817-272-6107, send a message to resources@uta.edu, or view the information at http://www.uta.edu/resources.

Electronic Communication Policy:

UT Arlington has adopted MavMail as its official means to communicate with students about important deadlines and events, as well as to transact university-related business regarding financial aid, tuition, grades, graduation, etc. All students are assigned a MavMail account and are responsible for checking the inbox regularly. There is no additional charge to students for using this account, which remains active even after graduation. Information about activating and using MavMail is available at http://www.uta.edu/oit/cs/email/mavmail.php.

Student Feedback Survey:

At the end of each term, students enrolled in classes categorized as “lecture,” “seminar,” or “laboratory” shall be directed to complete an online Student Feedback Survey (SFS). Instructions on how to access the SFS for this course will be sent directly to each student through MavMail approximately 10 days before the end of the term. Each student’s feedback enters the SFS database anonymously and is aggregated with that of other students enrolled in the course. UT Arlington’s effort to solicit, gather, tabulate, and publish student feedback is required by state law; students are strongly urged to participate. For more information, visit http://www.uta.edu/sfs.

Final Review Week:

A period of five class days prior to the first day of final examinations in the long sessions shall be designated as Final Review Week. The purpose of this week is to allow students sufficient time to prepare for final examinations. During this week, there shall be no scheduled activities such as required field trips or performances; and no instructor shall assign any themes, research problems or exercises of similar scope that have a completion date during or following this week unless specified in the class syllabus. During Final Review Week, an instructor shall not give any examinations constituting 10% or more of the final grade, except makeup tests and laboratory examinations. In addition, no instructor shall give any portion of the final examination during Final Review Week. During this week, classes are held as scheduled. In addition, instructors are not required to limit content to topics that have been previously covered; they may introduce new concepts as appropriate.

Emergency Exit Procedures:

Should we experience an emergency event that requires us to vacate the building, students should exit the room and move toward the nearest exit, which is located just outside our classroom door. When exiting the building during an emergency, one should never take an elevator but should use the stairwells. Faculty members and instructional staff will assist students in selecting the safest route for evacuation and will make arrangements to assist handicapped individuals.

Schedule

Week 1: Beginnings

  • 2015-01-21 Wed What’s in a Name?
  • 2015-01-23 Fri Native Peoples of the Caribbean

Week 2: Caribbean Slavery in Context, part 1

  • 2015-01-26 Mon Columbus and the Origins of Caribbean Slavery; map quiz
  • 2015-01-28 Wed Guest Speaker: Trevor Burnard
  • 2015-01-30 Fri No class; on-line quiz on Jamaica Kincaid;

Week 3: Caribbean Plantation Slavery, part 2

  • 2015-02-02 Mon The Barbadian Sugar Revolution; How to Make Sugar
  • 2015-02-04 Wed Pirates of the Caribbean
  • 2015-02-06 Fri Quiz on Burnard, pp 1-101/ discussion of Burnard

Week 4: Caribbean Plantation Slavery, part 3

  • 2015-02-09 Mon Africa and the Slave Trade
  • 2015-02-11 Wed Slavery, Industrialization and Resistance in the Greater Antilles
  • 2015-02-13 Fri Quiz on Burnard; pp 137-174; 209-271/ discussion of Burnard

Week 5: The Haitian Revolution, part 1

  • 2015-02-16 Mon Overview of The French and Haitian Revolutions (1789-1804)
  • 2015-02-18 Wed Civil War in Saint-Domingue; Slave Uprising and Emancipation
  • 2015-02-20 Fri Quiz on Popkin pp 1-89/ discussion of Popkin

Week 6: The Haitian Revolution, part 2

  • 2015-02-23 Mon Plantation Uprising; What did Toussaint Louverture stand for?; first country project due on Blackboard by 11:59pm
  • 2015-02-25 Wed Free “Black” Haiti / The Impact of Haitian Freedom
  • 2015-02-27 Fri Quiz on Popkin, pp. 90-170/ discussion of Popkin

Week 7: End of Slavery in British Territories

  • 2015-03-02 Mon Britain Abolishes the Slave Trade
  • 2015-03-04 Wed The End of British Plantation Slavery
  • 2015-03-06 Fri Jamaica’s Morant Bay Rebellion

Spring Break

Week 8: Slavery Continues

  • 2015-03-16 Mon; Asian Sugar Workers in the Caribbean
  • 2015-03-18 Wed The Rise of Cuban Sugar
  • 2015-03-20 Fri Cuban Sugar Workers; second country project due on Blackboard, 11:59pm

Week 9: The Spanish Caribbean and the USA

  • 2015-03-23 Mon End of Slavery in the French and Spanish Caribbean
  • 2015-03-25 Wed Sugar Shack Alley (Martinique, 1983)
  • 2015-03-27 Fri Cuba and the “Spanish-American” War

Week 10: Life After Slavery

  • 2015-03-30 Mon US Imperialism and the Caribbean
  • 2015-04-01 Wed Trujillo: Dictator of the Dominican Republic
  • 2015-04-03 Fri Quiz on Brown, Chapter 1-6/ discussion of Brown

Week 11: The 1920s-1940s

  • 2015-04-06 Mon Caribbean Migrants in the 1920s
  • 2015-04-08 Wed The Great Depression in the Caribbean;
  • 2015-04-10 Fri AfroCubanismo, Négritude and Marcus Garvey

Week 12: The “Independent” Caribbean

  • 2015-04-13 Mon World War II and Decolonization; Fidel Castro and his Revolution
  • 2015-04-15 Wed Fidel and the Cold War in the Caribbean
  • 2015-04-17 Fri Quiz on Brown, Chapters 7-12/ discussion of Brown

Week 13: Nation and Culture in the Caribbean

  • 2015-04-20 Mon Rastafarianism
  • 2015-04-22 Wed The Harder They Come(Jamaica, 1972)
  • 2015-04-24 Fri The Harder They Come, continued Third country project due on Blackboard, 11:59pm

Week 14: Cold War and Neocolonialism

  • 2015-04-27 Mon Cold War in the Caribbean, part 2; Life and Debt (US, 2001)
  • 2015-04-29 Wed Life and Debt (US, 2001)
  • 2015-05-01 Fri Quiz on Chomsky, pp. 1-105/ discussion of Chomsky

Week 15: After the Cold War

  • 2015-05-04 Mon Cold War in the Caribbean, part 3; fourth country project due by 11:59pm
  • 2015-05-06 Wed Cuba’s “Special Period”
  • 2015-05-08 Fri Quiz on Chomsky, pp106-195/ discussion of Chomsky

Final Project

  • 2015 05-11 Mon Final project due on Blackboard by 11 am.

As the instructor for this course, I reserve the right to adjust this schedule in any way that serves the educational needs of the students enrolled in this course. John D. Garrigus.

 

HIST5349: Introduction to Transatlantic History, Fall 2015

Wednesdays, 7:00-9:50pm; University Hall, Room 321

Table of Contents

Important Information

Description:

This course is designed to introduce graduate students to the broad outlines of transatlantic history and historiography from roughly 1500 to 2010. We will read some of the classic texts associated with these fields, as well as current research and historiographical debates. This is not a pre-requisite for the Department’s courses in transatlantic history, but it is designed to help graduate students make the bridge to these more specialized colloquia. At the same time, Introduction to Transatlantic History is a stand-alone class that will be interesting for anyone looking to deepen his or her knowledge of how the histories of Africa, Europe, North America, Latin America and the Caribbean intersect.

Learning Outcomes:

  1. Students will be able to discuss key works in the field of transatlantic history. This will be assessed in class discussions and presentations.
  2. Students will be able to describe the major theses, structure, and sources of key works in the field of transatlantic history. This will be assessed in eight response papers.
  3. Students will be able to identify an under-studied topic in transatlantic history, and develop a research proposal to fill this gap in the literature.

Required Books:

  1. Bailyn, Bernard. Atlantic History: Concept and Contours. Cambridge Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2005. 0674016882
  2. Blower, Brooke Lindy. Becoming Americans in Paris: Transatlantic Politics and Culture Between the World Wars. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. 0199927588
  3. Carney, Judith A., and Richard Nicholas Rosomoff. In the Shadow of Slavery: Africa’s Botanical Legacy in the Atlantic World. University of California Press, 2010. 0520257502
  4. Donoghue, John. Fire Under the Ashes: An Atlantic History of the English Revolution. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 2013. 9780226157658
  5. Nolan, Mary. The Transatlantic Century: Europe and America, 1890-2010. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2012. 9780521871679 0521871670 9780521692212 0521692210
  6. Norton, Marcy. Sacred Gifts, Profane Pleasures: A History of Tobacco and Chocolate in the Atlantic World. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2008. 978-0-8014-7632-7
  7. Putnam, Lara. Radical Moves: Caribbean Migrants and the Politics of Race in the Jazz Age. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2013. 0807872857
  8. Rodgers, Daniel T. Atlantic Crossings: Social Politics in a Progressive Age. Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1998. 0674051319
  9. Scott, Rebecca J., and Jean M. Hébrard. Freedom Papers: An Atlantic Odyssey in the Age of Emancipation. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2012. 0674047745
  10. Sweet, James. Domingos Álvares, African Healing, and the Intellectual History of the Atlantic World. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2011. 9780807834497
  11. Weaver, Jace. The Red Atlantic: American Indigenes and the Making of the Modern World, 1000-1927. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2014. 9781469614380 1469614383 9781469614397 1469614391

Required Articles

  • Morgan, Philip, and Jack P. Greene. “Introduction: The Current State of Atlantic History.” In Atlantic History: A Critical Appraisal, edited by Jack Greene and Philip D. Morgan, 3-33. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
  • Zimmer, Kenyon. “Transatlantic History: Naming and Locating an Emergent Field of Study.” Traversea 3 (2013): 77–86. http://www.uta.edu/history/traversea/ojs/index.php/traversea/article/view/72/pdf

Grading:

At the end of the semester, students who have accumulated 900 or more
points will receive a “A”; 800 to 899 is a “B”; 700 to 799 is a “C”; etc.

Assignment Points
Eight reaction papers 400
One-page synopsis 50
Presentation 50
Discussion/participation 250
Research presentation 50
Research proposal 200
TOTAL 1000

Description of Major Assignments

Eight two-page reaction papers

You’ll write two-page reaction papers on eight of the eleven books we’re reading. Each of these reaction papers should analyze, critically, the book’s thesis, arguments, and sources. It should also describe how the book is related to other readings in the course. You will submit the papers on Blackboard before class and I will ask you to talk about your paper at the beginning of class.

Oral presentation on one of our authors

  • We have 11 slots for in-class presentations and 7 slots for screencasts
  • Both types of presentations have the same time limit [6 minutes or less] and goal: to present a succinct intellectual biography of that week’s author and the reception of the book we are discussing. You are encouraged to use PowerPoint or someother presentation software.
  • A screencast is essentially a narrated slide show that can be seen on the Internet.
  • There are a number of free services that allow you to combine still or moving images with recorded audio. I recommend you use one of the following browser-based services:
    • Screencast-o-matic.com
    • Screencastle.com
    • Screenr.com
  • The screencast should be no longer than 6 minutes. I will post it on the class Blackboard site.

Discussion

Classroom participation is a big part of this course! Simply attending class does not count in this area, though I do take attendance at every class meeting.

Synopsis: due 2015-10-21 Wed

This will consist of at least one page describing the paper as you imagine it. What is the topic? What research questions remain unanswered? What theories or approaches would you use to answer those questions? What do you think you might find? The synopsis should contain a preliminary list of sources including major secondary sources, any published primary sources and any archival sources you have found at this early stage.

Oral presentation: due 2015-12-09 Wed

This will be a five-minute overview of your paper, delivered as a formal presentation

Research proposal: due 2015-12-16 Wed

This will be a paper of at least ten pages. It should describe an under-researched or problem area in transatlantic history and propose a research project to fill the gap. The research proposal paper should review the existing works on your topic, use course readings and outside readings, and describe conclusions and debates in the field. It should also describe the primary sources, methodologies, and theoretical frameworks you would use in this future research.

Drop Policy:

Students may drop or swap (adding and dropping a class concurrently)
classes through self-service in MyMav from the beginning of the
registration period through the late registration period. After the
late registration period, students must see their academic advisor to
drop a class or withdraw. Undeclared students must see an advisor in
the University Advising Center. Drops can continue through a point
two-thirds of the way through the term or session. It is the student’s
responsibility to officially withdraw if they do not plan to attend
after registering. Students will not be automatically dropped for
non-attendance. Repayment of certain types of financial aid
administered through the University may be required as the result of
dropping classes or withdrawing. Contact the Financial Aid Office for
more information.

Attendance Policy:

At The University of Texas at Arlington, taking attendance is not required. Rather, each faculty member is free to develop his or her own methods of evaluating students’ academic performance, which includes establishing course-specific policies on attendance. As the instructor of this section, I take attendance at every class meeting. We count on your contributions to the discussion! If you have to miss a class, please contact me.

Academic Integrity:

All students enrolled in this course are expected to adhere to the UT Arlington Honor Code:

I pledge, on my honor, to uphold UT Arlington’s tradition of academic integrity, a tradition that values hard work and honest effort in the pursuit of academic excellence.

I promise that I will submit only work that I personally create or contribute to group collaborations, and I will appropriately reference any work from other sources. I will follow the highest standards of integrity and uphold the spirit of the Honor Code.

Instructors may employ the Honor Code as they see fit in their courses, including (but not limited to) having students acknowledge the honor code as part of an examination or requiring students to incorporate the honor code into any work submitted. Per UT System Regents’ Rule 50101, §2.2, suspected violations of university’s standards for academic integrity (including the Honor Code) will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct. Violators will be disciplined in accordance with University policy, which may result in the student’s suspension or expulsion from the University.

Title IX:

The University of Texas at Arlington does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, disabilities, genetic information, and/or veteran status in its educational programs or activities it operates. For more information, visit http://uta.edu/eos. For information regarding Title IX, visit http://www.uta.edu/titleIX.

Americans With Disabilities Act:

UT Arlington provides a variety of resources and programs designed to help students develop academic skills, deal with personal situations, and better understand concepts and information related to their courses. Resources include tutoring, major-based learning centers, developmental education, advising and mentoring, personal counseling, and federally funded programs. For individualized referrals, students may visit the reception desk at University College (Ransom Hall), call the Maverick Resource Hotline at 817-272-6107, send a message to resources@uta.edu, or view the information at www.uta.edu/resources.

Electronic Communication:

UT Arlington has adopted MavMail as its official means to communicate with students about important deadlines and events, as well as to transact university-related business regarding financial aid, tuition, grades, graduation, etc. All students are assigned a MavMail account and are responsible for checking the inbox regularly. There is no additional charge to students for using this account, which remains active even after graduation. Information about activating and using MavMail is available at http://www.uta.edu/oit/cs/email/mavmail.php.

Student Feedback Survey

At the end of each term, students enrolled in classes categorized as lecture, seminar, or laboratory shall be directed to complete a Student Feedback Survey (SFS). Instructions on how to access the SFS for this course will be sent directly to each student through MavMail approximately 10 days before the end of the term. Each student’s feedback enters the SFS database anonymously and is aggregated with that of other students enrolled in the course. UT Arlington’s effort to solicit, gather, tabulate, and publish student feedback is required by state law; students are strongly urged to participate. For more information, visit http://www.uta.edu/sfs.

Final Review Week:

A period of five class days prior to the first day of final examinations in the long sessions shall be designated as Final Review Week. The purpose of this week is to allow students sufficient time to prepare for final examinations. During this week, there shall be no scheduled activities such as required field trips or performances; and no instructor shall assign any themes, research problems or exercises of similar scope that have a completion date during or following this week unless specified in the class syllabus. During Final Review Week, an instructor shall not give any examinations constituting 10% or more of the final grade, except makeup tests and laboratory examinations. In addition, no instructor shall give any portion of the final examination during Final Review Week. During this week, classes are held as scheduled. In addition, instructors are not required to limit content to topics that have been previously covered; they may introduce new concepts as appropriate.

Student Support Services:

The University of Texas at Arlington supports a variety of student
success programs to help you connect with the University and achieve
academic success. These programs include learning assistance,
developmental education, advising and mentoring, admission and
transition, and federally funded programs. Students requiring
assistance academically, personally, or socially should contact the
Office of Student Success Programs at 817-272-6107 for more
information and appropriate referrals.

Emergency Exit Procedures

Should we experience an emergency event that requires us to vacate the building, students should exit the room and move toward the nearest exit, which is the stairwell located in the southeastern corner of University Hall. When exiting the building during an emergency, one should never take an elevator but should use the stairwells. Faculty members and instructional staff will assist students in selecting the safest route for evacuation and will make arrangements to assist individuals with disabilities.

Grade Grievance Policy:

See the university policy in the UTA catalog.

Weekly Schedule

2015-08-26 Wed Week 0: Prepare for first day of class

  • Read:
    • Morgan and Greene, “Introduction: The Present State”
    • Zimmer, “Transatlantic History”
  • Write: 1-page [300-400 words] summary of either Morgan and Greene or Zimmer

2015-09-02 Wed Week 1: Atlantic History, introduced

  • Discuss Morgan and Greene; Zimmer
  • Review summaries
  • For next week read Bailyn, Atlantic History, (entire)

2015-09-09 Wed Week 2: 1492 and All That

  • Discuss Bailyn
  • Review: the Spanish Conquest of America
  • For next week read Norton, Marcy. Sacred Gifts, Profane Pleasures

2015-09-16 Wed Week 3: Columbian Exchanges

  • Discuss Norton
  • Review Slavery in the Americas
  • For next week read: Carney and Rosomoff. In the Shadow of Slavery: Africa’s Botanical Legacy

2015-09-23 Wed Week 4: More Colombian Exchanges

  • Discuss Carney and Rosomoff
  • Review native American history
  • For next week read: Weaver, The Red Atlantic: American Indigenes and the Making of the Modern World

2015-09-30 Wed Week 5: Americans

  • Discuss Weaver
  • Review Atlantic Africa
  • For next week read: Sweet, Domingos Álvarez, African Healing and the Intellectual History of the Atlantic World

2015-10-07 Wed Week 6: The Intellectual History of the Atlantic

  • Discuss Sweet
  • Review early Atlantic Revolutions
  • For next week read: Donoghue, Fire Under the Ashes: An Atlantic History of the English Revolution

2015-10-14 Wed Week 7: Atlantic Revolutions; 1-page synopsis paper due on 10-21

  • Discuss Donoghue
  • Review 18th-century Atlantic revolutions
  • For next week read Scott and Hébrard, Freedom Papers 1-190

2015-10-21 Wed Week 8: Atlantic Revolutions, part 2

  • Discuss Scott and Hébrard
  • Synopsis paper due
  • Review Atlantic in World War One
  • For our November 4 meeting, read Putnam, Radical Moves: Caribbean Migrants and the Politics of Race in the Jazz Age

2015-10-28 Wed NO CLASS MEETING Week 9: Work on research assignment

2015-11-04 Wed Week 10: Is Caribbean history Atlantic history?

  • Discuss Putnam
  • For next week read Rodgers, Atlantic Crossings: Social Politics in a Progressive Age

2015-11-11 Wed Week 11: The Progressive Age

  • Discuss Rodgers
  • For next week read Blower, Becoming Americans in Paris

2015-11-18 Wed Week 12: Americans in Europe

  • Discuss Blower
  • For two weeks from now, read Read: Nolan, The Transatlantic Century

2015-11-25 Wed NO CLASS MEETING Week 13: Optional draft of paper due

2015-12-02 Wed Week 14: Transatlantic Century

  • Discuss Nolan

2015-12-09 Wed Week 15: Paper presentations

2015-12-16 Wed Final paper due via Blackboard

As the instructor for this course, I reserve the right to adjust this schedule in any way that serves the educational needs of the students enrolled in this course. John Garrigus.

 

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