John Garrigus

Researching Saint-Domingue and the Haitian Revolution

Category: Syllabi (Page 2 of 3)

HIST5360: The Modern Caribbean

August 18, 2018 /

Important information

  1. Class meets in University Hall 321, from 7pm to 9:50pm
  2. Instructor: John Garrigus; website: https://johngarrigus.com
  3. Email: garrigus@uta.edu
  4. Faculty profile: https://mentis.uta.edu/explore/profile/john-garrigus
  5. Office: University Hall 344
  6. History Department Telephone: 817-272-2661
  7. Office Hours: Monday 4pm to 5:30pm; Wednesday 2pm to 3:30. You can also make an appointment via email to talk on the phone or in person.
  8. BlackBoard: http://elearn.uta.edu
  9. Link to the weekly schedule, below

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.

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 use GIS tools to construct a map containing information from a primary source illustrating an event in Caribbean history. This will be assessed in the GIS project.
  3. Students will be able to construct reasonable interpretation of primary sources in Caribbean history. This will be assessed in class discussion and in the GIS project.
  4. Students will be able to construct reasonable interpretations of articles, books, and films about Caribbean history. This will be assessed in class discussions, two précis, and final essay.
  5. 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 class discussion and final essay.

Required Materials

Computer:

You’ll need a laptop to bring to class for the GIS aspects of this course, and you will need to be able to install software on that machine. It can be a PC or Mac.

Books:

  1. Brown, Vincent, The Reaper’s Garden: Death and Power in the World of Atlantic Slavery (Harvard University Press, 2008).
  2. Dubois, Laurent, Haiti: The Aftershocks of History (New York: Henry Holt and Co., 2012).
  3. Ferrer, Ada, Freedom’s Mirror: Cuba and Haiti in the Age of Revolution (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014).
  4. Gibson, Carrie, Empire’s Crossroads: A History of the Caribbean from Columbus to the Present Day (Grove Press, 2015).
  5. Pérez, Louis, The Structure of Cuban History: Meanings and Purpose of the Past (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2013).
  6. Popkin, Jeremy, You Are All Free: The Haitian Revolution and the Abolition of Slavery (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010).
  7. Putnam, Lara, Radical Moves: Caribbean Migrants and the Politics of Race in the Jazz Age (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2013).
  8. Wheat, David, Atlantic Africa and the Spanish Caribbean, 1570-1640 Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2016).

Chapters and Articles: [follow links or find PDFs on Blackboard]

  1. Trevor Burnard, “The Sexual Life of an Eighteenth-Century Jamaican Slave Overseer,” in Sex and Sexuality in Early America, ed. Merril D. Smith (New York: New York University Press, 1999), 163–189.
  2. Paul Cheney, “Chapter Two: Production and Investment,” in Cul De Sac: Patrimony, Capitalism, and Slavery in French Saint-Domingue, pp42–70 (Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 2017).
  3. Paul Cheney, “Chapter Five: Husband and Wife,” in Cul De Sac: Patrimony, Capitalism, and Slavery in French Saint-Domingue, pp130–160 (Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 2017).
  4. Bayard Faithfull, “Four Reads: Learning to Read Primary Documents,” Teaching History.org: National History Education Clearinghouse, accessed August 16, 2018, http://teachinghistory.org/teaching-materials/teaching-guides/25690.
  5. B. W. Higman, “The Sugar Revolution,” The Economic History Review, New Series, 53, no. 2 (May 2000): 213–36.
  6. Sidney W. Mintz, “Enduring Substances, Trying Theories: The Caribbean Region as Oikoumene,” The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 2, no. 2 (June 1, 1996): 289–311, https://doi.org/10.2307/3034097.
  7. Marcy Norton, “The Chicken or the Iegue: Human-Animal Relationships and the Columbian Exchange,” The American Historical Review 120, no. 1 (February 1, 2015): 28–60, https://doi.org/10.1093/ahr/120.1.28.
  8. Mary Prince, The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave. Related by Herself. With a Supplement by the Editor. To Which Is Added, the Narrative of Asa-Asa, a Captured African, 3rd ed. (London: F. Westley and A.H. Davis, 1831), https://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/prince/prince.html.
  9. Justin Roberts, “Chapter One: Clock Work: Time, Quantification, Amelioration, and the Enlightenment,” in Slavery and the Enlightenment in the British Atlantic, 1750–1807 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014).
  10. Anthony Trollope, The West Indies and the Spanish Main, 5th ed. (London: Chapman and Hall, 1862),https://books.google.com/books?id=ZQC058-xIzoC

Description of Major Assignments with Dates

Map quiz

  • Date: [2018-09-10 Mon]
  • I’ll pick ten countries on a map of the Caribbean and ask you to identify each of them, together with the main European language spoken there.

Two précis

  • These are one-page documents in which you summarize the main points of an article. The characteristics I’m looking for, as well as a description of what I want you to avoid, are nicely described here: https://writemyessay4me.org/blog/critical-precis [this is not an endorsement of this writing service; all the writing you submit in this class must be solely your work]
  • Due dates: [2018-09-17 Mon] and [2018-09-24 Mon]

Show’N’Tell

  • Each member of the class will find some piece of reporting, image or short video [less than 4 minutes] of the Caribbean that connects with the themes we are studying. You’ll present it to the class in a 5-minute presentation [not counting video time]
  • Date: sign-up sheet (one per week, approximately)

GIS assignments

  • Depending on your level of GIS skill, during the GIS portion of the course you’ll complete 4 assignments that will build your skills at using maps, software, and data about world history.
  • We’ll mostly use QGIS, an open-source Geographic Information Systems program
  • We’ll also use ArcGIS On-line, a web-based interface
  • You’ll upload your completed work to Blackboard after class
  • Due dates: [2018-09-24 Mon] and [2018-10-01 Mon]

GIS project

  • To explore how historians can use GIS to illuminate the past, you will produce a map based on either Anthony Trollope’s West Indies or Richard Dana’s To Cuba and Back. Your map will be accompanied by a five-page paper analyzing the book and explaining your cartographic work. I’ll provide you with a detailed description of what I expect. We’ll spend a class day helping you troubleshoot this project.
  • Due date: [2018-12-10 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 essay

  • This will be a 10-page essay on the themes covered this semester in our reading.
  • Due date: [2018-12-07 Fri]

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 use your participation in Blackboard assignments to determine your attendance. 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 on-line via Blackboard. This date is reported to the Department of Education for federal financial aid recipients.

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
Two précis 100
Show’N’Tell 50
GIS assignments 200
GIS project 200
Final essay 250
Class participation 100
TOTAL 1000

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 (ADAAAt), 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) http://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 http://www.uta.edu/disability.

Counseling and Psychological Services, (CAPS):

http://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.

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 http://www.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 http://www.uta.edu/titleIX or contact Ms. Michelle Willbanks, Title IX Coordinator at (817) 272-4585 or titleix@uta.edu

Academic Integrity:

Students enrolled in 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 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. Additional information is available at https://www.uta.edu/conduct/. Faculty are encouraged to discuss plagiarism and share the following library tutorials http://libguides.uta.edu/copyright/plagiarism and http://library.uta.edu/plagiarism/

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 on-line classes categorized as “lecture,” “seminar,” or “laboratory” are directed to complete an on-line 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 on-line. 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.

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 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/studentsuccess/success-programs/programs/resource-hotline.php

The IDEAS Center (2nd Floor of Central Library)

offers FREE tutoring to all students with a focus on transfer students, sophomores, veterans and others undergoing a transition to UT Arlington. Students can drop in, or check the schedule of available peer tutors at http://www.uta.edu/IDEAS, or call (817) 272-6593.

The English Writing Center (411LIBR):

The Writing Center offers FREE tutoring in 15-, 30-, 45-, and 60-minute face-to-face and on-line sessions to all UTA students on any phase of their UTA coursework. Register and make appointments on-line at https://uta.mywconline.com. Classroom visits, workshops, and specialized services for graduate students and faculty are also available. Please see http://www.uta.edu/owl for detailed information on all our programs and services.

The Library’s 2nd floor Academic Plaza

offers students a central hub of support services, including IDEAS Center, University Advising Services, Transfer UTA and various college/school advising hours. Services are available during the library’s hours of operation. http://library.uta.edu/academic-plaza

The History Librarian is Andy Herzog

You can contact him at amherzog@uta.edu or 817-272-7517

Schedule

Week 0: Preparing

  • [2018-08-20 Mon]
  • Zotero: View the “Getting Started with Zotero: Using Zotero Standalone” tutorial on YouTube
    • Install Zotero as the tutorial describes
    • Find two more YouTube Zotero tutorials that look interesting and watch them. Take notes to share with the class
    • You may want to bookmark this link: http://guides.library.oregonstate.edu/zotero
  • Homework for week 1: Read Gibson, chapters 1 and 2; and articles by Norton; Mintz; Faithfull

Week 1: Before 1492 : Tainos, Africans, Europeans

  • [2018-08-27 Mon] Geography; Native Peoples of the Caribbean
    • Show’N’Tell [by Dr. G.]
    • Discuss reading
    • Discuss primary sources
    • Presentation on Africa and the slave trade
  • Homework for week 2: Read Wheat, prepare for map quiz

Week 2: UTA closed for Labor Day

  • No class meeting on [2018-09-03 Mon]
  • Optional: use this week to work ahead on the reading; I recommend you read the assigned chapters in the Gibson book for the entire semester
  • Optional: learn a little about GIS before we start our class work by completing this easy tutorial about Google Maps: https://programminghistorian.org/en/lessons/googlemaps-googleearth

Week 3: The Spanish in the Caribbean

  • [2018-09-10 Mon]
    • Map quiz
    • Show’N’Tell
    • Discuss Wheat
    • Discuss primary sources
  • Homework for week 4:
    • Read Gibson chapters 3, 4, and 5
    • Read articles/chapters by Higman, Cheney, Cheney, Burnard, and Roberts
    • Write a précis of the Higman article, due on [2018-09-17 Mon]

Week 4: The Sugar Revolution; Higman précis due

  • [2018-09-17 Mon]
    • Presentation on sugar
    • Show’N’Tell
    • Discuss the articles
    • Review how to install a recent version of QGIS on your laptop
  • Homework for Week 5: [there’s no reading]
    • Write a précis of the Mintz article we read in Week 0; due [2018-09-24 Mon]
    • Install QGIS on a computer that you can bring to class
    • New-to-GIS students:
      • complete the “Installation and Adding Layers” tutorial in the Mapping and GIS area of The Programming Historian
      • complete the “Creating New Vector Layers” tutorial in The Programming Historian
    • Experienced students: Complete the QGIS tutorials 1, 2, and 3 [including the “one step further” sections] in the Mapping and GIS for Historians tutorial page

Week 5: GIS week 1; Mintz précis due

  • [2018-09-24 Mon]
    • Show’N’Tell
    • Reinforce skills you learned in “Adding Layers”
      • Learn how to find and import various shapefiles constructing the map of a Caribbean island
      • Manipulate and categorize the attribute tables that underly 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
    • Reinforce skills you learned in “Adding Vector Layers”
      • 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
    • Upload your finished work to Blackboard affer class
  • Homework for week 6
    • new-to-GIS students complete the 3rd and 4th tutorials in the Mapping and GIS area of The Programming Historian
    • experienced GIS students, complete QGIS tutorials 4, 5, 6, and 7 including the “one step further” section] in the Mapping and GIS for Historians tutorial page

Week 6: GIS week 2

  • [2018-10-01 Mon]
    • Have a Show’N’Tell
    • Reinforce skills you learned in the third and fourth on-line tutorials
      • Import and georeference an historical map of Texas
      • Work through the new versions of this tutorial drafted by experienced students
    • Learn how to import historical data into QGIS and connect it to spatial data
    • Upload your finished work to Blackboard after class
  • Homework for week 7: Back to our books! Read Brown, Reaper’s Garden and Gibson, Chapter 5

Week 7: Life and Death on a Sugar Plantation

  • [2018-10-08 Mon]
    • Show’N’Tell
    • Discuss Brown
    • Discuss primary sources
    • Presentation: Overview of the Haitian Revolution
  • Homework: For week 8 read Popkin, You Are All Free and Gibson, Chapter 7

Week 8: The Haitian Revolution

  • [2018-10-15 Mon]
    • Show’N’Tell
    • Discuss Popkin
    • Discuss primary sources
  • Homework: For week 9 read Ferrer, Freedom’s Mirror

Week 9: The Impact of the Haitian Revolution

  • [2018-10-22 Mon]
    • Show’N’Tell
    • Discuss Ferrer
    • Discuss primary sources
  • Homework for week 10
    • Download and read Prince History of Mary Prince
    • Download and read Trollop The West Indies pp 1-222

Week 10: British Anti-Slavery and Colonies After Slavery

  • [2018-10-29 Mon]
    • Show’N’Tell
    • Discuss Mary Prince
    • Discuss Trollope
  • Homework for week 11: Download and read 24-280 of Dana, To Cuba and Back

Week 11: The Cuban Paradox

  • [2018-11-05 Mon]
    • Show’N’Tell
    • Discuss Dana
  • Homework for week 12:
    • Download files for GIS project
    • Complete GIS work outlined in handout

Week 12: GIS Project Day

  • [2018-11-12 Mon]
    • Show’N’Tell
    • Discuss GIS Project: approaches and issues
    • Work on GIS project in class: troubleshooting and discussion
  • Homework for week 13:
    • read Gibson, Chapter 8
    • read Dubois, Aftershocks of History

Week 13: The “Independent” Caribbean:

  • [2018-11-19 Mon]
    • Show’N’Tell
    • Discuss Dubois
    • Primary sources
  • Homework for week 14:
    • read Gibson, Chapter 9
    • read Putnam, Radical Moves

Week 14: Empire, Migration, and Racism

  • [2018-11-26 Mon]
    • Show’N’Tell
    • Discuss Putnam
    • Primary sources
  • Homework for week 15:
    • read Gibson, Chapters 10 and 11
    • read Pérez, Structure of Cuban History

Week 15: Nation and Culture in a Caribbean Context

  • [2018-12-03 Mon]
    • Show’N’Tell
    • Discuss Pérez
    • Primary sources
  • Homework for week 15: complete draft of GIS project
    • Final project due on Blackboard by [2018-12-07 Fri]
    • GIS project due on Blackboard by [2018-12-10 Mon]

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

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 817-272-3381In 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. The non-emergency number is 817-272-3381.

 

Syllabus for HIST4366: Latin America Origins through Independence on-line class

August 11, 2018 /

Eighteenth-century casta painting entitled “de español y mestiza castiza_español”

Important information

  1. Instructor: John Garrigus; website: https://johngarrigus.com
  2. Email: garrigus@uta.edu; please put “4366” in the subject line
  3. Faculty profile: https://mentis.uta.edu/explore/profile/john-garrigus
  4. Office: University Hall 343
  5. History Department Telephone: 817-272-2661
  6. Office Hours: Monday 4pm to 5:30pm; Wednesday 2pm to 3:30. You can also make an appointment via email to talk on the phone or in person.
  7. BlackBoard: http://elearn.uta.edu

Description of Course Content:

Focusing on the years between 1300 and 1825, this course charts the history of Mexico, Central America, and South America up to the era of 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 primarcy sources to understand how historians describe the past. Our readings reflect the ongoing “revisionism” that is an essential aspect of historical thinking.

Student 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 primary source images and texts from Latin American history (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 problems you have. 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, is a new unit in BlackBoard, where you can find 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. If you find yourself in this situation, 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 before 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 label it “4366”.
  2. I’ll give you ten days–Monday through Wednesday–to complete the discussion work and take the unit 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. 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 your country projects and to reinforce the material in the lecture.
  4. I will give you extensions of a few days for our country projects and final project IF you are keeping up with the quizzes and discussion.
  5. I will give you detailed feedback on your country project based on the grading rubric. On subsequent projects 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 Books and 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 a variety of video formats and may not always work on some portable devices. The Blackboard on-line quizzes are NOT guaranteed to work on these portable devices either.

Description of 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 four 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 quizzes 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. Another week the unit will be about using official documents. “Unpacking the Sources” will train you in the historical skills you need for your Show-N-Tell assignment. There will be a five-question multiple-choice quiz on these materials during each of these four weeks. 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 learn from “Unpacking the Evidence”. The course schedule shows when each of the different primary sources has its SNT week on the discussion board. You will 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 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 based on how active and responsive you are 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:

  • In week one you’ll choose one Latin American country. During the semester you will write three five-page papers about that country. These “Country Projects” will ask you to explain and illustrate how themes from our assigned book can [or cannot] be seen in the history and culture of your country. Some countries cannot be chosen for a Country Project because they are too difficult to research. These are Belize, El Salvador, the Caribbean islands, Costa Rica, and Panama.
  • Country Project #1 is due [2018-09-14 Fri] 5pm
  • Country Project #2 is due [2018-10-05 Fri] 5pm
  • Country Project #3 is due [2018-11-09 Fri] 5pm

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, [2018-12-05 Wed]

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 use your participation in Blackboard assignments to determine your attendance. 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 on-line via Blackboard. This date is reported to the Department of Education for federal financial aid recipients.

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

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 (ADAAAt), 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) http://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 http://www.uta.edu/disability.

Counseling and Psychological Services, (CAPS):

http://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.

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 http://www.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 http://www.uta.edu/titleIX or contact Ms. Michelle Willbanks, Title IX Coordinator at (817) 272-4585 or titleix@uta.edu

Academic Integrity:

Students enrolled in 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 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. Additional information is available at https://www.uta.edu/conduct/. Faculty are encouraged to discuss plagiarism and share the following library tutorials http://libguides.uta.edu/copyright/plagiarism and http://library.uta.edu/plagiarism/

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 on-line classes categorized as “lecture,” “seminar,” or “laboratory” are directed to complete an on-line 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 on-line. 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.

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 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/studentsuccess/success-programs/programs/resource-hotline.php

The IDEAS Center (2nd Floor of Central Library)

offers FREE tutoring to all students with a focus on transfer students, sophomores, veterans and others undergoing a transition to UT Arlington. Students can drop in, or check the schedule of available peer tutors at http://www.uta.edu/IDEAS, or call (817) 272-6593.

The English Writing Center (411LIBR):

The Writing Center offers FREE tutoring in 15-, 30-, 45-, and 60-minute face-to-face and on-line sessions to all UTA students on any phase of their UTA coursework. Register and make appointments on-line at https://uta.mywconline.com. Classroom visits, workshops, and specialized services for graduate students and faculty are also available. Please see http://www.uta.edu/owl for detailed information on all our programs and services.

The Library’s 2nd floor Academic Plaza

offers students a central hub of support services, including IDEAS Center, University Advising Services, Transfer UTA and various college/school advising hours. Services are available during the library’s hours of operation. http://library.uta.edu/academic-plaza

The History Librarian is Andy Herzog

You can contact him at amherzog@uta.edu or 817-272-7517

Schedule

Week 0: [2018-08-13 Mon] Getting Ready for the Semester

  • Print out the syllabus and read it carefully
  • Buy the 4 books, if you haven’t already
  • Write the due dates for Country Projects, quizzes and discussions in your calendar
  • Research which Latin American country you want for your Country Project

Week 1: [2018-08-22 Wed] The World in the 1400s and “The Encounter”

  • Take syllabus quiz
  • Sign up for Show-N-Tell
  • Watch approx. 27 minutes of on-line lectures; take 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 2: [2018-08-27 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 3: [2018-09-03 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 4: [2018-09-10 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 5: [2018-09-17 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 6: [2018-09-24 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 7: [2018-10-01 Mon] People of Mixed Ancestry; CP2 due

  • CP2 due Friday at 5pm
  • Approx. 23 minutes of on-line lectures plus quiz
  • No discussion this week [changed on [2018-09-14 Fri]]
  • Furtado, preface (xvii-xxv); Introduction (1-19); Furtado, Ch1 (20-39)

Week 8: [2018-10-08 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 9: [2018-10-15 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 10: [2018-10-22 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 11: [2018-10-29 Mon] Reforming Two Empires

  • Approx. 26 minutes of on-line lectures plus quiz
  • Furtado, Ch6 (162-192); Furtado, Ch7 & Ch8 (193-238)
  • Make 2 discussion postings

Week 12: [2018-11-05 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. 25 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 13: [2018-11-12 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 14: [2018-11-19 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 15: [2018-11-26 Mon] Bolivar and San Martin; Independence Overview

  • Approx. 11 minutes of on-line lecture and quiz
  • 2 discussion postings
  • Chasteen, 159-181; 182-192

Week 16: [2018-12-03 Mon] Final project

  • Final project due on Blackboard by 11:59pm [2018-12-05 Wed]

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

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 817-272-3381In 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. The non-emergency number is 817-272-3381.


HIST5341: Approaches to World History, Spring 2017

January 16, 2017 /

Monday, 7:00-9:50pm; University Hall, Room 16

Important Information

Description:

This course is designed to introduce graduate students to the broad outlines of world history and historiography. At the same time it is intended to strengthen students’ ability to research and teach in this field, by emphasizing primary historical sources and the emerging technology known as Geographic Information Systems.

Learning Outcomes:

  1. Students will be able to discuss key works and theories in the field of world or global history. Assessed in class discussions and final project.
  2. Students will be able to find, analyze and lead discussions of primary sources in world history. Assessed in primary source descriptions, discussions and presentation.
  3. Students will be able to use Geographic Information Systems [GIS] software to find, critique and analyze data about world history. Assessed in weekly GIS assignments.
  4. Students will be able to describe major arguments for and against the field of world or global history, including the utility and potential drawbacks of three specific tools, including books, theoretical frameworks, GIS and primary sources to study, research and teach world history. Assessed in final project.

Required Books:

  1. Abu-Lughod, Janet L. Before European Hegemony: The World System A.D. 1250-1350. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
  2. Beckert, Sven. Empire of Cotton: A Global History. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2014.
  3. Christian, David. Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005.
  4. Crossley, Pamela Kyle. What Is Global History? Cambridge: Polity, 2008.
  5. Hunt, Lynn. Writing History in the Global Era. New York: Norton, 2014.
  6. Marks, Robert B. Origins of the Modern World: A Global and Environmental Narrative. 3rd ed. Rowman & Littlefield, 2015.
  7. McNeill, John Robert, and William Hardy McNeill. The Human Web: A Bird’s-Eye View of World History. New York: W.W. Norton, 2003.
  8. Ropp, Paul. China in World History. Oxford University Press, 2010. ISBN: 9780195381955
  9. Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books, 2004.
  10. Wright, Donald R. The World and a Very Small Place in Africa: A History of Globalization in Niumi, the Gambia. Armonk, N.Y.: Sharpe, 2010.

Required [free] software [PC, Mac, and Linux but not Chromebook]

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
Graded world history notes (10) 150
GIS assignments (4) 200
Book summaries (4) 100
Primary source discussion leadership 100
Discussion/participation 100
Final map 100
Final essay 250
TOTAL 1000

Description of Major Assignments

Weekly world history notes

  • Every week I’ll ask you to upload a plain text file [not a Word Doc or PDF] to Blackboard showing me that you are taking careful notes on our books that you can use later as a teacher/researcher.

GIS assignments

  • Depending on your level of GIS skill, during the GIS portion of the course you’ll complete 4 assignments that will build your skills at using maps, software, and data about world history.
  • We’ll mostly use QGIS, an open-source Geographic Information Systems program

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.

Book summaries

  • Using a plain-text editor, you’ll write a 500-word [approximate length] summary of the main ideas and supporting evidence for each of these books: Crossley, Christian, Said, and Beckert
  • Each summary will also contain a Zotero-generated bibliography listing three reviews of that book
  • Due dates: Crossley: <2017-02-06 Mon>; Christian: <2017-03-06 Mon>; Said: <2017-04-03 Mon>; Beckert: <2017-05-01 Mon>

Primary source discussion leadership

  • For this assignment, find a primary source from world [not US and preferably not European] history. Edit the document down so it fits well on one page. Bring 14 copies to class.
  • In class you’ll make a brief [no more than 5-minute] presentation to introduce the document and then conduct a 15-minute discussion.
  • I’ll grade you on the quality of the document and your introduction, but mostly on your success at getting every person to participate and in leading the group to develop meaningful insights from the document.

Final Map

Final Essay

  • You will write a 3,000 word essay describing what you think are the most important arguments in favor of and against the field of world history.
  • You will also describe the utility and drawbacks of three specific tools that could be used in a world history class.
  • These three tools can include specific books, theories, software, and types of primary sources we have used this semester.

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.

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.

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.

Weekly Schedule

<2017-01-16 Mon> Week 1 No Class: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day

  • Read Hunt Chaps 1 and 2 and Crossley, entire, for the first class meeting
  • Take notes on the readings in a plain-text editor [Google this, if you don’t know what this means]
  • Email me the notes before the class meeting where we’ll discuss this reading
  • Zotero: View the “Getting Started with Zotero: Using Zotero Standalone” tutorial on YouTube
    • Install Zotero as the tutorial describes
    • Find two more YouTube Zotero tutorials that look interesting and watch them. Take notes to share with the class
    • You may want to bookmark this link: http://guides.library.oregonstate.edu/zotero

<2017-01-23 Mon> Week 2: Read Hunt, Chs 1&2; discuss Crossley, entire

  • Bring a laptop to class
  • In class: Discuss Hunt and Crossley; Work through the Fusion Tables tutorial in the Mapping and GIS area of The Programming Historian, stopping when it gets to Google Earth
  • For next week: Take plain-text notes on McNeill; email me the notes before the class meeting where we’ll discuss this reading

<2017-01-30 Mon> Week 3: Read McNeill, 3-327

  • Primary sources: On Blackboard, sign up for one of the primary source presentation slots
  • In class we will, discuss McNeill and review how to install a recent version of QGIS on your laptop
  • For next week, there’s no reading. Instead:
    • On Blackboard, submit a plain-text summary of the Crossley book, with approximately 500 words of text plus a Zotero-generated bibliography listing three reviews of that book.
    • Install QGIS on a computer that you can bring to class
    • Experienced students: Complete the QGIS tutorials 1, 2, and 3 [including the “one step further” sections] in the Mapping and GIS for Historians tutorial page
    • New-to-GIS students:
      • complete the “Installation and Adding Layers” tutorial in the Mapping and GIS area of The Programming Historian
      • complete the “Creating New Vector Layers” tutorial in The Programming Historian

<2017-02-06 Mon> Week 4: GIS week 1; Crossley summary due

  • In class, we will
    • Learn how to find and import various shapefiles constructing the map of a Caribbean island
    • Manipulate and categorize the attribute tables that underly 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
  • We will also
    • 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
  • For next week,

<2017-02-13 Mon> Week 5: GIS week 2

  • In class we will
    • Complete a graded tutorial on how to georeference historical maps of Texas
    • Complete a graded tutorial on how to import historical data into QGIS and connect it to spatial data
  • For next week: Back to our books! Read Christian through Chap 8; take plain-text notes and email them to me before the class meeting where we’ll discuss this reading

<2017-02-20 Mon> Week 6: Read Christian, xv to 245 [Preface through Chap 8]

  • For next week: take plain text notes on the second half of Christian and email them to me before the class meeting where we’ll discuss that reading

<2017-02-27 Mon> Week 7: Read Christian, 248 to 491 [Chaps 9-15]

  • For next week:
    • take plain-text notes on the first half of Abu-Lughod and email them to me before the class meeting where we’ll discuss that reading
    • on Blackboard, submit a plain-text summary of the Christian book, with approximately 500 words of text plus a Zotero-generated bibliography listing three reviews of that book.

<2017-03-06 Mon> Week 8: Read Abu-Lughod part 1; Christian summary due

  • For the week after Spring Break: take plain-text notes on the second half of Abu-Lughod and email them to me before the class meeting where we’ll discuss that reading

<2017-03-13 Mon> SPRING BREAK

<2017-03-20 Mon> Week 9: Abu-Lughod, part 2

  • For next week: take plain-text notes on the first half of Said and email them to me before the class meeting where we’ll discuss that reading

<2017-03-27 Mon> Week 10: Read Said 1-148

  • For next week:
    • take plain-text notes on the second half of Said and email them to me before the class meeting where we’ll discuss that reading
    • on Blackboard, submit a plain-text summary of the Said book, with approximately 500 words of text plus a Zotero-generated bibliography listing three reviews of that book.

<2017-04-03 Mon> Week 11: Read Said 149-328; Said summary due

  • For next week: take plain-text notes on Ropp and Marks and email them to me before the class meeting where we’ll discuss that reading

<2017-04-10 Mon> Week 12: Read Ropp, entire; read Marks entire

  • For next week: take plain-text notes on the Wright book and email them to me before the class meeting where we’ll discuss that reading

<2017-04-17 Mon> Week 13: Read Wright, entire

  • For next week: take plain-text notes on the first half of Beckert and email them to me before the class meeting where we’ll discuss that reading

<2017-04-24 Mon> Week 14: Read Beckert, ix-241 [Intro – Chap 7]

  • In class: Time to collaborate/troubleshoot maps
  • For next week:
    • take plain-text notes on the last half of Beckert and email them to me before the class meeting where we’ll discuss that reading
    • on Blackboard, submit a plain-text summary of the Beckert book, with approximately 500 words of text plus a Zotero-generated bibliography listing three reviews of that book.

<2017-05-01 Mon> Week 15: Read Beckert, 242-443 [Chaps 8-14]; Beckert summary due

  • Homework: Export your final map to PNG and email that image to me.

<2017-05-08 Mon> Week 16: Final paper and map 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. John Garrigus

Booklist for HIST5341 Spring 2017

January 5, 2017 /

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HIST5349: APPROACHES TO WORLD HISTORY, SPRING 2017
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Required Books:
═══════════════

1. Abu-Lughod, Janet L. Before European Hegemony: The World System
     A.D. 1250-1350. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
2. Beckert, Sven. Empire of Cotton: A Global History. New York:
Alfred A. Knopf, 2014.
3. Christian, David. Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005.
4. Crossley, Pamela Kyle. What Is Global History? Cambridge: Polity,
2008.
5. Hunt, Lynn. Writing History in the Global Era. New York: Norton,
2014.
6. Marks, Robert B. Origins of the Modern World: A Global and
     Environmental Narrative. 3rd ed. Rowman & Littlefield, 2015.
7. McNeill, John Robert, and William Hardy McNeill.  The Human Web: A
     Bird’s-Eye View of World History. New York: W.W. Norton, 2003.
8. Ropp, Paul. China in World History. Oxford University Press,
2010. ISBN: 9780195381955
9. Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books, 2004.
10. Wright, Donald R. The World and a Very Small Place in Africa: A
      History of Globalization in Niumi, the Gambia. Armonk, N.Y.:
Sharpe, 2010.

HIST4366: Latin America: Origins Through Independence, Spring 2017 on-line syllabus

January 3, 2017 /

Eighteenth-century casta painting entitled “de español y mestiza castiza_español”

Important information

  1. Instructor: John Garrigus https://johngarrigus.com/
  2. Email: please use the BlackBoard email when possible; otherwise write garrigus@uta.edu with “4366” in the subject line.
  3. Office: University Hall 343
  4. Office Hours: Monday 2 to 4; Thursday, 2:30 to 3:30. You can also make an appointment via email to talk on the phone, in person, or via Skype
  5. UTA’s BlackBoard site: http://elearn.uta.edu/
  6.  Quick link to the Class schedule, below

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 four 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 five-question multiple-choice quiz on these materials during each of these four weeks. “Unpacking the Sources” will also provide you 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 [2017-02-10 Fri] 5pm
  • Country Project #2 is due [2017-03-03 Fri] 5pm
  • Country Project #3 is due [2017-04-14 Fri] 5pm

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, early May

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:

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. (http://wweb.uta.edu/aao/fao/)

Disability Accomodations:

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) or calling 817-272-3364. Information regarding diagnostic criteria and policies for obtaining disability-based academic accommodations can be found at http://www.uta.edu/disability. Counseling and Psychological Services, (CAPS) are 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. http://www.uta.edu/caps/ or call 817-272-3671.

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 http://uta.edu/eos.

Title IX:

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 in 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 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. Additional information is available at https://www.uta.edu/conduct/.

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 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. 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.

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 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.

The IDEAS Center (2nd Floor of Central Library)

offers free tutoring to all students with a focus on transfer students, sophomores, veterans and others undergoing a transition to UT Arlington. To schedule an appointment with a peer tutor or mentor email IDEAS@uta.edu or call (817) 272-6593.

The English Writing Center (411LIBR):

The Writing Center Offers free tutoring in 20-, 40-, or 60-minute face-to-face and online sessions to all UTA students on any phase of their UTA coursework. Our hours are 9 am to 8 pm Mon.-Thurs., 9 am-3 pm Fri. and Noon-6 pm Sat. and Sun. Register and make appointments online at http://uta.mywconline.com/. Classroom Visits, workshops, and specialized services for graduate students are also available. Please see www.uta.edu/owl for detailed information on all our programs and services.

The Library’s 2nd floor Academic Plaza

offers students a central hub of support services, including IDEAS Center, University Advising Services, Transfer UTA and various college/school advising hours. Services are available during the library’s hours of operation. http://library.uta.edu/academic-plaza

The History Librarian is Rafia Mirza

You can contact her at rafia@uta.edu or 817-272-7428

Schedule

Week 1: [2017-01-16 Mon] 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 2: [2017-01-23 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 3: [2017-01-30 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 4: [2017-02-06 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 5: [2017-02-13 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 6: [2017-02-20 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 7: [2017-02-27 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 8: [2017-03-06 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”

Spring Break [2017-03-13 Mon]

Week 9: [2017-03-20 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 10: [2017-03-27 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 11: [2017-04-03 Mon] Reforming Two Empires

  • Approx. 26 minutes of on-line lectures plus quiz
  • Furtado, Ch6 (162-192); Furtado, Ch7 & Ch8 (193-238)
  • Make 2 discussion postings

Week 12: [2017-04-10 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. 25 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 13: [2017-04-17 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 14: [2017-04-24 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 15: [2017-05-01 Mon] Bolivar and San Martin; Independence Overview

  • Approx. 11 minutes of on-line lecture and quiz
  • 2 discussion postings
  • Chasteen, 159-181; 182-192

Week 16: [2017-05-01 Mon] Final project

  • Final project due on Blackboard by 11:59pm [2017-05-10 Wed]

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

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. The non-emergency number is 817-272-3381.

 

HIST5360: Transatlantic Revolutions and Transformations, Fall 2016

August 25, 2016 / / 0 Comments

 

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

August 16, 2016 / / 0 Comments

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

August 16, 2016 / / 0 Comments

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

August 16, 2016 / / 0 Comments

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

August 16, 2016 / / 0 Comments

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.

 

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