HIST4369: Caribbean History, Spring 2014

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

• 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