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

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.

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).

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.

• This is one-page document in which you summarize the main points of an article. The characteristics of a precis are described here: http://writingcenter.tamu.edu/2010/types-communication/academic-writing/precis/
• Due date: before 5pm on 9-3 (second class meeting)

• 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.

• 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.

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.

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.

• 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

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.

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.

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administered through the University may be required as the result of
dropping classes or withdrawing. Contact the Financial Aid Office for
more information.

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

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.

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

• 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

• 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.

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

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

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

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

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

• Read White 1-232
• Post to discussion board

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

• 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

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

• Read Miller, pp. 62-175

• Read Miller, pp. 179-400

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