AP/HIST4725 6.0 A: Topics in Modern Caribbean History
Offered by: HIST
Session
Fall 2023
Status
Cancelled: Section
Term
Y
Format
SEMR
Calendar Description / Prerequisite / Co-Requisite
Examines topics in the development of the Caribbean, 1938-1983, from the labour riots of the thirties to the American intervention in Grenada. It includes a Pan-Caribbean examination of economic, political and socio-cultural developments in this period. This course is restricted to History or Latin American and Caribbean Studies Honours majors and minors who have successfully completed at least 84 credits. Prerequisites: AP/HIST 2730 6.00 or AP/HIST 3480 6.00 or AP/HUMA 2310 9.00 or departmental permission.
Course Start Up
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For further course Start Up details, review the Getting Started webpage.
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Course Director: David V. Trotman
OFFICE: 326 Founders College
Office Hours: TBA
Email: dtrotman@yorku.ca Phone : x 33192
This year our topic is United States involvement in Caribbean historical development from the Cuban War of Independence (1898) to the invasion of Grenada (1983). The seminar explores Caribbean struggles for sovereignty in response to American military occupations, economic intrusions, political subversions, and cultural infiltrations in the twentieth century.
Using the motif of Rum and CocaCola as representative of the interaction of Caribbean and USA interests, this course provides an overview of Caribbean historical development in the twentieth century through an examination of American expansion in the region. It explores struggles for sovereignty and decolonization as central issues of the 20th century Caribbean and examines the responses to American expansion in the region as one aspect of these issues. Beginning with the American involvement in the Cuban War for Independence and ending with Operation Fury in Grenada, the course examines the various patterns of American intrusion into the area and their impact on Caribbean attempts to decolonize.
Among the topics to be discussed are military occupations (Cuba, Haiti, The Dominican Republic, Grenada); economic intrusions (American investments in banks, insurance, public utilities, mining, agriculture); political subversions (British Guiana, Jamaica); the creation of colonies and neo-colonies (The Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Cuba); the Cold war as context (Cuba, Guyana, Grenada); cultural infiltrations (cinema, sports, education); unwitting agents of imperialism (Emigration and Tourism).
In the seminar, particular attention is paid to both formal and informal patterns of resistance and the role of local collaboration in facilitating American intrusion. Intrinsic to our discussions would be the impact of this intrusion on race, class and gender relations in the Caribbean.
Using a variety of primary documents (including the Monroe Doctrine, the Roosevelt Corollary and the speeches of Caribbean politicians and political activists), the relevant secondary sources, and available documentaries, films and songs of the period, the course situates the Caribbean responses to American expansion as part of the historiography of the modern Caribbean.
Required Reading will include selections from:
Raoul B. Altidor, Haiti and the American Occupation,1915-1934
Mary A. Renda, Taking Haiti: Military occupation and the Culture of Imperialism
Hans Schmidt, The United States Occupation of Haiti,1915-1934
Ellen D. Tillman, Dollar Diplomacy by Force: Nation Building and Resistance in the Dominican Republic
Bruce J.Calder, The Impact of Intervention: The Dominican Republic during the United States Occupation, 1916-1924
Louis A. Perez, Cuba under the Platt Amendment,1902-1934
Tom Gjelten, Barcadi and the Long Fight for Cuba
Marial Iglesias Utset, A Cultural History of Cuba during the United States Occupation,1898-1902
Peter James Hudson, Bankers and Empire - How Wall Street Colonized the Caribbean
Gerald Horne, Cold War in a Hot Zone-The United States Confronts Labour and Independence Struggles in the British West Indies
Jason C. Parker, Brother’s Keeper: The United States, Race and Empire in the British Caribbean, 1937-1962
Stephen G. Rabe, United States Intervention in British Guiana- A Cold War Story
Harvey R. Neptune, Caliban and The Yankees- Trinidad and The United States Occupation
Shalini Puri, The Grenadian Revolution in the Caribbean Present
Patsy Lewis, Gary Williams, Peter Clegg (eds.), Grenada: Revolution and Invasion
ALL material for this course (readings etc.) will be available on eClass. There is no general text or books to be bought at the York Book Store.
TENTATIVE Evaluation
Short Essay OR In-class exam 20%
Topic based on the assigned and required material of Term 1.
Participation 20%
Regular attendance AND ACTIVE involvement in seminar discussions.
Presentation 20%
Term Two based on the topic chosen for the major essay.
Major Essay 40%
Minimum of 5,000 words on a topic to be approved by the Course Director.
SCHEDULE OF TENTATIVE TOPICS TERM ONE
Week 1 Sept.6 Introduction: Caribbean Sovereignty, The Munroe Doctrine, and the Roosevelt Corollary
Week 2 September 13 Cuba and the creation of a Neo-Colony
Week 3 September 20 Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands: from Colony to Colony (Associated Status)
Week 4 September 27 Occupying the Independent States: Haiti and The Dominican Republic
Week 5 October 4 Seminar on Research methods and sources
Week 6 October 11 Reading Week
Week 7 October 18 Soft Occupations: American Military Bases in TT, Antigua, Bermuda
Week 8 November 1 Capturing the Imagination: Cinema/Television, Migration and Tourism
Week 9 November 8 The Caribbean and the Cold War: British Guiana
Week 10 November 15 Cuba: Combatting Communist Contagion
Week 11 November 22 Jamaica: Subverting Democracy
Week 12 November 29 Grenada: Operation Urgent Fury
Week 13 December 6 Review
Further details (assigned readings etc.) will be available on eClass.
SEMINAR SCHEDULE :TERM TWO
Term TWO will focus on presentations based on topics chosen by students for their major research paper.
Required Reading will include selections from:
Raoul B. Altidor, Haiti and the American Occupation,1915-1934
Mary A. Renda, Taking Haiti: Military occupation and the Culture of Imperialism
Hans Schmidt, The United States Occupation of Haiti,1915-1934
Ellen D. Tillman, Dollar Diplomacy by Force: Nation Building and Resistance in the Dominican Republic
Bruce J.Calder, The Impact of Intervention: The Dominican Republic during the United States Occupation, 1916-1924
Louis A. Perez, Cuba under the Platt Amendment,1902-1934
Tom Gjelten, Barcadi and the Long Fight for Cuba
Marial Iglesias Utset, A Cultural History of Cuba during the United States Occupation,1898-1902
Peter James Hudson, Bankers and Empire - How Wall Street Colonized the Caribbean
Gerald Horne, Cold War in a Hot Zone-The United States Confronts Labour and Independence Struggles in the British West Indies
Jason C. Parker, Brother’s Keeper: The United States, Race and Empire in the British Caribbean, 1937-1962
Stephen G. Rabe, United States Intervention in British Guiana- A Cold War Story
Harvey R. Neptune, Caliban and The Yankees- Trinidad and The United States Occupation
Shalini Puri, The Grenadian Revolution in the Caribbean Present
Patsy Lewis, Gary Williams, Peter Clegg (eds.), Grenada: Revolution and Invasion
ALL material for this course (readings etc.) will be available on eClass. There is no general text or books to be bought at the York Book Store.
- Academic Honesty
- Student Rights and Responsibilities
- Religious Observance
- Grading Scheme and Feedback
- 20% Rule
No examinations or tests collectively worth more than 20% of the final grade in a course will be given during the final 14 calendar days of classes in a term. The exceptions to the rule are classes which regularly meet Friday evenings or on Saturday and/or Sunday at any time, and courses offered in the compressed summer terms. - Academic Accommodation for Students with Disabilities