Between Nation and Empire: The Caribbean in the 20th Century

Catalog description

An exploration of the political evolution of the Caribbean Region over the course of the 20th Century. HIST 432 / AFAM 432 Between Nation and Empire: The Caribbean in the 20th Century (3) (IL)(BA) This course meets the Bachelor of Arts degree requirements. This course will explore the political evolution of the Caribbean Region over the course of the 20th century. Its focus will be the ways in which imperial rule and the search for national identity have been the parameters that have shaped Caribbean political history over that period. Students will explore, in written assignments and class presentations, the ways in which the region which has historically been a theatre of confrontation among the major powers in the international system continued to serve that role over the course of the 20th century. The costs that have been borne by the people of the region from these conflicts have been enormous and crippling for several societies, especially Haiti, Cuba, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic. Among those costs have also been the continued dependence of these societies upon human migration, limited economic strategies of transformation, increasing levels of poverty, and the emergence of a wide variety of political systems that reflect different historical experiences, demographic diversity, varying levels of political autonomy, and a remarkable level of cultural similarities. Evaluation will be based upon two class presentations; one research paper and class participation. The course will be required for students pursuing the African Diaspora minor and for those seeking to broaden their diversity requirements. It can be used to meet non-Western history requirements in the History major.