Rebelión: Black Resistance in the Caribbean

Catalog description

In 1978, Afro-Columbian artist recorded his hit song "Rebelión," including lines such as "esclavitud perpetua," a reference to the 1455 Romanus Pontifex Papal Bull, and lines like "No le pegue a la negra," which evince a slave resistance based on a bond of kinship and affection. This is an introductory course in Caribbean history with a focus on labor and rebellion. In this course, we will discuss slave revolts and revolutions in the Caribbean from the beginning of the Transatlantic Slave trade through present-day labor strikes in the Caribbean. Using Caribbean resistance music as the backdrop to many of our discussions, this course will engage with the metaphors and motifs found in riotous iconography, such as the machete (i.e. "El machete de Maceo," in Celia Cruz's "Guantanamera"). Revolts covered include the 1500s slave revolts in Quisqueya, the Haitian Revolution, the 1843 La Escalera conspiracy in Cuba, the 1831 Christmas Rebellion in Jamaica, the Cuban Ten Years War, Little War, and present-day labor strikes in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. We will review and study historical records, as well as take in archival and musical sources. No prior knowledge in Caribbean history is required.