Historical Anthropology of Caribbean

Catalog description

This course is an exploration of the historic factors which created the cultural diversity and themes that characterize the Caribbean islands today. We will examine the cultural backgrounds of the major national and ethnic groups that came to the islands of the West Indies from pre-Columbian times through the twentieth century. This is not a traditional history course, but rather an examination of the factors that gave rise to certain cultural patterns that are distinctively Caribbean. Topics will include pre-Columbian adaptations to life on small islands; ethnicity among Native Americans in the early historic period; the demise of Native American peoples; the cultural backgrounds of enslaved Africans; Caribbean Creole languages; differences in slavery among the various European colonial powers; the emergence of Voodoo; the daily lives of buccaneers and runaways; & the role of plantations in shaping Afro-Caribbean cultural identities; immigration after the end of slavery.