The development of Caribbean societies is crucial to our understanding of capitalism, imperialism, race, development and the mass movement of peoples, products...

The Caribbean from the Haitian Revolution to the Cuban Revolution (AMER0013)

The development of Caribbean societies is crucial to our understanding of capitalism, imperialism, race, development and the mass movement of peoples, products and ideas that have shaped the modern world. From the founding of the first black republic in the Americas to the development of the first revolutionary socialist state in the Americas, this course examines the emergence of Caribbean nationhood in a region which experienced globalisation and multi-culturalism long before the terms came into vogue.

Beginning with the cataclysmic events of the Haitian revolution, the early seminars will examine the foundations of Caribbean societies: slavery and the plantation economy; colonialism and resistance to colonialism; labour and migration; race and the development of creole society. The second half of the course explores political developments in the region in the first half of the twentieth century, from the emergence of the United States as the dominant external player in the region, to the impact of Garveyism and labour rebellions on anti-colonial struggles in the colonies of the British West Indies, the entrenchment of authoritarian regimes in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and lastly, the dramatic emergence and development of the Cuban Revolution.

The module follows a broadly thematic approach that allows for consideration of all the main linguistic areas of the region – Anglophone, Hispanic, French and Dutch. It introduces students to key debates in the scholarship on the Caribbean, seminal texts in Caribbean scholarship, and a range of primary sources, emphasising a strongly ‘Caribbean’ approach to the issues at hand.

Ways of Making - All objects of design are conceived and made using cultural technologies that change over time. Taught by lectures and visits, this course...