International Conflict The Origins of Global Fury Afghanistan and the Origins of Global Fury - Spring 07 Afghanistan and the Origins of Global Fury - Fall 06 Cuba and Haiti Religious Revolutions and violence Haiti and the Caribbean Contemporary Issues in International Relations Introduction to International Relations South Asia in a Global and Historical Context Politics of the Third World

Seeing "War of the Worlds": Global politics through Popular films Music of the African Diaspora Worlds of Music Musical Meaning in a Global Context Politics and Literature

Global Political Economy of Oil Understanding Capitalism Foundations in the Political Economy

Ideas and Ideology Love, Hate and Sexual Desire Under Colonialism Junior Year Honors Seminar: Cultural Encounters, 1999-2000

Haiti and the Caribbean
10-402-02

1. Starting Assumptions

The history, culture, and political economy of Haiti strike me as remarkable for three reasons. First, in the Colombian era (1492-present) few places have been as pivotal to the unfolding of European/ North American politics, economics, and culture as Haiti. Second, our historical and intellectual amnesia over Haiti's importance signals an unwillingness to know, learn, and accept the role of the 'other' in the constitution of the 'self.' Third, recovering the reality of Haiti's resistance and struggle may suggest not only 'their' emancipation but 'ours.' We may learn that our fate and theirs intertwine and jointly construct the past, present, and future.

We will pursue our relationship with Haiti and the Caribbean by using historical and fictional texts and videos. This course will frustrate those who accept the following assumption: that we can learn about foreign others with a distant detachment. In my experience, studying others loses both its innocence and its clinical separation when we acknowledge that the question of 'who studies' and 'who is studied' revolves around structures of power and privilege. That is, while knowledge and power remain logically separable categories, in the existent world, knowing and studying others usually becomes a prelude to assimilating and conquering them. Such conquest, it seems to me, occurs not only in the battle fields but also in classrooms. As class proceeds we may wish to wonder if our act of studying Haiti is similarly assimalationist. Are we inevitably bound to treat knowledge as a form of power?

2. Evaluation

A seminar allows us flexibility in formulating the assignments according to student needs. Before the second week is over, I would like to come to an agreement with each of you as to assignments, their form, number, and due dates. We will also need to discuss the criterion for evaluation. Here are some of the forms I might consider: three eight page essays, two fifteen page essays, one thirty page paper, bi-weekly journals, some combination of the above with class presentations, weekly assessments and critique of the texts and videos, one comprehensive oral exam in combination with some form of writing, etc. I will consider most everything except a complete absence of written work.

An entry paper and exit paper are required but not graded. The entry paper is due on Friday, January 24. The exit paper date will be announced near the end of the semester.

3. Readings

Edwidge Danticat, Krik? Krak!

Guy Endore, Babouk

C.L.R. James, The Black Jacobins

Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea

Jan Rogozinski, A Brief History of the Caribbean

Jacques Roumain, Masters of the Dew

Hans Schmidt, The U.S. Occupation of Haiti, 1915-1934

Instructor and students will jointly determine the pace and selection of the readings. I expect that we will read between 100 to 150 pages a week.

4. Course Outline

We will start with Danticat's Krik? Krak! and go from there. In effect, there is no course outline. Often students mistake what is really intended to be a dynamic and process oriented design for the absence of a structure. Please understand that it is my intention that the course outline and structure be created from our interaction with the texts and with each other. Such a design may be novel to you. Let me see if the following analogy helps.

I think of the design of a course as similar to a style of music. Most courses follow "classical(European)music" in design. That is, the audience hears music pre-determined by the score. The music may change slightly from performance to performance but this change is not part of the design of classical music. In contrast, Jazz and classical Indian music combine the structure of the tune, the interpretative skill of the players, and the response of the listeners to create a specific structured improvisation. Accordingly, I have designed this course to change from one performance to another according to the interaction of students, instructor, and the reading materials. Thus no classes or performances should be the same because the interaction of the three differs on each occasion. This design embraces the necessity of improvisation.

A Jazz design has consequences for our sense of time in the course. To some the course will feel less structured and slower than what they might expect. The good news is that the course will also feel like something we create together.