Examination of Cuba's social history from the eighteenth century to the present. Focus on the struggles for freedom from slavery, Spanish colonialism, U.S. imperialism, and other forms of oppression. The class will seek to explain how the various sectors striving for "freedom" in the island--especially Afro-Cubans--understood their liberation.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students: In addition to completing the reading and viewing the films required of undergraduates, graduate students will be asked to (1) write three book reviews of the major texts used in the class; (2) complete a 20-page research paper on a Cuban history topic; and (3) present their research as a lecture to the whole of the class. Graduate students are also expected to attend special discussion sections.
Athena Title
History of Cuba
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in HIST 4211H
Prerequisite
A 2000-level HIST course
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, students will be able to arrive at conclusions about Cuban history by gathering and weighing evidence, logical argument, and listening to counter argument.
By the end of this course, students will be able to write stylistically appropriate papers and essays. Students will be able to analyze ideas and evidence, organize their thoughts, and revise and edit their finished essays.
By the end of this course, students will be able to identify how the history of modern Cuba shaped diverse social and cultural attitudes toward empire and colonialism, capitalism and socialism, race and ethnicity, and freedom and justice, encouraging them to understand diverse worldviews and experiences.
By the end of this course, students will be able to apply appropriate methodological approaches to their analysis of primary sources and to organize their evidence to show historical continuities and discontinuities.
By the end of this course, students will be able to generate their own research question or topic, locate suitable primary and secondary sources, and synthesize their ideas in novel ways.
By the end of this course, students will be able to initiate, manage, complete, and evaluate their independent research projects in stages and to give and receive constructive feedback through the peer review process.
Topical Outline
1. Cuba and the Spanish-American empire
2. Sugar and slavery in Cuba
3. Slaveholding: Comparisons between Cuba and the U.S.
4. The functioning of sugar plantations and mills
5. The social functions of racism: A look at marriage
6. Afro-Cuban visions of freedom
7. Theorizing Afro-Cuban and African-American Cultures
8. Creolization, Transculturation and Cuban religions
9. The First Cuban Wars of Independence
10. Emancipation and Early Post-Emancipation Society
11. The War of 1898
12. "Racial democracy" and "progress" in the republic
13. The "Race War" of 1912
14. Politics and culture during Machado's Regime
15. The revolution of 1933
16. Cuba under Batista
17. Castro and the July 26th Movement
18. Revolutionary projects
19. The Balance sheet: health, education, and living standards
