FSP 101 12: Caribbean: From Columbus to Globalization
What really happened between Columbus and the Arawak people? How does the tourist industry capture (and obscure) centuries of history in promoting the Caribbean as a mythic paradise on earth? In all its cultural, political, and economic complexity, the Caribbean today bears a record of the deep history of “globalization”—the development of a system that, according to ecological feminist Maria Mies, “emerged, is built upon and maintains itself through the colonization of women, of ‘foreign’ peoples and their lands….” With readings from a variety of disciplines—including environmental history, gender studies, cultural studies, and literature—students and faculty will explore three major factors shaping the region’s relationships to the rest of the world: nature, gender, and race.
ON SOCS:
From Feminist Political Ecology: "From Forest Gardens to Tree Farms: WOmen, men, and timber in Zambrana-Chacuey, Dominican Republic" 224-250 (26 PP)
Denise Brennan, “Selling Sex for Visas: Sex Tourism as a Stepping-stone to International Migration,” in Global Woman, pp. 154-168 (15 pp). About sex workers in the Dominican Republic.
From Becoming American:
Judith Ortiz Cofer, "Rituals: A Prayer, a Candle, and a Notebook" (10 pp)
Edwidge Danticat, "Aha!" (6 pp)
Nelly Rosari, "On Becoming" (9 pp)
From Sun, Sex, and Gold: 68 pp
Chapter 1. Kamala Kempadoo, "Continuities and Change: Five Centuries of Prostitution in the Caribbean" (30 pages)
From Davidson and Taylor, "Fantasy Islands": "'Otherness' and Western Men's Sex Tourism" and "'Otherness' and Female Sex Tourism" (11 pp)
Chapter 4. Nadine Fernandez, "Back to the Future? Women, Race, and Tourism in Cuba" (9 pp)
From Red Thread Women's Development Programme, "Givin' Lil' Bit fub Li'l Bit," "Blurring Boundaries (Or, the Gains of Maintaining Difference)" (5 pp)
Cynthia Mellon, "A Human Rights Perspective on the Sex Trade in the Caribbean and Beyond" (13 pp)
Cynthia Enloe, "Carmen Miranda On My Mind: International Politics of the Banana" (26 pp)
From Polly Pattullo, Last Resorts: The Cost of Tourism in the Caribbean
Chapter 1. The Lock and the Key: History and Power 26 pp.
Chapter 3 From Banana Farmer to Banana Daiquiri: Employment 25 pp.
Chapter 4 Like an Alien In We Own Land: The Social Impact 22 pp.
Chapter 5 Green Crime, Green Redemption: The Environment and Ecotourism 30 pp.
Chapter 8 Reclaiming the Heritage Trail: Culture and Identity 21 pp.
From Carolyn Merchant, Reinventing Eden: Chapter 7, Colonizing Eden pp. 145-165 (20 pp)
From Engendering History: Caribbean Women in Historical Perspective
Chapter 7. Sex and Gender in the Historiography of Caribbean Slavery 125-140 (15 pp)
Chapter 8. The Female Slave in Cuba during the first half of the Nineteenth Century 141-155 (14 pp)
Chapter 9. Women, Work, and Resistance in the French Caribbean during Slavery 1700-1848 155-175 (20 pp)
Chapter 13. Gender, Migration and Settlement: The Indentureship and Post-indentureship Experience of Indian Females in Jamaica 1845-1943 233-257 (24 pp)
Chapter 14. Access to Secondary Education for Girls in Barbados 1907-43 pp. 258-275 (17 pp)
From Williams, From Columbus to Castro
Chapter 9. King Sugar (pp. 30-45) 15 pp.
Chapter 15 Haitian Revolution 237-254 (17 pp)
Chapter 17 The Abolition of the Caribbean Slave System 280-327 47 pp.
Chapter 19 Asian Immigration 347-360 13 pp.
From Sheller, Consuming the Caribbean
Chapter 2 Iconic Islands 36-70 (34 pp)
`` Banana Republics and Banana Wars 95-103 (8 pp.)
UNITS FOR SCHEDULE:
DISCOVERY/CONQUEST
FREEDOM:
1 week Something on Haitian revolution—either CLR James or John’s suggestion: The Kingdom Of This World?
LOOKING BACK: History, knowledge, nature gender race
2 weeks? Michelle Cliff, Abeng
INDENTURED WORKERS FROM INDIA – what fits with this (or not)?
1 week
SHAPING IDENTITIES - ? students on their own identities. Fit this with reading of Abeng?
Judith Ortiz Cover, "Rituals: A PRayer, a Candle, and a Notebook" (pp. 29-38); Edwidge Danticat, "AHA!" (pp. 39-44) and Nelly Rosario, "On Becoming" (pp. 156-164) from Becoming American
GLOBALIZATION:
1 week Life and Debt, Jamaica Kincaid, A Small Place.
CURRENT DEVELOPMENT/ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
From Green Guerrillas: Environmental Conflicts and Initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean 45 pages
Charles Arthur, "Confronting Haiti's environmental crisis: a tale of two visions." 149-157
Peter Rosset, "The Greening of Cuba," pp. 158-167.
Marianne Meyn, "Puerto Rico's energy fix," pp. 168-177.
Polly Pattullo, "Green Crime, green redemption: the environment and ecotourism in the Caribean," pp. 178-186.
Hilary McD Beckles, "Where will all the garbage go? Tourism, politics, and the environment in Barbados." 187-194.
TOURISM (2-3 weeks?)
Maria Mies, "Colonization and Housewifization," 10 pp. (maybe)
From Cynthia Enloe, Bananas Beaches and Bases, Chapter 6 (26 pages)
George Gmelch, Behind the Smile: The Working Lives of Caribbean Tourism
Sex Tourism
From Sun, Sex, and Gold: Chapter 1, pp. 43-52, Chapter 4, pp. 271-275, Chapter 14 (about 65 pages)
Denise Brennan, “Selling Sex for Visas: Sex Tourism as a Stepping-stone to International Migration,” in Global Woman, pp. 154-168 (15 pp). About sex workers in the Dominican Republic.
= 9-10 weeks = 10-11 counting the first week
So: that leaves 3-4 weeks to fill