Postgraduate Courses in History

Not All Courses Are Offered in Any Given Academic Year.

For descriptions of courses within particular series, please click on the links below:

• H607 Politics in Post-slavery Barbados, 1834-1937

H60 Series

• H60A The Emergence of West Indian History

H61 Series

• H61A Independence and the Nation State in Northern Spanish America in the 19^th Century

H63 Series

• H63A Society and Economy in Pre- Colonial Africa

• H63B Nation Building and its Problems in West and Central Africa

• H63C Women and Islam in Africa

H67 Series

• H67K History and Caribbean Heritage

• H67M Key Works in History

• H67N Current Debates in History

• H67P Advanced Methods in History
  

Course Descriptions

H60A The Emergence of West Indian History

This course is designed to study the history of historical writing in the post-slavery (British) Caribbean. It will trace the emergence of West Indian history as a subject from its nineteenth century imperial orientation to the birth of a nationalist history. It will also examine the institutionalisation of West Indian history in local historical societies, the UWI and the curricula of secondary schools.  Themes to be explored include:

Proto-nationalist History
The Euro-American Imperial Historians
The Birth of a Nationalist History I
The Birth of a Nationalist History II
Institutionalisation of West Indian History: Schools and UWI
Theory & Methodology in West Indian Historiography
    Historical Geography
    Ecological Determinism
    The Plantation School
    The Pluralist Model
    The Creole Model
    Dialectical Materialist/Class Model
The Emergence of Women's History & Gender History

Instruction: One 2-hour seminar weekly.

Assessment:

One course work essay of about 3,500 words, (excluding foot/endnotes and bibliography)
Final Examination: This will be held in May 2000 and will count for 60% of the final mark. Students will be required to complete any two of the six (6) questions in two hours. Candidates must pass at least one of the examination questions.

Reading List:

Allen, B.M. "The Introduction and Development of West Indian History in the Curriculum of Caribbean Schools: Roy Augier's Contribution." B. Moore & S. Wilmot, (eds.) Before & After 1865: Education, Politics and Regionalism in the Caribbean. (1998), 77-98.
Baker, E. A Guide to Records in the Leeward Islands (1965)
Beckles, H. "Black People in the Colonial Historiography of Barbados." In W.K. Marshall (ed.) Emancipation II. (1987), 131-143.
Beckles, H. "Sex and Gender in the Historiography of Caribbean Slavery." In Shepherd, Brereton & Bailey (eds.) Engendering History (1995), 125-140.
Benn, Denis. The Growth and Development of Political Ideas in the Caribbean, 1774-1983.(1987)
Bolland, O. Nigel. "Creolization and Creole Societies: A Cultural Nationalist View of Caribbean Social History." In Alistair Hennessy (ed.) Intellectuals in the Twentieth-Century Caribbean I (1992), 50-79.
Brereton, B. "Teaching the Caribbean: An Assessment of Texts for the CXC Caribbean History Syllabus." Moore & Wilmot, (eds.) Before & After 1865: (1998), 88-
Brereton, B. "General Problems and Issues in Studying the History of Women." in Mohammed & Shepherd (eds.) Gender in Caribbean Development (1988), 123-141.
Brereton, B. "Text and Testimony: Sources and methods for Engendering Caribbean History." Engendering History, 63-93.
Goveia, Elsa. A Study in the Historiography of the BWI
Goveia, E. "The University of the West Indies and the Teaching of West Indian History." Caribbean Quarterly 15:2&3 (1969)
Green, W. A. "Caribbean Historiography, 1600-1900: The Recent Tide," Journal of Interdisciplinary History 7:3 (1977):509-530.
Green, W. A. "The Perils of Comparative History: Belize and the British Sugar Colonies after Slavery." Comparative Studies in Society and History 26 (1984):112-119.
Green, W. A. "The Creolization of Caribbean History: The Emancipation Era and the Critique of Dialectical Analysis." Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 14: (1986):149-169.
Handler, J. Guide to Source Material for the Study of Barbados History (1971)
Higman, B. W. "American Influences on the Development of British West Indian Historiography." Unpublished Seminar paper, Department of History, UWI, Mona, 1976.
Higman, B. W. "Ecological Determinism in Caribbean History." Elsa Goveia Memorial Lecture, UWI, Cave Hill, 1988.
Higman, B. W. "Theory, Method and Technique in Caribbean Social History." Journal of Caribbean History 20 (1985-86):1-29.
Higman, B.W. Writing West Indian History (1999).
Lewis, G.K. Main Currents in Caribbean Thought: The Historical Evolution of Caribbean Society in its Ideological Aspects, 1492-1900 (1983)
Maingot, A P. "From Ethnocentric to National History Writing in the Plural Society." Caribbean Studies 9:3 (October, 1969): 68-86.
Marshall, W. K. "A Review of Historical Writings on the Commonwealth Caribbean since c. 1940." Social and Economic Studies 24 (1975): 271-307.
Marshall, W. K. "Caribbean Historiography: Anglophone and British West Indian Scholarship in the Last 20 Years." Unpublished paper, 1989?
Marshall, W. K. "History Teaching in the University of the West Indies." In Moore & Wilmot, (eds.) Before & After 1865: (1998), 49-76.
Moore, B. L. "Walter Rodney: His Contribution to Guyanese Historiography." Bulletin of Eastern Caribbean Affairs 8:2 (1982)
Nettleford, R. "Ritual of the Sunrise: The Legacy of Roy Augier and the Early UWI Historians." Moore & Wilmot, (eds.) Before & After 1865: (1998), 363-373.
Parry, J. H. "The Teaching of History in the Americas: A Study of the Place of National and Continental History in the Curriculum of School and University." Caribbean Quarterly 4:2 (1955)
Ragatz, L. A Guide for the Study of the British Caribbean History (1932)
Waddell, D. A. G. "The British West Indies." In Robin Winks (ed.) The Historiography of the British West Indies. 344-356.
Williams, E. British Historians and the Caribbean

H61A Independence and the Nation State in
Northern Spanish America in the Nineteenth Century

The course will examine developments in Venezuela, Colombia, Central America and Mexico during the nineteenth century. Themes to be studied are: the nature and extent of political and social change at the time of independence; the impact of the of the regimes that consolidated the accomplishment of independence. This will involve, where relevant, areas such as the destruction of Gran Colombia and the rise of its successor states, the creation and fall of the Central American Federation, and the progression of Mexico to the Porfiriato. An underlying theme will be the more or less successful assertion of central government authority in the various states.

Instruction: 3 hours fortnightly (to be arranged by tutor)

Assessment:  

50% final written examination; 2 questions, one on the general themes of the course (from a choice of four) for 25%, one on a specialist choice (again from a choice) for 25%.

Essay of 3000 + words 35%

Critique/review of articles, books 15%

Reading List:

This list is basic, and brief, because it is hoped graduate students will make their own bibliographies. When the course is taught, the lecturer may issue his/her own suggestions.

V. Bulmer Thomas The Economic History of Latin America since independence

D. Bushnell The Making of Modern Colombia

J.V. Lombardi Venezuela: The Search for Order the Dream of Progress

M.C. Meyer & W.L. Sherman The Course of Mexican History

R.L. Woodward Jr. Central America: A Nation Divided

H63B Nation-Building and its Problems in West and Central Africa

This course takes a look at the attempts by West and Central African states since independence to build viable and sustainable states in the face of major difficulties, economic, political and cultural. It begins by paying attention to the pre-colonial situation noting both the centripetal and centrifugal tendencies; then turns to examine Western rule in the area and the colonial legacy. The measures taken by independent rulers and the consequences - especially the unintended consequences - of these actions form the bedrock of the course. The course examines such issues as civil war, ethnic struggles, corruption, neo-colonial influence, military rule and the campaigns for democracy, the rule of 'strong men,' emergence of regional superpowers.

Instruction: 2 hours weekly

Assessment:  

Course work 50%

Final exam 50%

Reading List:

N.B It is not intended to survey every territory in West and Central Africa although Nigeria and Democratic Republic of the Congo may tend to stand out. For this reason, general rather than national texts are given below.

G. Ayittey Africa Betrayed

Y. Barongo ed Political Science in Africa

J-F. Bayart The State in Africa: the politics of the belly

B. Berman and C. Leys African Capitalists in African Development

M. Bratton and N van de Walle Democratic Experiments in Africa: Regime Transitions in Comparative Perspective

R. Buijtenhuis and C Thiriot Democratization in Sub-Saharan Africa, 1992-1995: An Overview of the Literature

N. Chazan et.al. Politics and Society in Contemporary Africa

C. Clapham Africa and the International System: The Politics of State Survival

F. Cooper Decolonization and African Society 1998

G.A. Cornia et.al. Africa's Recovery in the 1990s: From Stagnation and Adjustment to Human development

D. Cruise O'Brien, et al. Contemporary West African States

Dag Hammarskjold Foundation The State in Crisis in Africa: In Search of a Second Liberation

R. Dunn ed West African states: failure and promise

A and D. Gordon Understanding Contemporary Africa

S. Hameso State, Society and Development: An Assessment of the African Experience

J. Harbeson et.al. eds. Civil Society and the State in Africa

R. Joseph ed State, Conflict and Democracy in Africa: The Democratic Challenge in Africa

P. Kennedy African Capitalism: The Struggle for Asccendancy

A. Kirk-Greene and D. Bach ed State and Society in Francophone Africa since Independence

W.J. Krieger ed Culture and Democracy in Africa South of the Sahara

S. Lipset Political Man: The Social Basis of Politics

T. Lumumba-Kasongo The Dynamics of Economic and Political Relations Between Africa and Foreign Powers: A Study in International Relations

M. Mamdani and E. Wamba-dia-wamba eds African Studies in Social Movements and Democracy

P. Manning Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa

J. Markakis and M Waller Military Marxist Regimes in Africa

P. Martin and D. Birmingham ed History of Central Africa vol 2

---.  A History of Central Africa: the Contemporary Years Since 1960

J. Mbaku and J. Ihonvbere Multiparty Democracy and Political Change

C. Monga The Anthropology of Anger: Civil Society and Democracy in Africa

B. Moore The Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World

V. Mudimbe The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy and the Order of Knowledge

M. Ottaway ed Democracy in Africa: the hard road ahead

W. Oyugi ed Democratic Theory and practice in Africa

W. Reno Warlord Politics and African States

D. Rothchild and N. Chazan eds The Precarious Balance: State and Society in Africa

D. Rothchild and V. Olorunsola eds. State versus Ethnic Claims: African Policy Dilemmas

D. Sahn et.al. Structural Adjustment Reconsidered: Economic Policy and Poverty in Africa

R. Sandbrook Politics of Africa's Economic Stagnation

---. A Politics of Africa's Economic Recovery

R.A. Siddiqui ed. Sub-Saharan Africa in the 1990s: Challenges to democracy and Development

L. Villalón and P. Huxtable The African State at a Critical Juncture: Between Disintegration and Reconfiguration

J.A. Wiseman ed. Democracy and Political Change in Sub-Saharan Africa

C. Young The African Colonial State in Comparative Perspective

C. Young ed The Rising Tide of Cultural Pluralism: The Nation-state at bay?

I. Zartman ed. Collapsed States: The Disintegration and Restoration of Legitimate Authority

 

H67K History and Caribbean Heritage

This course describes and analyses Caribbean heritage, and the attitudes of peoples towards it. it will include the efforts of government and non-governmental organisations to preserve Caribbean heritage in and outside museums. It will examine the politics of heritage management and presentation, and the role and status of public history in the Caribbean. It will investigate the relations between Caribbean history and Caribbean heritage. Topics to be covered include:

1. Overview and definition of Heritage

2. Attitudes to the past

3. Survival and management of historical evidence/heritage--Overseas

4. Survival and management of historical evidence/heritage-the Caribbean

5. Public History

6. The Politics of Heritage

7. The Heritage industry

6. Problems and prospects in Caribbean history and heritage

Instruction: please consult Dr. Karl Watson, the director;

Assessment: please consult Dr. Karl Watson, the director;

Required Readings: please consult Dr. Karl Watson, the director.

H67M Key Works in History

This course is conceived of as an examination of seminal works in the development of the profession, with particular emphasis on recent authors. It is intended that students should read and critique the texts themselves, rather than just digest what others have written about them, though such books will still be available, of course. The criteria for selection of suitable writings are variable and will be based on such factors as the introduction of new methodologies, the significance of the topic addressed, and the effectiveness with which the subject is dealt. It is proposed that various historical traditions be dealt with, new and old, the only requirement being that suitable texts are available in English.

Instruction:    2 hours (weekly) seminar

Assessment:   Essay (3000+ words) 60%

  Review (1500 words) 40%

Reading List:

The following titles are suggested, but the list is not meant to be definitive; titles may be added or dropped at the discretion of the course lecturer(s). The books (or historical schools) are listed under country of origin.

India

K.N. Chaudhuri Asia before Europe

---. Trade and Civilisation in the Indian Ocean

The Subaltern Studies School

France

The Annales school generally

Works by March Bloch, Fernand Braudel, Lucien Febvre, Michel Foucault

United Kingdom

Lewis Namier The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III

G.R. Elton The Tudor Revolution in Government

A.J.P. Taylor The Struggle for Mastery in Europe 1845-1918

---. The Origins of the Second World War

E.P. Thompson The Making of the English Working Class

The History Workshop school

United States

F.J. Turner The Frontier in American History

E. Genovese Roll Jordan Roll

H. Guttmann The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom

James Oakes The Ruling Race

H67N Current Debates in History

The central objective of this course is to introduce postgraduate students in history to current debates in the discipline concerning its purpose, direction and methodology. Students will be required to engage with these debates through extensive reading and seminar presentations. The course will examine the issues these debates raise and consider the extent to which they should impact on our own practice as historians in the Caribbean. Topics will vary according to developments in the discipline.

TOPICS 1999-2000

1. The Uses of Comparative History: This section will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the comparative method in history.

Preparation:  

a. Read the two theoretical articles identified; and

b. Research an example of comparative history in the historiography on one of the following themes: Slavery; post-emancipation society; the frontier; segregation; women's history; dictatorship; revolution; industrialisation; decolonisation/nationalism.

2. Gender Analysis and Historical Method: This section considers the dramatic rise of 'Women's History= in the 1970s and 1980s and the implications for the discipline as a whole of adopting a 'gendered' perspective in historical study.

Preparation:  

a. Read the articles identified; and

b. Trace the influence of a gendered perspective in recent Caribbean Historiography.

3. History from Below: This section addresses the radical currents and strands in the discipline which gave rise to the genre known as 'people's history', including its theoretical and methodological implications. Discussion will focus especially on the body of work presented in History Workshop Journal.

Preparation:   

a. Identify the key characteristics of 'people's history'.

b. How can the 'Workshop' approach be applied in the Caribbean?

4. Postmodernism and History: This section will examine postmodernist theory and the debate on its implications for the study of history.

Preparation:    

a. Read the theoretical articles identified; and

b. Identify and explain a contribution to the historiography in any field of history which has been influenced by postmodernist theory.

5. Postcolonial Theory: This section will consider the challenges to the traditional practice of the discipline arising from the experience of postcoloniality, and especially the perspectives developed by contributors to the journal Subaltern Studies.

Preparation:   

a. Read the theoretical articles identified and define the following terms: hegemony; subalternity.

b. Consider the current/potential impact of subalternist analysis on Caribbean Historiography.

6. Historians and Ethics: This concluding section considers the ethical issues facing historians today, both in terms of professional practice and public policy.

Instruction: One two-hour seminar per week, supported by extensive guided reading

Assessment:  

40% on Seminar Presentation (to be submitted in writing after presentation)

60% for two hour final examination

Reading List:

On Comparative History

Marc Bloch "A Contribution towards a Comparative Study of European Societies," in Marc Bloch, trans. by J.E.Anderson, Land and Work in Medieval Europe: Selected Papers by Marc Bloch (New York, 1967).

*George Frederickson "From Exceptionalism to Variability: Recent Developments in Cross-National Comparative History," Journal of American History 82: 2 (September 1995)

Raymond Grew "The Comparative Weakness of American History," Journal of Interdisciplinary History 16 (Summer, 1985)

Arend Lijphart "Comparative Politics and the Comparative Method," American Political Science Review 65:3-4 (1971)

Ian Tyrell "American Exceptionalism in an Age of International History," American Historical Review 96:4 (October 1991)

*Theda Skocpol and Margaret Somers "The Uses of Comparative History in Macrosocial Inquiry," Comparative Studies in Society and History 22:2 (1980)

On Postmodernism and History

Peter Hughes "Last Post: Alternatives to Postmodernism: Review Article," Comparative Studies in Society and History 38:1 (1996)

*Patrick Joyce "The End of Social History ?" Social History XX:1 (January 1995)

Dominick LaCapra "History, Language and Reading: Waiting for Crillon," American Historical Review 93:3 (June 1995)

Arthur Marwick "Two Approaches to Historical Study: The Metaphysical (Including 'Postmodernism') and the Historical" Journal of Contemporary History Vol. 30 (1995).

David Mayfield and Susan Thorne "Social History and its Discontents: Gareth Stedman Jones and the Politics of Language," Social History XVII: 2 (May 1992)

*Thomas C. Patterson "Post-structuralism, post-modernism: implications for Historians" Social History Vol. 14, No.1, 1989

Raphael Samuel "Reading the Signs, Part 1," History Workshop Journal XXXI (Autumn 1991)

Raphael Samuel "Reading the Signs, Part 2," History Workshop Journal XXXIII (Spring 1992)

M. Speigel "History, Historicism and the Social Logic of the Text in the Middle Ages," Speculum LVX (1990)

*Lawrence Stone "History and post-modernism," Past and Present CXXXI (May 1991)

*Lawrence Stone "History and post-modernism III," Past and Present CXXXV (May 1992)

John E. Toews "Review Article: Intellectual History After the Linguistic Turn: The Autonomy of Meaning and the Irreducibility of Experience," American Historical Review 92:4 (October 1987)

James Vernon "Who's Afraid of the Linguistic Turn? The politics of social history and its discontents," Social History XIX: 1 (January 1994)

Hayden White "AResponse to Arthur Marwick" Journal of Contemporary History Vol. 30 (1995).

On Postcoloniality

Frederick Cooper "Conflict and Connection: Rethinking Colonial African History," American Historical Review 99:5 (December 1994)

Dagmar Engels and Shula Marks (eds) Contesting Colonial Hegemony. State and Society in Africa and India (London, 1994)

Edward Said Culture and Imperialism (1993)

Florencia Mallon "The Promise and Dilemma of Subaltern Studies: Perspectives From Latin American History," American Historical Review 99:5 (December 1994)

Gyan Prakash "Can the Subaltern Ride? A reply to Hanlon and Washbrook," Comparative Studies in Society and History 34 (1992)

*Gyan Prakash "Subaltern Studies as Postcolonial Criticism," American Historical Review 99:5 (December 1994)

Gyan Prakash (ed.) After Colonialism: Imperial Histories and Postcolonial Displacements (Princeton, N.J. 1995)

On History from Below

Eugene Genovese and Elizabeth Fox-Genovese "The Political Crisis of Social History: A Marxian Perspective," Journal of Social History X (!976-77)

History Workshop Journal, passim, but see especially:

• Tony Judt "A Clown in Regal Purple: Social History and the Historians," History Workshop Journal 7 (1979)
• Raphael Samuel (ed.) People's History and Socialist Theory (London 1987)
• *Gerald Strauss "Viewpoint: The Dilemma of Popular History, " Past and Present 132 (August 1991)
• E.P. Thompson The Poverty of Theory and Other Essays (New York and London, 1978)

On Gender and History

Elizabeth Fox-Genovese "Gender, Class and Power: Some Theoretical Considerations," The History Teacher 15: 2 (February 1982)

Elizabeth Fox-Genovese "Placing Women's History in History," New Left Review 133 (May-June 1982)

Joan Kelly Women, History and Theory

Denise Riley Am I That Name ? Feminism and the Category of `Women' in History, esp. Chap.1, "Does Sex have A History ?"

Joan Scott "Gender, a useful category of historical analysis," American Historical Review 91 (December 1986)

Joan Scott Gender and the Politics of History

Bonnie Smith "The Contribution of Women to Modern Historiography," American Historical Review 89 (1984)