History 358
Cuba in the World, 1800-2015
Prof. Alejandra Bronfman
alejandra.bronfman@ubc.ca
Buchanan Tower 1121
Office hours: Wednesday and Friday, 1-3pm or by appointment
Course website:
Please sign on to the website and make sure that you check it regularly. I will use it to post announcements and readings and make any necessary changes to the readings or schedule. You will use it to post comments about the readings. You should also think of it as your space and take advantage of the possibilities of sharing images, sounds, videos, or anything that might enhance our experience of the course.
Required books:
We will engage a number of different kinds of texts. The point of this is two-fold. First, you will have the opportunity to explore and understand a number of different perspectives on the past. Second, you will have a chance to think about how and why these different kinds of texts are produced. History is nothing but a series of arguments, and each of these texts articulates a particular argument using specific tools and strategies. We will talk a lot about the tools and strategies with which history is written and memory is constructed. A significant amount of class time will be devoted to helping you read and understand these texts. This will be crucial to your success in this course, but it will also be useful in any history course you take at UBC or elsewhere.
Manuel Barcia, Great African Slave Revolt of 1825: Cuba and the Fight for Freedom in Matanzas (Louisiana State University Press, 2012) available online, UBC library
Alina Garcia Lapuerta, La Belle Creole: The Cuban Countess Who Captivated Havana, Madrid and Paris (Chicago, Chicago Review Press, 2014)
Rebecca Scott, Degrees of Freedom: Louisiana and Cuba After Slavery (Cambridge: Belknap Press, 2008)
Julia Sweig, Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know 2nd. Ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013)
Peter Kornbluh and William LeoGrande, Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations between Washington and Havana (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2014)
Catherine Krull, Cuba in a Global Context: International Relations, Internationalism, and Transnationalism (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2014)
Plus some articles, online
Assignments
- In class participation: reading, discussion: 20%
- Blog postings: 15%
At least 6 during term. This should be a reflection and comment on the readings, in particular in relation to the themes of the lectures and discussions, and the previous readings. No longer than one paragraph. Due by 6am the day of discussion (usually Thursday).
- Short paper: 15%
What did you know about Cuba before starting this class, and how have you learned it? How does Barcia’s book change or add to what you already knew? 500 words. Due September 29.
- Map and timeline quiz October 13 , in class: 10%
- Paper on sources: 20%
Choose two texts we have read so far and discuss the author’s use of sources. What kind of sources do they use? How do they use them to make their arguments? What is the nature of evidence in these texts? 1000 words. Due November 5 in class.
- Final paper/project: 20%
-Historiographic essay (choose 1 week and read one more book)—2000 words.
-Multimedia project with some scholarly content and at least 1000 words.
-Choose one author we have read and read another book by that author. Write an essay on their historical perspective, methods, and aims. 2000 words.
Due December 10.
Schedule
Week 1: Cuba in the Atlantic World
Sept. 10 Introductions
Week 2: Slavery and History
Sept. 15 Africa, Cuba, Haiti.
Sept. 17 Reading:
Barcia, The Great African Slave Revolt Chapters 1-3
Week 3: Money, Law and Power
Sept. 22 Trials and Travels: on sources and how we know what we know
Sept. 24 Reading:
Barcia, Chapters 4, 5 and conclusion; LaPuerta, part 1
Week 4: War and Freedom
Sept. 29 Transnational struggles over law and emancipation. Read Scott, Chapter 1 and bring a question to class.
Paper #1 due.
Oct. 1 Reading
Scott, skim chapters 2 and 3, read chapters 4 and 5
Week 5: Drawing the Color Line
Oct. 6 Comparing post-emancipation lives. Skim Scott, chapters 6 and 7
Oct. 8 Reading
Scott, Chapters 8 and 9.
Week 6: Modernity and its dilemmas
Oct. 13 Technology and crime; politics and identity
Map and timeline quiz
Oct. 15 Reading
Robert Whitney; “The Architect of the Cuban State: Fulgencio Batista and Populism in Cuba, 1937-1940”
Louis A Perez Jr. On Becoming Cuban, Chapter 4
Week 7: The Coming of the Revolution
Oct. 20 History and Absolution. Read Sweig, pp 20-39 before lecture.
Oct. 22: Reading
Alejandra Bronfman, “Batista is Dead”: Media, Violence and Politics in 1950s Cuba. Caribbean Studies Vol. 40 no.1 (January-June 2012): 37-58.
Sweig, pp. 39-47
Robin Moore, “Revolucion con Pachanga? Dance Music in Socialist Cuba”
Week 8: US and the world react
Oct. 27 Images and memory
Oct. 29 Reading;
Sweig, pp. 47-65 and 74-88
Kornbluh and LeoGrande, Chapters 1-5 (choose one and become an expert)
Week 9: Everyday life, the limits of legality, and personal transformation
Nov. 3 How not/to do oral history
Nov. 5 Reading
Oscar Lewis, excerpts
Elizabeth Dore, “Cubans’ Life Stories: The Pains and Pleasures of Living in a Communist Society”
Paper #2 due today in class
Week 10: Will the Revolution ever end? From Cold War to Hipster Paradise
Nov. 10: Dilemmas, Diasporas, Dissent, and bad TV
listen to Podcast on the Frikis of Havana for class
Nov. 12 Reading
Kornbluh and LeoGrande, Chapters 5-10 (choose one and become an expert)
Week 11: The Commodification of Cuba”
Nov. 17: Sell it to save it
Nov. 19: reading
Catherine Krull, Cuba in a Global Context, excerpts
Sweig, Chapter 3
Week 12: Portrait of a Revolution, cool stuff you can do as an undergrad, and the ever changing art world
Nov. 24: “Let me Ride” screening and discussion with filmmaker James Hutson
Nov. 26: Guest lecture with Tonel
reading: Antonio Eligio, “Man Dancing With Havana: the city and its ghosts in twenty-first century art”
Week 13: Looking Back, and ahead
Dec. 1 What just happened?
reading: New Yorker articles, Yoani Sánchez blog, items from the current media explosion
Dec. 3 No class
Dec. 10 Papers/projects due
Guidelines for success in this course: don’t stop reading now!
Who can take this course? Are there any prerequisites?[i]
Anyone who is willing to work hard and to wrestle with the problems and issues in History 358 is welcome to enroll. It is not necessary to have a background in Cuban history.
What are the goals and objectives of History 358?
Students who complete this course successfully will possess an understanding of the broad outlines of Cuban history. History 358 is built on an interpretive scheme, and one of your tasks will be to confront and criticize this scheme so that you can formulate one of your own.
There are other, more specific goals. By the end of the year, students should be able to:
-Understand and explain slavery and emancipation in Cuba from legal and social perspectives.
-Account for the particular histories of race in 19th and 20th century Cuba as the outcome of intertwined legal, cultural and political processes.
-Understand the ways that Cuba has engaged and interacted with the wider world throughout its history.
-Distinguish among different kinds of texts (primary sources, novels, essays, scholarly articles, speeches, images, films) and analyze each one for context, voice and argument.
-Identify the causes and consequences of the Cuban revolution.
-Compare and contrast the writings of specific authors including but not limited to Manuel Barcia, Rebecca Scott, Julia Sweig, Louis A. Pérez Jr., Robert Whitney, Elizabeth Dore, and Robin Moore.
-Contribute to classroom and virtual debates and conversations about Cuba and Havana in an informed and thoughtful manner.
How can I succeed in this course? What will be expected of me? What are the general guidelines for marks?
In this arena, your success will depend upon careful reading and note-taking, a willingness to take intellectual risks in your writing and in our discussions, and a desire to explore anthropologist Michel-Rolph Trouillot has called “the interplay between historicity 1 and historicity 2, between what happened and what is said to have happened.”
Participation in the lectures and discussions is an essential part of your success. What does participation mean? It means active engagement with your colleagues; it means asking questions and listening carefully to others; it means trying to answer questions and having the courage to share your ideas; it means coming to class prepared – that is, coming to class with having completed the reading. Each of us shares the responsibility for how well History 358 will work. Accordingly, we need to build an environment where everyone feels welcome, and where all of our ideas are respected and where they can be explored and criticized.
This means above all that it is our shared responsibility to ensure that everyone in the class is comfortable in it, and that no one feel ill-at-ease for reasons of age or gender, economic standing, political preference, race, ethnic or religious background, national origin, or sexual orientation. It therefore follows that jokes at anyone’s expense other than that of the instructor are not permitted.
No one likes to deal with marks, but they are a fact of our university lives. In History 358, you will be rewarded for consistently doing your work over the course of the entire semester; there will be chances to resubmit work with which you may be dissatisfied.
Work that receives an “A” is inspired: it demonstrates a thorough grasp of the material and an original understanding of it. Work that receives a “B” means that it constitutes a strong performance and demonstrates a good understanding of the material. Note that a “C” in this class means that you have done pretty well and that you have attained an adequate comprehension of the material we cover. In order to get this mark, you must do all of the work and complete all of the reading. Work that receives a “D” is inadequate, usually because it contains serious gaps and misunderstandings. An “F” will be awarded if your work is completely inadequate, that is, if it reveals that you have no real understanding of the material we have covered.
Remember that marks are merely an evaluation of your work, and not a comment on your intelligence. They are not an evaluation of you as a person. And they are not a comment on how hard you have worked. It is possible in this class to work very hard – the hardest you have ever worked in a class at UBC – and still receive a “B” or a “C.” Curiously, perhaps, the more you concentrate on marks and on the results, the less well you may do. In learning, it is the process that matters and, I believe, it is the process which in the end determines the results. So, work hard, take notes when you read – I can help with strategies about this – and ask questions. If you can do this, the results should take care of themselves.
If you are experiencing difficulties with the readings, please come see me and we can discuss the troublesome material or, if you like, some general strategies for doing the work in History. Don’t wait until March or April to see me; drop by early in the term.
What are the general guidelines for attendance, deadlines and integrity?
What we do in class will help you make sense out of our readings, which are the core of this course. Therefore, attendance at all lectures and discussion sessions is mandatory. If you have a valid reason for missing a class, please send me an e-mail. If you become seriously ill or have a crisis that interferes with your work, please let me know so that we can discuss strategies for dealing with the situation and possible exceptions to our regular deadlines. If you do not inform me of the extraordinary circumstances that you may be facing, all work must be completed on time. You will find me sympathetic and flexible if you are confronting a difficult situation; however, if you do not inform me, in advance, you will be expected to complete your work on time. Late papers will be penalized 5% per day unless you tell me in advance.
As the university has explained, “Regular attendance is expected of students in all their classes (including lectures, laboratories, tutorials, seminars, etc.). Students who neglect their academic work and assignments may be excluded from the final examinations.” This means that you will be entitled to write the final exam/paper only if you come to class. The official policy of the university holds that it: “accommodates students with disabilities who have registered with the Disability Resource Centre. The University accommodates students whose religious obligations conflict with attendance, submitting assignments, or completing scheduled tests and examinations…. Please let your instructor know in advance, preferably in the first week of class, if you will require any accommodation on these grounds.
“Students who plan to be absent for varsity athletics, family obligations, or other similar commitments, cannot assume they will be accommodated….”
If you face a learning challenge, such as a diagnosed “learning disability,” please know that I will work with you so that you can achieve to the extent that you aspire. Drop by to discuss the course requirements and whatever accommodations may be helpful to you.
By university standards, there is a moderate amount of reading in this course. If you decide to enroll, be certain that you are prepared to do the reading and to submit your work on time. Failure to meet this expectation is likely to produce unsatisfactory results in our classes as well as on your transcripts.
Specific guidelines for marks and requirements
Consistent attendance, conscientious reading, and attentive and civil participation are essential parts of your work in this course. In the realm of academic integrity, you are expected to refrain from cheating, lying, or engaging in acts of plagiarism. All written work in History 252 should be prepared and completed by each individual student. If you borrow someone’s words or ideas, they should be cited in the proper manner. Here is a useful link to help you understand what plagiarism is and avoid it.
http://help.library.ubc.ca/researching/academic-integrity/
Above all, please remember that all authors own their ideas, words, and research; you therefore must give appropriate credit, typically in the form of quotations and footnotes, when using the work of another scholar. Plagiarism, whether or not it is “intentional,” is a serious violation of UBC’s standards; violations of the standards will be prosecuted. If your work is late, if you feel under pressure, do anything but cheat, please. Do not jeopardize your career and your good name for the sake of a mark in History 358. It’s just not worth it.
Take great care when using resources on the Web, as many can prove helpful; a significant number, however, can be misleading – including, of course, Wikipedia. Be certain that unattributed sentences gleaned from the Web do not find their way into your submissions for History 358. Failure to be vigilant about this matter inevitably will raise questions about academic integrity.
All written work except blog postings must be:
- Prepared only on a typewriter or a computer. Handwritten work is not acceptable. And faxes or e-mails of your work cannot be accepted by the Department of History.
- Double-spaced and formatted in a simple, easy-to-read font, such as Times New Roman. The size of the font must be 12-point.
- Set so it has margins of one inch on both sides, and at the top and bottom.
- Numbered by pages and stapled in the upper left corner. (Do not use paper clips or creative folding.)
- Backed-up, always, at regular intervals. (I recommend every three minutes.) Use a floppy or a zip disk or a USB mini-drive, a network storage service, and/or a hard copy. Computer or printer crashes or problems are not acceptable reasons for late submissions.
The Faculty of Arts requires that written work conform to accepted standards of English expression; if writing does not meet such standards, it cannot be evaluated. Marks will be based on the quality of your written work and of your participation in the lectures and discussions. The key is regular attendance and doing the reading, on time, and coming to class, prepared.[1]
Devices: we will work together the first day of class to create a policy about the use of electronic devices in class. I will expect students to abide by that policy. Anyone in consistent violation will be asked to drop the course.
[1] I am indebted to Prof. Paul Krause for much of the wording of this section.
[i] Many of these general comments derive from Dr. Paul Krause’s guidelines for H332. My thanks to him for his generosity in this regard.