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Everyday Life in the Anglophone Caribbean, c.1900-1966

Module description

This module provides an introduction to social and cultural histories of the Anglophone Caribbean. Spanning the early twentieth century through to the period of decolonisation in 1950s and 1960s, the module investigates how ordinary men and women experienced social, cultural and political change. The module adopts a ‘bottom up’ approach, focusing on topics that relate to the quotidian aspects of life in the Caribbean during this period, including histories of labour and class, gender and family relations, crime and punishment, music and popular culture, sport and leisure, health and medicine, and religious practices and beliefs.

Module aims - intentions of the module

The aim of the module is to introduce you to the broad range of sources available to the modern historian, through the study of everyday life in the Anglophone Caribbean. Individual seminars will focus on various sources, including government records, literary works, photographs, newspaper articles, films, and songs. You will also have the opportunity to conduct your own research into these sources, consider their value and limitations, and use them to explore particular topics and themes. This module will help you develop skills in source analysis and research to provide a foundation for future historical work.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Understand and assess the main developments in Caribbean social and cultural history since 1900
• 2. Work critically with a range of written and visual sources relating to the topic

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Identify the problems of using historical sources, e.g. utility, limitations, etc., and compare the validity of different types of sources
• 4. Present work orally, respond to questions orally, and think quickly of questions to ask other students

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Conduct independent study and group work, including the presentation of material for group discussion, developed through the mode of learning
• 6. Conduct independent study and group work, including the presentation of material for group discussion, developed through the mode of learning
• 7. Work with others in a team and to interact effectively with the tutor and the wider group
• 8. Write to a very tight word-length

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:

• Labour, Work and Class
• Music and Popular Culture
• Crime and Punishment
• Gender, Sexuality and the Family
• Sport and Leisure
• Literary and Print Cultures
• Urban Life
• Health and Medicine
• Race Relations
• Religious Beliefs and Practices
• Popular Protest

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Basic reading:

• David Trotman, Crime in Trinidad: Conflict and Control in a Plantation Society (1987).
• C. L. R. James, Beyond a Boundary (1963).
• Diana Paton, The Cultural Politics of Obeah: Religion, Colonialism, and Modernity in the Caribbean World (2017).
• Nigel Bolland, Struggles for Freedom: Essays on Slavery, Colonialism, and Culture in the Caribbean and Central America (2000).
• Nigel Bolland (ed.) The Birth Of Caribbean Civilisation: A Century of Ideas about Culture, Identity, Nation and Society (2004).
• Maarit Forde and Yanique Hume (ed.) Passages and Afterworlds: Anthropological Perspectives on Death in the Caribbean (2018).
• Juanita de Barros and Steven Palmer (eds) Health and Medicine in the circum-Caribbean, 1800-1968 (2010).
• Lara Putnam, Radical Moves: Caribbean Migrants and the Politics of Race in the Jazz Age (2013).
• Paul Gilroy, The Black Atlantic (1993).
• Norman C. Stolzoff, Wake the Town and the Tell the People: Dancehall Culture in Jamaica (2000).
• Carolyn Cooper, Noises in the Blood: Orality, Gender and the Vulgar Body of Jamaican Popular Culture (1995).
• Gaiutra Bahadur, Coolie Woman: The Odyssey of Indenture (2013).
• Mimi Sheller, Citizenship from Below: Erotic Agency and Caribbean Freedom (2012).
• Constance Sutton, Revisiting Caribbean Labour: Essays in Honour of Nigel Bolland (2005).
• Michael O. West, William G. Martin, and Fanon Che Wilkins (eds) From Toussaint to Tupac: The Black International since the Age of Revolution (2009).
• Walter Rodney, A History of the Guyanese Working People, 1881-1905 (1981).

Key words search

Caribbean, Everyday life, Colonial and Postcolonial History, Social and Cultural History, Gender, Race, Class