SSCI 403 Caribbean Identity

Caribbean identity is a seminar of an interdisciplinary nature aimed at introducing students to the historical, social, economic, and political factors that has shaped Caribbean societies. This course exposes students to the theories and paradigms of some Caribbean writers that have contributed to the understanding of Caribbean societies. Specifically, students are expected to be familiar with the central ideas such as Froudacity in the works of J.J. Thomas; Negritude in the works of Aime Cesaire; Creolization in the works of Eduard Glissant; the Psycho-pathology of blackness as expressed by Frantz Fanon; Black Nationalism as articulated by Marcus Garvey; and Marxism, the ideology of CLR James and Walter Rodney. There are expected to examine the extent to which these ideas are central in the formation of Caribbean identity. How are these ideas, or for that matter, the politics of identity contributes to the economic transformation of Caribbean societies from forced slaved labour, the rise of peasant society, to the laissez faire economics and competitiveness within the globalised world. In this context students will pay attention factors such as Representative Government and and social revolutions that have contributed to the formation of nationalism in the Caribbean. Students are expected to become acquainted with the nature of national identity, and with the historical-comparative explanation of the rise of nationalism in the world.