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Academic Year 2003/2004

Color in the Caribbean
AFAM 166 SP
Crosslistings:
ANTH 166

One of the unspoken rules in Caribbean societies is: "If you're white, you're all right; if you're brown stick around; if you're black stay back." Yet, ironically in many of these societies the notion that "a rich black is a mulatto and a poor mulatto is black" is also prevalent. This course critically examines the prominence of color, as a symbol of race, in the social hierarchy of Caribbean societies. It explores the complex manifestations of color particularly as it intersects with class. Students consider how color operates, as a marker of status, especially in the making and remaking of gendered identities. Themes covered include but are not limited to: Family, love and marriage patterns, beauty ideals and nationalism, political leadership and representation. Reading materials consist primarily of ethnographies.

MAJOR READINGS

Cliff, THE LAND OF LOOK BEHIND: PROSE AND POETRY
Douglass, THE POWER OF SENTIMENT: LOVE, HIERACHY AND THE JAMAICAN FAMILY ELITE
Lowenthal, WEST INDIAN SOCIETIES
Nicholas, FROM DESSALINES TO DUVALIER: RACE, COLOUR AND NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE IN HAITI
Torres and Whitten, BLACKNESS IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Weekly discussion questions, short essays and final research paper.

COURSE FORMAT: Lecture/Discussion

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS AFAM    Grading Mode: Graded   

Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-19-2004

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