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2014/15 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

SPPO3510 From Toussaint to Obama: Resistance in the African Diaspora

20 creditsClass Size: 20

Module manager: Manuel Barcia Paz
Email: M.Barcia@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable

Year running 2014/15

Module replaces

SPPO3440 The Cuban Revolution 1959-2005

This module is approved as a discovery module

Module summary

From the sixteenth century until the second half of the nineteenth century millions of Africans were forced to cross the Atlantic Ocean to work as slaves in the cities and plantations of the New World. Eventually this massive Diaspora transformed the history of the world to a significant extent. Had it not been for the slave trade the world as we know it today would be totally different.The four centuries of African enforced migration across the Atlantic had long lasting consequences for all of us. The impact of the African music, aesthetics, religious beliefs, and moral values has been enormous. This course explores the ways in which these African men and women resisted Slavery in the Americas, mostly focusing on the Modern Historical period. The course is designed for students interested in the cultures and experiences of the peoples of African descent throughout the Atlantic world from 1791 till today.The goal of the course is to emphasise the impact of Africa and people of African descent in world cultural, economic, and social developments. The course will also provide a balance between language, humanistic, historical, and contemporary studies, all this while emphasising their actions to achieve freedom from slavery.The students will be briefly introduced to the history of slavery in Africa and to the establishment of the transatlantic slave trade by the Europeans and the African rulers. It will also discuss the processes of enslavement in Africa, the Middle Passage and the processes of resettlement in the Americas, always relying on comparative approaches looking at their forms of resistance in each of these environments.In the core part of the course the students will be presented with some of the most important African conspiracies and revolts in the late-eighteenth and nineteenth century, among them the Haitian Revolution and the myriad of movements that unfolded across the Americas until the second half of the nineteenth-century.In the final two weeks they will have the opportunity to examine the processes of emancipation in the different New World slave systems, the end of slavery as an institution, and post-emancipation societies where the struggle against racism continued almost everywhere.Finally they will be encouraged to assess the role of the Africans and African-descendants in the modern world and to discuss issues such as racial discrimination, Rastafarianism, the civil rights movement, Caribbean independence struggles, underdevelopment, and poverty.

Objectives

With this module the students will learn about the ways in which Africans resisted slavery in the New World. They will have the opportunity to reflect on the impact of slave resistance upon the historical processes that led to the creation of the various Afro-American cultures that we know today.

They will be able to assess critically different historical issues and moments and to focus on a particular region or one of the broad groupings of African Diasporas in the Atlantic world for their coursework.

Students will also explore the potential of a variety of secondary and primary sources, and will develop their comparative perspective of the world. Their writing, research and oral presentation skills will also be developed through class presentations, the analysis of original documents, and one final essay.

Learning outcomes
On completion of this module, students should:
1. Be familiar with the main concepts and themes of African Diaspora Studies and specifically their forms of resistance against Slavery.
2. Have displayed the aptitude and confidence to work in the preparation and presentation of a topic.
3. Develop their analytical skills while examining primary sources.
3. Demonstrate an advanced capacity for independent critical thought and the skills necessary to exercise this in sustained debate.
4. Be able to produce a sophisticated and well-organised essay, using knowledge acquired in class and through independent reading, and addressing issues with reference to their specific contexts.

Skills outcomes
Students will develop further their close-reading and analytical skills, as well as their presentational skills in both written and spoken form.

Syllabus

1. Introduction (Slavery in the Atlantic World)
2. Slavery and slave resistance in Africa and the Middle Passage
3. Slave Resistance in the New World: Saint Domingue I
4. Slave Resistance in the New World: Saint Domingue II
5. Slave Resistance in the New World: Cuba & the Spanish Caribbean
6. Slave Resistance in the New World: Brazil I
7. Slave Resistance in the New World : Brazil II
8. Slave Resistance in the New World: The British Caribbean and the United States
9. Emancipation struggle and Post-emancipation societies
10. From the Civil Rights movement to Barack Obama.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Lecture	10	1.00	10.00
Seminar	10	1.00	10.00
Private study hours			180.00
Total Contact hours			20.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			200.00

Private study

- 3 hours preparation for each lecture = 33
- 3 hours preparation for each seminar = 33
- Essay preparation = 60 hours
- Preparation for Seminar Presentation = 9 hours
- Preparation and writing of Document Analysis = 45 hours.

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

- Formal feedback on class presentation
- Formal feedback on document analysis
- Informal feedback and monitoring in seminars.

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Presentation	Seminar presentation	10.00
Essay	1 x 3,000 word (students of Portuguese will be expected to do this piece of assessment on the Portuguese Atlantic World or Brazil)	50.00
Source Analysis	1,500 word document analysis (students of Portuguese will be expected to do this piece of assessment on the Portuguese Atlantic World or Brazil)	40.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

Portuguese students taking the module will be expected to write the document analysis and essay on the Portuguese Atlantic or Brazil.

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 25/03/2015

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