GB 131: Introduction to Caribbean Studies

This course introduces students to the interdisciplinary field of Caribbean Studies, providing an understanding of the concepts that define the region within the framework of its society, history, and culture. Students will examine issues pertinent to the unique physical, political, environmental, and socio-economic challenges confronting the area. They will study literary, historical, and political primary and secondary sources, including various forms of art from Pan-Caribbean cultures, emphasizing the Francophone, Hispanophone, and Anglophone Caribbean and its diaspora. The course aims to develop critical thinking about the region in terms of its origin, geography, common historical experiences, cultural identities, the mixture, melange or mestizaje of diverse ethnic and racial groups, and its ongoing struggle for sovereignty and survival seen from the pre-colonial and colonial period to today's 21st-century natural/unnatural disasters.