Making of the African Diaspora

Making of the African Diaspora

AADS 102

Spring 2009

TR (11:00-12:15 pm)

007 Furman

Instructor: Dr. Omar H. Ali

E-mail: omarhali@vanderbilt.edu

Office: 225 Buttrick Hall

Hours: TR 2:30-3:30 (or by appointment)

The course will explore the making of the African Diaspora in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean worlds through a combination of historical and ethnographic studies. How did men and women of African descent come to populate and shape the cultures, economies, and politics of the Americas and South Asia? The course will begin with an examination of African cultures in the centuries leading up to European colonization of the Americas and the advent of the Atlantic slave trade. The spread of Islam and Christianity and the growth of empires in East and West Africa will be discussed as part of understanding the traditions and practices which Africans brought with them to the Americas and throughout the Indian Ocean world. We will look at the development of the African Diaspora in the Middle East and South Asia in order to more fully contextualize the western development of the diaspora. The course ends with an examination of African Americans in the United States. By surveying the African Diaspora as a whole, the course seeks to provide students with a broad perspective of the creation of the modern world through the dispersion of Africans and people of African descent. Primary sources to be examined include speeches, songs, letters, newspaper articles, visual arts, and oral history. In addition to required readings both in and out of class, students will view parts of several documentaries.

Grading: Class Participation 10% Midterm 25%

Presentation 5% Research Paper 20%

Quiz 15% Final Exam 25%

A (96)

A- (92-95)

B+ (88-91)

B (85-87)

B- (82-84)

C+ (78-81)

C (75-77)

C- (72-74)

D+ (68-71)

D (65-67)

D- (62-64)

F (61 and below)

The exams (including the quiz) will consist of a combination of short identifications and written answers. Exams are cumulative. A ten-minute presentation on readings with three questions for class discussion will be required of all students. The paper length is twelve pages, double-spaced, footnoted, with bibliography. Topics will be discussed in class. A proposed paper question with a preliminary bibliography will be due on February 17 (single-page, double-spaced, including bibliography).

Failure to complete any part of course requirements will result in the lowering of your grade by one letter; unexcused absences in excess of three will result in the lowering of your grade by one letter; tardiness to class in excess of three times will count as an absence. Cheating and plagiarism will result in an “F” for the course. Vanderbilt University makes every effort o accommodate students with disabilities. Please see me privately so that you can be referred to the Opportunity Development Center.

Michael A. Gomez, Reversing Sail: A History of the African Diaspora (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005)

Tiffany Patterson and Robin D. G. Kelley, “Unfinished Migrations: Reflections on the African Diaspora and the making of the Modern World,” African Studies Review, Vol. 43, No. 1 (April 2000): 47-68.

Shihan de S. Jayasuriya and Richard Pankhurst, The African Diaspora in the Indian Ocean (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2003)

John Hunwick and Eve Troutt Powell, The African Diaspora in the Mediterranean Lands of Islam (Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener, 2002)

Gwyn Campbell. Abolition and its Aftermath in the Indian Ocean Africa and Asia (New York: Routledge, 2005)

David Northrup. Crosscurrents in the Black Atlantic, 1770-1965: A Brief History with Documents (Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008)

Laurent Dubois and John D. Garrigus, Slave Revolution in the Caribbean, 1789-1804: A Brief History with Documents (Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2006)

Jane G. Landers and Barry M. Robinson, Slaves, Subjects, and Subversives: Blacks in Colonial Latin America (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2006)

Peter Blanchard, Slavery and Abolition in Early Republican Peru (Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1992)

Omar H. Ali. In the Balance of Power: Independent Black Politics and Third Party Movements in the United States (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2008)

Reading: Patterson, “Unfinished Migrations: Reflections on the African Diaspora and the making of the Modern World,” pages 47-68

Reading: Hunwick, The African Diaspora in the Mediterranean Lands of Islam, pages ix-xxxvii

Reading: Campbell, Abolition and its Aftermath in the Indian Ocean Africa and Asia, pages 1-28, 137-149

Reading: Campbell, Abolition and its Aftermath in the Indian Ocean Africa and Asia, pages 150-168, 198-218

Reading: Northrup, Crosscurrents in the Black Atlantic, pages 1-28, 31-38, 87-95, 99-103

Reading: Landers, Slaves, Subjects, and Subversives: Blacks in Colonial Latin America, pages 111-145, 175-208

Reading: Landers, Slaves, Subjects, and Subversives: Blacks in Colonial Latin America, pages 247-272

Reading: Blanchard, Slavery and Abolition in Early Republican Peru, pages xiii-xx, 151-170, 189-210

Reading: Ali, In the Balance of Power: Independent Black Politics, pages 27-53, 134-161