Fall 2009

HIS 386K • COMPAR LATIN AMER REVOLUTIONS

Course Description

This seminar will provide an overview of the political history of U.S.-Cuban relations since the Thirteen Colonies to the present, emphasizing domestic and multilateral interactions, national interests and international actors, as well as points of convergence and clash in the bilateral, regional and extra-hemispheric arenas. The current conflict is explored throughout its historic making, considering the roles played by both countries in each other's internal affairs. The seminar considers the complexities of Cuban history but also its centrality to international histories of nationalism and imperialism, the Cold War and Third World revolutions. It focuses in depth on the major themes that have shaped modern U.S.-Cuban history, their different theoretical and ideological representations, and their current meaning: independence and social revolutions, nationalism and annexation, political antagonism and cultural affinities, modernity and dependency, hegemony and civic cultures, political values and interests. The Seminar is divided into 7 sections: 1. U.S.-Cuban Relations: The Current Structure of the Conflict. Theoretical Paradigms Explaining both Countries Foreign Policies. 2. Historical Background: From Colonial Rule to Modern Imperialism (XVIII-XIX Centuries). 3. The Cuban Republics and the U.S.: From the Platt Amendment to the End of the Ancien Régime (1901-1958). 4. The Conflict between the Cuban Revolution and the United States: Origins and International Developments (1959-1962). 5. United States and Cuba: East-West and North-South Triangles during the Cold War (1963-1989). 6. Back to the Beginning?: Old Problems in the Post-Cold War International Framework. 7. United States and Cuba in the Era of Pre-Emptive Wars and Beyond. Sections 1, 6, 7: the current Post-Cold War conflict (5 weeks) Sections 4-5: U.S.-Cuban Revolution during the Cold War (5 weeks) Sections 1-3: Key political issues in U.S.-Cuban Relations: a Background (3 weeks)

Readings, mostly in English, will include selections from scholarly work by both Cuban, American and other scholars, as well as primary sources and documents. This course will be taught in English. A few readings in Spanish (optional for those students that can read Spanish) will be available. Students are required to attend every class, to participate actively in class discussions, and to complete all reading and writing assignments by the date specified on the syllabus. Written assignments for the course will consist of a 3-page reaction paper (6), responding to questions handed out in class and based on the required reading for that day; and a mid-term paper. Students will also be required to submit a final 20-page paper. Final papers will be focused on a specific political issue chosen by each student among those discussed or suggested during the course. Guidelines for this paper will be handed out in class. Outlines for this paper will be discussed with each student. Readings are marked in the syllabus as follows: (R) Required readings in course packets and on reserve in the library (O) Optional readings in supplementary course packet

Grading Policy

The grade will be determined as follows: Class Participation: 10 % Reaction Papers: 25 % Mid-term paper: 25 % Final Paper: 40 %

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