Caribbean Studies Program Overview
Caribbean Studies Programs
Program Overview
The Caribbean Studies Program offers an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the complexity of issues pertaining to Caribbean history, politics, culture and society, and to Caribbean peoples and their descendants in their second diasporic presences in North America, Europe and elsewhere.
Students have the option of pursuing a formal course of study through different levels of specialization. There is a specialist program (ten specified courses), a major program (six specified courses) and a minor program (four courses). All programs require completion of the interdisciplinary core courses NEW 224Y (Caribbean Thought I) and NEW 324Y (Caribbean Thought II). Others may be chosen from a list of courses taught by the Departments of Anthropology, English, History, Political Science, Spanish and Portuguese, and the Women and Gender Studies Institute or interdisciplinary courses sponsored by New College: NEW 223Y (Caribbean Literature and Society); NEW 322Y (The Contemporary African Novel); NEW 325H (Caribbean Women Thinkers); NEW 326Y (Indenture, Survival, Change); NEW424Y (The Capitalist Press: Racism, Sexism and the New Imperialism). Courses, represented by faculty across the university, cover a diverse range of intellectual and research interests that include post-emancipation societies; migration and the Caribbean diaspora; indentureship; gender, race and class in the Caribbean; sexual politics; African and Caribbean spirituality; feminist activism in the Caribbean; the Caribbean novel; comparative Caribbean literature; cultural studies. Students enrolled in Caribbean Studies are encouraged to pursue a complementary focus in another discipline.
Caribbean Studies also organizes and participates in seminars, public lectures and other events that are related to the Caribbean and its diaspora, and has a close relationship with Caribbean Studies Associations on campus.
Enrolment in Caribbean Studies is open to students who have completed four courses; no minimum GPA is required.
Caribbean Studies Programs
Specialist Program:
(10 full courses or their equivalent, including at least one at the 400-level)
I. NEW224Y
II. NEW324Y
III. Eight (8) full courses or their equivalent, with at least six from Group A, the remaining two from Group A or Group B.
Major Program:
(6 full courses or their equivalent, including at least two at the 300+ level)
I. NEW224Y
II. NEW324Y
III. Four (4) full courses or their equivalent from Group A or Group B, including at least one at the 300+ level.
Minor Program:
(4 full courses or their equivalent, including at least one at the 300+ level)
I. NEW224Y
II. NEW324Y
III. Two courses from Group A or Group B.
Cross Listed Courses
Group A:
NEW 150Y1, 223Y1, 240Y1, 325H1, 326Y1, 327Y1, 422Y1, 423H1, 424Y1, 426Y1
WGS 330H1, 369Y1, 425Y1
ANT 426H
ENG 270Y
HIS 106Y1, 294Y1, 295H1, 333Y1, 359H1, 370H1, 394H1, 456Y1, 494Y1
POL 201Y, 301Y, 305Y, 347Y, 357Y, 358Y
SPA 486H
Group B:
NEW 296Y, 322Y
WGS 435H
GGR 240Y, 249H
HIS 232Y, 295H, 390Y, 408Y, 446Y, 476Y
POL 417Y, 418Y, 442H, 488Y
RLG 204Y, 205Y
SOC 330Y, 336H
SPA 380H, 381H, 382H
Note:Not all courses will be offered each year. Students are responsible for checking the co- and prerequisites for all courses in Groups A and B. To confirm course availability or to see the course descriptions check the Arts and Science Calendar.(link)
Caribbean Studies Program Courses
NEW223Y1 Caribbean Literature and Society [48S]
A study of Caribbean writers of fiction, poetry and drama, drawn from the major linguistic and racial/cultural groups in the region. Works are analyzed as literary texts and within the contexts of social and political life in which the writing is situated.
Distribution Requirement Status: This is a Humanities courseBreadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1) + Society and its Institutions (3)
NEW224Y1 Caribbean Thought I[72L]
A multi-disciplinary exploration of writing pertaining to culture and consciousness particularly Afro- and Indo-Caribbean thought: theoretical perspectives on the implications and consequences of slavery and indenture, the struggle for freedom from the legacy of the plantation and colonial dependence, responses to domination and exploitation, race, gender, religion and music.
Recommended Preparation: HIS106Y1
Distribution Requirement Status: This is a Humanities courseBreadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2) + Society and its Institutions (3)
NEW259H1 World Music Ensemble: Steel Pan[48P]
Rehearsal, performance and study of Steel Pan ensemble.
Prerequisite: permission of the Caribbean Studies Program DirectorExclusion: PMU272H1Distribution Requirement Status: This is a Humanities courseBreadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
NEW324Y1 Caribbean Thought II [48L]
Critical enquiry at an advanced level into the construction of society, race, language, religion, culture and gender; theories of economy, resistance, self-affirmation, continuing colonization and place of the Caribbean within the global context; internal and external theoretical perspectives on “the Caribbean personality.”
Prerequisite: NEW224Y1Distribution Requirement Status: This is a Humanities courseBreadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2) + Society and its Institutions (3)
NEW325H1 Caribbean Women Thinkers[24L]
An examination of the historical and political significance of writings (literary, political, scholarly) by Caribbean women who engage problems within Caribbean culture and provide insights into the endeavours of the peoples of the region.
Distribution Requirement Status: This is a Humanities courseBreadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
NEW326Y1 Indenture, Survival, Change[48L]
Indian survival in the Caribbean despite hardships of indentured labour; social and cultural change; role of Hinduism and Islam; resistance to Colonial domination; contribution of Indo-Caribbean intellectuals to literature, politics, and education. (Offered in alternate years)
Distribution Requirement Status: This is a Humanities courseBreadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2) + Society and its Institutions (3)
NEW327H1 The Hispanic Caribbean: Race, Religion and Revolution in Cuban History and Culture (formerly NEW327Y1)[24L]
Examines Cuba’s relevance and legacy from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. Explores the tensions of Cuban life in counterpoint with its creative rendering in the arts and literature, through a variety of fresh approaches in fields such as cultural studies, historical sociology, anthropology, and sociology of religion.
Exclusion: LAS302H1, NEW327Y1Recommended Preparation: LAS200Y1/NEW224YDistribution Requirement Status: This is a Humanities courseBreadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
NEW329H1 Special Topics in Caribbean Studies[24L]
An upper level course. Topics of study vary from year to year.
Prerequisite: NEW224Y1 or permission of the instructorDistribution Requirement Status: This is a Humanities or Science courseBreadth Requirement: None
The Canadian Census: Populations, Migrations and Demographics [24L, 12T]
See Interdisciplinary Courses above.
NEW422Y1 Performing and Transforming the Caribbean[72P/48S]
Addresses ways in which performance can be a force for cultural resistance and social change. Examines Caribbean performances such as jonkonnu, theatre, dance hall and carnival, looking at how these forms engage questions of neo-colonialism, transculturation, gender, race and nation, community and identity and diasporic memory.
Prerequisite: NEW324Y1 or permission of instructorDistribution Requirement Status: This is a Humanities courseBreadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1) + Society and its Institutions (3)
NEW423H1 Special Topics in Caribbean Studies[24S]
An upper-level seminar. Topics vary from year to year, depending on the instructor.
Prerequisite: NEW324Y1Distribution Requirement Status: This is a Humanities courseBreadth Requirement: None
NEW424Y1 The Capitalist Press and the New Imperialism (formerly NEW424H1)[72S]
Social analysis of the state-corporate mainstream capitalist press (print/electronic) problematically named The Free Press; its racist-sexist globalizing EuroAmerican cultural imperialism; the production of the commoditized consumer-subject and other re-conquest narratives and their implications for Caribbean and other World Majority peoples.
Prerequisite: NEW224Y1, NEW324Y1 or permission of the instructor.Exclusion: NEW424H1Distribution Requirement Status: This is a Humanities courseBreadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2) + Society and its Institutions (3)
NEW425Y1 Racism, Colonialism and Supremacist Culture[72S]
Historicises and contexualises the emergence of race and racial thinking in colonialism, discusses the imposition and internalization of hierachical relations and practices, and assesses their legacies and reproduction (as well as challenges to them) as these pertain to the Caribbean and in relation to contemporary global social, economic and political arrangements.
Prerequisite: NEW224Y1 or permission of the course instructor.Distribution Requirement Status: This is a Humanities or Social Science courseBreadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2) + Society and its Institutions (3)
NEW426H1 Special Topics in Caribbean Studies[36S]
An upper level seminar. Topics vary from year to year, depending on the instructor.
Prerequisite: NEW324Y1Distribution Requirement Status: This is a Humanities courseBreadth Requirement: None
NEW426Y1 Special Topics in Caribbean Studies[72S]
An upper level seminar. Topics vary from year to year, depending on the instructor.
Prerequisite: NEW324Y1Distribution Requirement Status: This is a Humanities courseBreadth Requirement: None