L.008.32430 Caribbean Connections

Lehrende: Prof. Dr. Christoph Ehland

Veranstaltungsart: Seminar

Orga-Einheit: Anglistik/Amerikanistik

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Semesterwochenstunden: 2

Unterrichtssprache: Englisch

Min. | Max. Teilnehmerzahl: - | 400

Inhalt:

On the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, tourists flock to its paradisiacal beaches. Little do they know that beneath the white sand are buried the remains of thousands of enslaved people who were worked to death on the local sugar plantations. As this example may illustrate, the Caribbean evokes ambiguous associations, ranging from everlasting summer, palm trees, and untouched beaches to the history of slavery and the realities of poverty and violence today. However, the Caribbean is all this and much more. Since the arrival of the Europeans in 1492, the Caribbean has become the first globalised region of the world. The tropical climate and the fertile soil of many islands allowed for the establishment of industrialised forms of agriculture, known as the plantation economy. As the indigenous population was decimated by violence and diseases, European settlers began to bring enslaved people from Africa to work their plantations. The income generated by the tropical crops of sugar, cocoa, coffee, etc. is today recognised by leading historians as the seed money of the industrial revolution in Europe. When slavery ended in the early 19th century, the profitable business continued by replacing slave labour with indentured labourers from India and China. As a result, the modern Caribbean not only boasts one of the most diverse populations in the world but also exhibits some highly hybrid cultural practices.

This lecture course will introduce students to the geography, history, culture, literature, and the arts of the English-speaking parts of this diverse world region. Live interviews with writers and scholars from the region will give students the opportunity to engage firsthand with Caribbean aspects of life.

Literatur:
All students are required to buy the following texts:

Ingrid Persaud: Love after Love (Faber&Faber, 2020).

Other textual material will be made available on Panda.