Dr. Alyssa Goldstein Sepinwall Cal. State University - San Marcos
Office: Markstein 251 Office hours: M 4-5, T 2:30 – 4:30
Phone: 750-8053 E-mail: sepinwal@csusm.edu
HISTORY 381
COMPARATIVE FRENCH COLONIALISM:
FROM THE CARIBBEAN TO INDOCHINA
Fall 2006 – T/Th 10:30 – 11:45
MARK 214
Course Description: This course meets the History major’s World History requirement, as well as theme designations in Culture/Ideas and Race/Ethnicity. It introduces students to a crucial but little-understood aspect of modern world history: colonialism. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries witnessed an explosion of empire-building by Europeans and Americans. In order to better understand this process, we will focus on one empire, that of the French, and its colonies in three regions: the Caribbean (Haiti), North Africa (Algeria) and Southeast Asia (Vietnam). We will examine political, cultural, gender, economic, and racial aspects of colonialism, from the perspectives of both the colonizers (the French) and colonized (Haitians, Algerians and Vietnamese). Course materials will include primary sources written by people who experienced colonialism or advocated it, recent scholarly writings on colonialism, and films and literary accounts about the colonial experience. The course will involve some lecture, but will rely most heavily on students’ reading and discussing assigned materials. When students complete the course, they will have a much deeper understanding of international relations today, and of the legacy of colonialism for current world events, particularly regarding relations between “Western” and “non-Western” nations.
Course goals: Students enrolled in the course will:
1. Learn about French colonialism from the eighteenth century until the twentieth, and about the legacy of colonialism today.
2. Gain a familiarity with changing scholarly approaches to colonialism.
3. Improve their skills at reading and analyzing scholarly articles, historical primary sources and film.
4. Improve writing and discussion skills.
Course contract: I promise to do my utmost to make this course as interesting and intellectually challenging as possible. In return, students who enroll in this course agree to the following terms.
1. Class attendance is mandatory. If you are chronically absent, your overall grade (not just your class participation grade) will be significantly lowered.
2. Students must do all required readings and assignments, and think carefully about how the texts relate to each other.
3. Students must arrive at class ready to discuss texts or films, and participate actively and thoughtfully in discussions. Class participation not only keeps the course interesting, but is the only way you can demonstrate that you are keeping up with course assignments and can analyze them.
COURSE READINGS
Required readings: Because French colonialism is just beginning to receive attention in university curricula, no one textbook exists in print. We will be using:
1. A custom course reader for the vast majority of our readings, available at the CSUSM Bookstore, and indicated on the syllabus as “BKPK” (bulkpack).
2. Robert Aldrich, Greater France: A History of French Overseas Expansion, available in the Bookstore and on reserve.
3. The Red Earth: A Vietnamese Memoir of Life on a Colonial Rubber Plantation: available in the Bookstore and on reserve, for use on Nov. 2.
4. Reserves: To keep the price of the course down, some of your readings are on Reserves (Res) rather than in the bulkpack.
5. On-line documents. Occasionally, we will use sources which are available on line. Web URL’s are listed on the syllabus.
6. Films: On several occasions, we will watch films about colonialism in class. There are two films you will need to watch on your own, however: Indochine (available at most video stores); and your choice of an additional film as part of your paper assignment (see page 3 for details). If you want to watch any of the films we saw in class again (or if you miss class), they will be on reserve in the Media Library.
Other readings:
1. For your web presentation, you will choose a topic to explore in more depth, based on the “for further reading” suggestions listed after each topic on the syllabus. Some of these books are on reserve, some are in the library stacks, and others are available on the Circuit. Consult the library catalog or library staff for assistance. Those on reserve include Domesticating the Empire; The Color of Liberty: Histories of Race in France; and Promoting the Colonial Idea.
2. In all of my courses, I recommend Diana Hacker’s Bedford Handbook for Writers. I will use codes from this text when making suggestions on your papers. If you do not wish to purchase it, there is a copy on reserve in the library under my History 301 course. It provides extremely useful explanations and exercises which can help you generate ideas for papers and express yourself clearly and forcefully; it will also be useful for any other classes which require papers.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS/GRADING
1) Regular attendance and active participation in class: Active participation in discussions will constitute 20% of your grade. If you miss class, it is your responsibility to contact classmates to find out what you missed.
2) Quizzes: We will have three 15-min. quizzes, on Sep. 12, Oct. 3, Oct. 31. They will focus mostly on geography, with attention also to key dates and terms (20% of your grade).
3) Colonialism in Film Paper: You will choose one of the following films: Burn! [Queimada], The Lover, Chocolat [not the 2001 film with Juliette Binoche, but the 1988 one directed by Claire Denis], Princesse Tam-Tam (1935) or Red Dust (1932). You write a 4-5 page paper (1000 - 1250 words) comparing that film’s depiction of colonialism with that of other films we have seen together, and drawing upon course readings. More guidelines will be given in advance of the deadline. In fairness to all students and so that all students work under the same time constraints, no extensions will be given. For each day a paper is late, the grade will drop by one whole grade. The paper is due at the beginning of class on Nov. 16 (20%).
*Academic Honesty/Plagiarism Policy: The vast majority of Cal State San Marcos students do their work honestly, and expect all will be graded on merit. In order to ensure fair grades for all and to ensure that you are capable of doing your own work, plagiarism will not be tolerated. Anyone attempting to plagiarize in this course (something both dishonest and cowardly) will be referred to the Dean of Students and could face expulsion. You are responsible for knowing what plagiarism is; if you have questions, see the University Policy on Academic Honesty in the course catalog; the relevant sections of the Bedford Handbook; the website at library.csusm.edu/plagiarism/; or ask me in advance.
4) Web presentation: Each student will choose one topic from the syllabus to pursue in greater depth. You will select one article (or a few chapters from one book) from the “for further reading” lists; read it carefully; prepare a web presentation; and upload it to the course WebCT site (more info to follow). Presentations should give your classmates a clear and concise summary of what you read, explaining how it adds to what we’ve learned about colonialism from required readings; they should be in easy to follow form (bullet points, outline, or short paragraphs) (12.5%). Explanation and analysis is more important than design “bells and whistles.” You can choose any of the “for further reading” topics, subject to the following constraints:
a. No reading can be done by more than one students, and no more than two students can work on the same theme. Reserve your topic with me as far in advance as possible, but no later than one week after the day for which it appears on the syllabus; do not procrastinate, as you may be ineligible to present if you wait until the end of the course and all of the Unit Four topics are reserved. All students must be signed up for a topic no later than *Oct. 26.*
b. Your presentation will have a different deadline depending on the unit it relates to. Presentations from the Background Unit/Unit One must be uploaded to the site by Sept. 28; Unit Two by Oct. 26, Unit Three by Nov. 9, and Unit Four by Nov. 30.
Linda Scott, the web developer who supports instruction in the College of Arts and Sciences, will give a brief introduction to WebCT in class, probably on Sept. 14. If you have further questions, please contact her at lscott@csusm.edu or 760-750-8679.
5) Reports on web presentations: Look at your classmates’ web presentations on the course website. While you are encouraged to check out the presentations in each unit when they are posted, for two of the units, you will be doing a one- to two-page write-up on what you learned from them. Choose which two units you would like to do; your write-up is due the class period after the presentations go up (that is, Oct. 3, Oct. 31, Nov. 14, or Dec. 5) (7.5%).
6) Exam: There is one exam in the course, a take-home final which will be distributed on December 7 and due on December 14 (20%).
COURSE SCHEDULE
INTRODUCTION: COURSE AND BACKGROUND TO COLONIALISM
Th Aug 24) Introduction to course
T Aug 29) Introduction to French Colonialism and Modern French Government
Reading: Aldrich, 10-28; look over 29-88
Th Aug 31) Introduction to Historiography of Colonialism
Reading: Aldrich, 1-9; Edward Said excerpts (BKPK)
T Sep 5) Origins of French Colonialism: Pre- and post-“Race”
Reading: Aldrich, 200-4; Carl Linné, “God-given Order of Nature” + Encyclopédie, “Nègre” excerpts (BKPK)
--*For further reading: William B. Cohen, French Encounter with Africans; or Pierre Boulle, “In Defense of Slavery: Eighteenth Century Opposition to Abolition and the Origins of a Racist Ideology in France,” in History from Below. Studies in Popular Protest and Popular Ideology.
UNIT ONE: SAINT-DOMINGUE/HAITI
Th Sep 7) Background to Colonialism in Caribbean/Saint-Domingue: Sugar
Reading: Robert Louis Stein, French Sugar Business in the Eighteenth Century, excerpts (BKPK) + Carolyn Fick, Making of Haiti, 15-45 (Res)
--*For further reading: Peter Hulme, ed., Wild Majesty: Encounters with Caribs from Columbus to the Present Day; ch. 1 of Charles Arthur and Michael Dash, eds., A Haiti Anthology: Libete; or David Geggus, “Sugar and Coffee Production and the Shaping of Slavery in Saint-Domingue,” in Cultivation and Culture: Labor and the Shaping of Slave Life in the Americas, ed. Ira Berlin and Philip D. Morgan; or on France elsewhere in the Americas, Philip Boucher, Les Nouvelles Frances: France in America [exhib. catalogue]; W.J. Eccles, France in America; or French Colonial Louisiana and the Atlantic World, ed. Bradley G. Bond
T Sep 12) Quiz #1/Old Regime in Saint-Domingue
Reading: Moreau de Saint-Méry, excerpts (Res)
--*For further reading: Médéric-Louis-Elie Moreau de Saint-Méry, A Civilization that Perished: The Last Years of White Colonial Rule in Haiti, ed. Ivor Spencer [other sections]; John Garrigus, “‘Sons of the Same Father’: Gender, Race and Citizenship in Saint-Domingue, 1760 – 1792” in Visions and Revisions of Eighteenth-Century France, ed. Christine Adams et al.; John Garrigus, Before Haiti (selections)
Th Sep 14) Slave Resistance [+ poss. introduction to WebCT]
Reading: Fick, 46-75 [Res] + Patrick Chamoiseau, Creole Folktales, excerpts (BKPK)
--*For further reading, ch. 3, 4 or 5 of Carolyn Fick, Making of Haiti
T Sep 19) French and Haitian Revolutions
Reading: Fr. Dec. of the Rts. of Man [http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/rightsof.htm]; “Enfranchisement of Free Men of Color [Raymond]” + Toussaint L’Ouverture + Napoleon (BKPK); Haitian Const. of 1805 [http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/haiti/history/earlyhaiti/1805-const.htm]
--*For further reading, Laurent Dubois and John Garrigus, Slave Revolution in the Caribbean, 1789 – 1804 (primary sources); CLR James, The Black Jacobins; David Geggus, “Racial Equality, Slavery, and Colonial Secession during the Constituent Assembly,” American Historical Review 94 (1989): 1290 – 1309; David Geggus, “The Haitian Revolution,” in The Modern Caribbean, ed. Franklin Knight/Colin Palmer; or Alyssa Sepinwall, “Eliminating Race, Eliminating Difference: Blacks, Jews, and the Abbé Grégoire,” in Color of Liberty
Th Sep 21) Film: Sugar Cane Alley [Rue Cases-Nègres]
T Sep 26) Finish film; Discussion of film
*No Reading-->Prepare a presentation and/or read ahead!*
--*For further reading, Patrick Chamoiseau, School Days
UNIT TWO: NEW COLONIALISM IN THE 19TH C.: ALGERIA
Th Sep 28) Algeria Background
Reading: Alf. A. Heggoy, French Conquest of Algiers, excerpts (BKPK); Benjamin Stora and John Ruedy excerpts on Algeria (BKPK)
Optional: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/dztoc.html (Library of Congress Algeria site)
*Unit One Presentations Due*
--*For further reading, more of Alf. A. Heggoy, French Conquest of Algiers; Benjamin Stora, Algeria, 1830 – 2000; John Ruedy, Modern Algeria; or Charles-Robert Ageron, Modern Algeria
T Oct 3) Quiz #2/Intro. to ideology of new Fr. col’m in Alg. and elsewhere
Reading: Aldrich, 89-94; Alexis de Tocqueville + Jules Ferry excerpts [in BKPK]
--Optional, in Library on Reserve: Jennifer Pitts, “Introduction” in Tocqueville, Writings on Empire and Slavery]
--*For further reading, more of Tocqueville, Writings on Empire and Slavery; ch. 4 and 6 of Aldrich, Greater France
Th Oct 5) Gender and Empire in Algeria
Reading: Julia Clancy-Smith, “The ‘Passionate Nomad’ Reconsidered”; Yael Simpson Fletcher, “‘Irresistible Seductions’: Gendered Representations of Colonial Algeria around 1930”; Jeanne M. Bowlan, “Civilizing Gender Relations in Algeria: The Paradoxical Case of Marie Bugéja, 1919 – 39” [all in BKPK]
--*For further reading, Malek Alloula, The Colonial Harem, chs. 2, 3, 9; Penny Edwards, “'Propagender’: Marianne, Joan of Arc and the Export of French Gender Ideology to Colonial Cambodia (1863-1954),” in Promoting the Colonial Idea; any other articles in Domesticating the Empire (NOT Fletcher or Bowlan); Marie-Paule Ha, “‘La Femme française aux colonies’: Promoting Colonial Female Emigration at the Turn of the Century,” in French Colonial History 6 (2005); Sara Kimble, “Emancipation through Secularization: French Feminist Views of Muslim Women's Condition in Interwar Algeria,” in French Colonial History 7 (2006)
T Oct 10) Continued
Th Oct 12) Colonial Culture in France/Imagining the Colonies at home
Reading: Elizabeth Ezra, “Colonialism Exposed,” excerpts + Timothy Mitchell on expositions [BKPK]; optional: Aldrich, ch. 7
--*For further reading, Dana Hale, “French Images of Race on Product Trademarks during the Third Republic”; or Lynn Palermo, “Identity Under Construction: Representing the Colonies at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1889,” both in The Color of Liberty; any essay in Promoting the Colonial Idea; Thomas G. August, The selling of the empire : British and French imperialist propaganda, 1890-1940; Kathryn Castle, Britannia's children: reading colonialism through children's books and magazines; Catherine Lutz and Jane Collins, Reading National Geographic; Tamar Y. Rothenberg, “Voyeurs of Imperialism: The National Geographic Magazine before World War II,” in Geography and empire, ed. Anne Godlewska and Neil Smith
T Oct 17) Continued + Images of the colonies
Th Oct 19) Anti-colonialism/World War I; Film: Black and White in Color
Reading: Anatole France, Jean Jaurès (BKPK)
T Oct 24) Watch rest of Black and White in Color
UNIT THREE: VIETNAM
Th Oct 26) Vietnam Background
Reading: William Duiker, Vietnam: Revolution in Transition, selections (Res)
*Unit Two Presentations Due*
--*For further reading, see John Tully, France on the Mekong: A History of the Protectorate in Cambodia
T Oct 31) Quiz #3/Vietnamese resistance to early French colonialism
Reading: “Early French Imperialism in Cochinchina”; Resistance docs from Truong Buu Lam (in BKPK); Optional, Louis XIV letter (all in BKPK)
--*For further reading, see David G. Marr, Vietnamese Anticolonialism, 1885 – 1925; or Truong Buu Lam, Patterns of Vietnamese Response to Foreign Intervention
Th Nov 2) Practices of colonialism in Vietnam
Reading: Red Earth + Aldrich, 188-192
--*For further reading, see Cao Duong Pham, Vietnamese peasants under French domination, 1861-1945; Ngo Vinh Long, Before the Revolution: Vietnamese Peasants Under the French; Michael Vann, “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Variation and Difference in French Racism in Colonial Indochine,” in The Color of Liberty; Michael Vann, “Of Rats, Rice, and Race: The Great Hanoi Rat Massacre,” in French Colonial History 4 (2003); Frank Proschan, “Eunuch Mandarins, Soldats Mamzelles, Effeminate Boys, and Graceless Women: French Colonial Constructions of Vietnamese Genders,” GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 8 (2002): 435-467
*WATCH MOVIE INDOCHINE AT HOME OR IN MEDIA CENTER*
Th Nov 7) Discuss Indochine [not being shown in class]
UNIT FOUR: ROAD TO DECOLONIZATION
T Nov 9) Lecture on integration, assimilation, association and WWI
*Unit Three Presentations Due*
*No Other New Reading-->Read Ahead*
--*For further reading, see Tyler Stovall, “Love, Labor, and Race: Colonial Men and White Women in France during the Great War,” in French civilization and its discontents
Th Nov 14) Beginnings of resistance in Vietnam/World War II
Reading: “Conservative Nationalism in Vietnam”, “Radical Nat’m in Vietnam” (BKPK)
T Nov 16) Continuation
Reading: Ho Chi Minh docs (http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/ho-chi-minh/, selection TBA) + Vietnamese Declaration of Independence, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1945vietnam.html
+ *PAPER DUE*
--*For further reading, read other Ho Chi Minh documents; Introduction and several documents in Truong Buu Lam, Colonialism Experienced: Vietnamese Writings on Colonialism: 1900-1931; David G. Marr, Vietnamese Tradition on Trial, 1920 – 1945; ; Erica Peters, “Culinary Crossings and Disruptive Identities: Contesting Colonial Categories in Everyday Life,” in Of Vietnam: Identities in Dialogue, ed. Jane Bradley Winston and Leakthina Chau-Pech Ollier; Erica Peters, "Indigestible Indo-China: Attempts to Introduce Vietnamese Food into France in the Interwar Period,” in Martin Evans, ed. Empire and culture : the French experience, 1830-1940; David Del Testa, “Automobiles and Anomie in French Colonial Indochina,” in Kathryn Robson and Jennifer Yee, eds. France and "Indochina" : cultural representations (or Michael Vann, "Of Le Cafard and Other Tropical Threats: Disease and White Colonial Culture in Indochina" in the same volume)
T Nov 21) Beginnings of resistance in Algeria
Reading: excerpts from Sartre, “Introduction” to Wretched of the Earth; Fanon, “Concerning Violence” (Wretched of the Earth) (Res)
--*For further reading, read Dennis McEnnerney, “Frantz Fanon, the Resistance, and the Emergence of Identity Politics,” in The Color of Liberty
Th Nov 23) NO CLASS—HAPPY THANKSGIVING! (Read Ahead)
T Nov 28) Algerian War: Battle of Algiers
Th Nov 30) Finish watching film
Reading: Feraoun, Journal (Res) [to be discussed 12/5]
--For further reading, read rest of LeSueur’s intro and more of Feraoun, Journal, 1955-1962; Jo McCormack, “Terminale History Class: Teaching About Torture During the Algerian War,” Modern & Contemporary France 12 (2004): 75-86 [warning: quotes in French]; Philip Dine, “France, Algeria and Sport: From Colonisation to Globalisation,” Modern & Contemporary France 10 (2002): 495-505 [warning: quotes in French]; or Battle of Algiers bonus material [disc 2 or disc 3 material]; Robert Aldrich, Vestiges of the Colonial Empire in France; or Alec Hargreaves, ed., Memory, Empire and Postcolonialism (selections)
*Unit Four Presentations Due*
Challenge of postcoloniality
T Dec 5) Discuss Battle of Algiers and Feraoun; “Afrique, Je te plumerai [Africa, I will fleece you]” (Cameroon; time permitting)
Th Dec 7) Decolonization/Class Wrap-Up; Take-Home Distributed
Th Dec 14) **Exams Due; 10:45 am
Office: Markstein 251 Office hours: M 4-5, T 2:30 – 4:30
Phone: 750-8053 E-mail: sepinwal@csusm.edu
HISTORY 381
COMPARATIVE FRENCH COLONIALISM:
FROM THE CARIBBEAN TO INDOCHINA
Fall 2006 – T/Th 10:30 – 11:45
MARK 214
Course Description: This course meets the History major’s World History requirement, as well as theme designations in Culture/Ideas and Race/Ethnicity. It introduces students to a crucial but little-understood aspect of modern world history: colonialism. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries witnessed an explosion of empire-building by Europeans and Americans. In order to better understand this process, we will focus on one empire, that of the French, and its colonies in three regions: the Caribbean (Haiti), North Africa (Algeria) and Southeast Asia (Vietnam). We will examine political, cultural, gender, economic, and racial aspects of colonialism, from the perspectives of both the colonizers (the French) and colonized (Haitians, Algerians and Vietnamese). Course materials will include primary sources written by people who experienced colonialism or advocated it, recent scholarly writings on colonialism, and films and literary accounts about the colonial experience. The course will involve some lecture, but will rely most heavily on students’ reading and discussing assigned materials. When students complete the course, they will have a much deeper understanding of international relations today, and of the legacy of colonialism for current world events, particularly regarding relations between “Western” and “non-Western” nations.
Course goals: Students enrolled in the course will:
1. Learn about French colonialism from the eighteenth century until the twentieth, and about the legacy of colonialism today.
2. Gain a familiarity with changing scholarly approaches to colonialism.
3. Improve their skills at reading and analyzing scholarly articles, historical primary sources and film.
4. Improve writing and discussion skills.
Course contract: I promise to do my utmost to make this course as interesting and intellectually challenging as possible. In return, students who enroll in this course agree to the following terms.
1. Class attendance is mandatory. If you are chronically absent, your overall grade (not just your class participation grade) will be significantly lowered.
2. Students must do all required readings and assignments, and think carefully about how the texts relate to each other.
3. Students must arrive at class ready to discuss texts or films, and participate actively and thoughtfully in discussions. Class participation not only keeps the course interesting, but is the only way you can demonstrate that you are keeping up with course assignments and can analyze them.
COURSE READINGS
Required readings: Because French colonialism is just beginning to receive attention in university curricula, no one textbook exists in print. We will be using:
1. A custom course reader for the vast majority of our readings, available at the CSUSM Bookstore, and indicated on the syllabus as “BKPK” (bulkpack).
2. Robert Aldrich, Greater France: A History of French Overseas Expansion, available in the Bookstore and on reserve.
3. The Red Earth: A Vietnamese Memoir of Life on a Colonial Rubber Plantation: available in the Bookstore and on reserve, for use on Nov. 2.
4. Reserves: To keep the price of the course down, some of your readings are on Reserves (Res) rather than in the bulkpack.
5. On-line documents. Occasionally, we will use sources which are available on line. Web URL’s are listed on the syllabus.
6. Films: On several occasions, we will watch films about colonialism in class. There are two films you will need to watch on your own, however: Indochine (available at most video stores); and your choice of an additional film as part of your paper assignment (see page 3 for details). If you want to watch any of the films we saw in class again (or if you miss class), they will be on reserve in the Media Library.
Other readings:
1. For your web presentation, you will choose a topic to explore in more depth, based on the “for further reading” suggestions listed after each topic on the syllabus. Some of these books are on reserve, some are in the library stacks, and others are available on the Circuit. Consult the library catalog or library staff for assistance. Those on reserve include Domesticating the Empire; The Color of Liberty: Histories of Race in France; and Promoting the Colonial Idea.
2. In all of my courses, I recommend Diana Hacker’s Bedford Handbook for Writers. I will use codes from this text when making suggestions on your papers. If you do not wish to purchase it, there is a copy on reserve in the library under my History 301 course. It provides extremely useful explanations and exercises which can help you generate ideas for papers and express yourself clearly and forcefully; it will also be useful for any other classes which require papers.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS/GRADING
1) Regular attendance and active participation in class: Active participation in discussions will constitute 20% of your grade. If you miss class, it is your responsibility to contact classmates to find out what you missed.
2) Quizzes: We will have three 15-min. quizzes, on Sep. 12, Oct. 3, Oct. 31. They will focus mostly on geography, with attention also to key dates and terms (20% of your grade).
3) Colonialism in Film Paper: You will choose one of the following films: Burn! [Queimada], The Lover, Chocolat [not the 2001 film with Juliette Binoche, but the 1988 one directed by Claire Denis], Princesse Tam-Tam (1935) or Red Dust (1932). You write a 4-5 page paper (1000 - 1250 words) comparing that film’s depiction of colonialism with that of other films we have seen together, and drawing upon course readings. More guidelines will be given in advance of the deadline. In fairness to all students and so that all students work under the same time constraints, no extensions will be given. For each day a paper is late, the grade will drop by one whole grade. The paper is due at the beginning of class on Nov. 16 (20%).
*Academic Honesty/Plagiarism Policy: The vast majority of Cal State San Marcos students do their work honestly, and expect all will be graded on merit. In order to ensure fair grades for all and to ensure that you are capable of doing your own work, plagiarism will not be tolerated. Anyone attempting to plagiarize in this course (something both dishonest and cowardly) will be referred to the Dean of Students and could face expulsion. You are responsible for knowing what plagiarism is; if you have questions, see the University Policy on Academic Honesty in the course catalog; the relevant sections of the Bedford Handbook; the website at library.csusm.edu/plagiarism/; or ask me in advance.
4) Web presentation: Each student will choose one topic from the syllabus to pursue in greater depth. You will select one article (or a few chapters from one book) from the “for further reading” lists; read it carefully; prepare a web presentation; and upload it to the course WebCT site (more info to follow). Presentations should give your classmates a clear and concise summary of what you read, explaining how it adds to what we’ve learned about colonialism from required readings; they should be in easy to follow form (bullet points, outline, or short paragraphs) (12.5%). Explanation and analysis is more important than design “bells and whistles.” You can choose any of the “for further reading” topics, subject to the following constraints:
a. No reading can be done by more than one students, and no more than two students can work on the same theme. Reserve your topic with me as far in advance as possible, but no later than one week after the day for which it appears on the syllabus; do not procrastinate, as you may be ineligible to present if you wait until the end of the course and all of the Unit Four topics are reserved. All students must be signed up for a topic no later than *Oct. 26.*
b. Your presentation will have a different deadline depending on the unit it relates to. Presentations from the Background Unit/Unit One must be uploaded to the site by Sept. 28; Unit Two by Oct. 26, Unit Three by Nov. 9, and Unit Four by Nov. 30.
Linda Scott, the web developer who supports instruction in the College of Arts and Sciences, will give a brief introduction to WebCT in class, probably on Sept. 14. If you have further questions, please contact her at lscott@csusm.edu or 760-750-8679.
5) Reports on web presentations: Look at your classmates’ web presentations on the course website. While you are encouraged to check out the presentations in each unit when they are posted, for two of the units, you will be doing a one- to two-page write-up on what you learned from them. Choose which two units you would like to do; your write-up is due the class period after the presentations go up (that is, Oct. 3, Oct. 31, Nov. 14, or Dec. 5) (7.5%).
6) Exam: There is one exam in the course, a take-home final which will be distributed on December 7 and due on December 14 (20%).
COURSE SCHEDULE
INTRODUCTION: COURSE AND BACKGROUND TO COLONIALISM
Th Aug 24) Introduction to course
T Aug 29) Introduction to French Colonialism and Modern French Government
Reading: Aldrich, 10-28; look over 29-88
Th Aug 31) Introduction to Historiography of Colonialism
Reading: Aldrich, 1-9; Edward Said excerpts (BKPK)
T Sep 5) Origins of French Colonialism: Pre- and post-“Race”
Reading: Aldrich, 200-4; Carl Linné, “God-given Order of Nature” + Encyclopédie, “Nègre” excerpts (BKPK)
--*For further reading: William B. Cohen, French Encounter with Africans; or Pierre Boulle, “In Defense of Slavery: Eighteenth Century Opposition to Abolition and the Origins of a Racist Ideology in France,” in History from Below. Studies in Popular Protest and Popular Ideology.
UNIT ONE: SAINT-DOMINGUE/HAITI
Th Sep 7) Background to Colonialism in Caribbean/Saint-Domingue: Sugar
Reading: Robert Louis Stein, French Sugar Business in the Eighteenth Century, excerpts (BKPK) + Carolyn Fick, Making of Haiti, 15-45 (Res)
--*For further reading: Peter Hulme, ed., Wild Majesty: Encounters with Caribs from Columbus to the Present Day; ch. 1 of Charles Arthur and Michael Dash, eds., A Haiti Anthology: Libete; or David Geggus, “Sugar and Coffee Production and the Shaping of Slavery in Saint-Domingue,” in Cultivation and Culture: Labor and the Shaping of Slave Life in the Americas, ed. Ira Berlin and Philip D. Morgan; or on France elsewhere in the Americas, Philip Boucher, Les Nouvelles Frances: France in America [exhib. catalogue]; W.J. Eccles, France in America; or French Colonial Louisiana and the Atlantic World, ed. Bradley G. Bond
T Sep 12) Quiz #1/Old Regime in Saint-Domingue
Reading: Moreau de Saint-Méry, excerpts (Res)
--*For further reading: Médéric-Louis-Elie Moreau de Saint-Méry, A Civilization that Perished: The Last Years of White Colonial Rule in Haiti, ed. Ivor Spencer [other sections]; John Garrigus, “‘Sons of the Same Father’: Gender, Race and Citizenship in Saint-Domingue, 1760 – 1792” in Visions and Revisions of Eighteenth-Century France, ed. Christine Adams et al.; John Garrigus, Before Haiti (selections)
Th Sep 14) Slave Resistance [+ poss. introduction to WebCT]
Reading: Fick, 46-75 [Res] + Patrick Chamoiseau, Creole Folktales, excerpts (BKPK)
--*For further reading, ch. 3, 4 or 5 of Carolyn Fick, Making of Haiti
T Sep 19) French and Haitian Revolutions
Reading: Fr. Dec. of the Rts. of Man [http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/rightsof.htm]; “Enfranchisement of Free Men of Color [Raymond]” + Toussaint L’Ouverture + Napoleon (BKPK); Haitian Const. of 1805 [http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/haiti/history/earlyhaiti/1805-const.htm]
--*For further reading, Laurent Dubois and John Garrigus, Slave Revolution in the Caribbean, 1789 – 1804 (primary sources); CLR James, The Black Jacobins; David Geggus, “Racial Equality, Slavery, and Colonial Secession during the Constituent Assembly,” American Historical Review 94 (1989): 1290 – 1309; David Geggus, “The Haitian Revolution,” in The Modern Caribbean, ed. Franklin Knight/Colin Palmer; or Alyssa Sepinwall, “Eliminating Race, Eliminating Difference: Blacks, Jews, and the Abbé Grégoire,” in Color of Liberty
Th Sep 21) Film: Sugar Cane Alley [Rue Cases-Nègres]
T Sep 26) Finish film; Discussion of film
*No Reading-->Prepare a presentation and/or read ahead!*
--*For further reading, Patrick Chamoiseau, School Days
UNIT TWO: NEW COLONIALISM IN THE 19TH C.: ALGERIA
Th Sep 28) Algeria Background
Reading: Alf. A. Heggoy, French Conquest of Algiers, excerpts (BKPK); Benjamin Stora and John Ruedy excerpts on Algeria (BKPK)
Optional: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/dztoc.html (Library of Congress Algeria site)
*Unit One Presentations Due*
--*For further reading, more of Alf. A. Heggoy, French Conquest of Algiers; Benjamin Stora, Algeria, 1830 – 2000; John Ruedy, Modern Algeria; or Charles-Robert Ageron, Modern Algeria
T Oct 3) Quiz #2/Intro. to ideology of new Fr. col’m in Alg. and elsewhere
Reading: Aldrich, 89-94; Alexis de Tocqueville + Jules Ferry excerpts [in BKPK]
--Optional, in Library on Reserve: Jennifer Pitts, “Introduction” in Tocqueville, Writings on Empire and Slavery]
--*For further reading, more of Tocqueville, Writings on Empire and Slavery; ch. 4 and 6 of Aldrich, Greater France
Th Oct 5) Gender and Empire in Algeria
Reading: Julia Clancy-Smith, “The ‘Passionate Nomad’ Reconsidered”; Yael Simpson Fletcher, “‘Irresistible Seductions’: Gendered Representations of Colonial Algeria around 1930”; Jeanne M. Bowlan, “Civilizing Gender Relations in Algeria: The Paradoxical Case of Marie Bugéja, 1919 – 39” [all in BKPK]
--*For further reading, Malek Alloula, The Colonial Harem, chs. 2, 3, 9; Penny Edwards, “'Propagender’: Marianne, Joan of Arc and the Export of French Gender Ideology to Colonial Cambodia (1863-1954),” in Promoting the Colonial Idea; any other articles in Domesticating the Empire (NOT Fletcher or Bowlan); Marie-Paule Ha, “‘La Femme française aux colonies’: Promoting Colonial Female Emigration at the Turn of the Century,” in French Colonial History 6 (2005); Sara Kimble, “Emancipation through Secularization: French Feminist Views of Muslim Women's Condition in Interwar Algeria,” in French Colonial History 7 (2006)
T Oct 10) Continued
Th Oct 12) Colonial Culture in France/Imagining the Colonies at home
Reading: Elizabeth Ezra, “Colonialism Exposed,” excerpts + Timothy Mitchell on expositions [BKPK]; optional: Aldrich, ch. 7
--*For further reading, Dana Hale, “French Images of Race on Product Trademarks during the Third Republic”; or Lynn Palermo, “Identity Under Construction: Representing the Colonies at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1889,” both in The Color of Liberty; any essay in Promoting the Colonial Idea; Thomas G. August, The selling of the empire : British and French imperialist propaganda, 1890-1940; Kathryn Castle, Britannia's children: reading colonialism through children's books and magazines; Catherine Lutz and Jane Collins, Reading National Geographic; Tamar Y. Rothenberg, “Voyeurs of Imperialism: The National Geographic Magazine before World War II,” in Geography and empire, ed. Anne Godlewska and Neil Smith
T Oct 17) Continued + Images of the colonies
Th Oct 19) Anti-colonialism/World War I; Film: Black and White in Color
Reading: Anatole France, Jean Jaurès (BKPK)
T Oct 24) Watch rest of Black and White in Color
UNIT THREE: VIETNAM
Th Oct 26) Vietnam Background
Reading: William Duiker, Vietnam: Revolution in Transition, selections (Res)
*Unit Two Presentations Due*
--*For further reading, see John Tully, France on the Mekong: A History of the Protectorate in Cambodia
T Oct 31) Quiz #3/Vietnamese resistance to early French colonialism
Reading: “Early French Imperialism in Cochinchina”; Resistance docs from Truong Buu Lam (in BKPK); Optional, Louis XIV letter (all in BKPK)
--*For further reading, see David G. Marr, Vietnamese Anticolonialism, 1885 – 1925; or Truong Buu Lam, Patterns of Vietnamese Response to Foreign Intervention
Th Nov 2) Practices of colonialism in Vietnam
Reading: Red Earth + Aldrich, 188-192
--*For further reading, see Cao Duong Pham, Vietnamese peasants under French domination, 1861-1945; Ngo Vinh Long, Before the Revolution: Vietnamese Peasants Under the French; Michael Vann, “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Variation and Difference in French Racism in Colonial Indochine,” in The Color of Liberty; Michael Vann, “Of Rats, Rice, and Race: The Great Hanoi Rat Massacre,” in French Colonial History 4 (2003); Frank Proschan, “Eunuch Mandarins, Soldats Mamzelles, Effeminate Boys, and Graceless Women: French Colonial Constructions of Vietnamese Genders,” GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 8 (2002): 435-467
*WATCH MOVIE INDOCHINE AT HOME OR IN MEDIA CENTER*
Th Nov 7) Discuss Indochine [not being shown in class]
UNIT FOUR: ROAD TO DECOLONIZATION
T Nov 9) Lecture on integration, assimilation, association and WWI
*Unit Three Presentations Due*
*No Other New Reading-->Read Ahead*
--*For further reading, see Tyler Stovall, “Love, Labor, and Race: Colonial Men and White Women in France during the Great War,” in French civilization and its discontents
Th Nov 14) Beginnings of resistance in Vietnam/World War II
Reading: “Conservative Nationalism in Vietnam”, “Radical Nat’m in Vietnam” (BKPK)
T Nov 16) Continuation
Reading: Ho Chi Minh docs (http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/ho-chi-minh/, selection TBA) + Vietnamese Declaration of Independence, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1945vietnam.html
+ *PAPER DUE*
--*For further reading, read other Ho Chi Minh documents; Introduction and several documents in Truong Buu Lam, Colonialism Experienced: Vietnamese Writings on Colonialism: 1900-1931; David G. Marr, Vietnamese Tradition on Trial, 1920 – 1945; ; Erica Peters, “Culinary Crossings and Disruptive Identities: Contesting Colonial Categories in Everyday Life,” in Of Vietnam: Identities in Dialogue, ed. Jane Bradley Winston and Leakthina Chau-Pech Ollier; Erica Peters, "Indigestible Indo-China: Attempts to Introduce Vietnamese Food into France in the Interwar Period,” in Martin Evans, ed. Empire and culture : the French experience, 1830-1940; David Del Testa, “Automobiles and Anomie in French Colonial Indochina,” in Kathryn Robson and Jennifer Yee, eds. France and "Indochina" : cultural representations (or Michael Vann, "Of Le Cafard and Other Tropical Threats: Disease and White Colonial Culture in Indochina" in the same volume)
T Nov 21) Beginnings of resistance in Algeria
Reading: excerpts from Sartre, “Introduction” to Wretched of the Earth; Fanon, “Concerning Violence” (Wretched of the Earth) (Res)
--*For further reading, read Dennis McEnnerney, “Frantz Fanon, the Resistance, and the Emergence of Identity Politics,” in The Color of Liberty
Th Nov 23) NO CLASS—HAPPY THANKSGIVING! (Read Ahead)
T Nov 28) Algerian War: Battle of Algiers
Th Nov 30) Finish watching film
Reading: Feraoun, Journal (Res) [to be discussed 12/5]
--For further reading, read rest of LeSueur’s intro and more of Feraoun, Journal, 1955-1962; Jo McCormack, “Terminale History Class: Teaching About Torture During the Algerian War,” Modern & Contemporary France 12 (2004): 75-86 [warning: quotes in French]; Philip Dine, “France, Algeria and Sport: From Colonisation to Globalisation,” Modern & Contemporary France 10 (2002): 495-505 [warning: quotes in French]; or Battle of Algiers bonus material [disc 2 or disc 3 material]; Robert Aldrich, Vestiges of the Colonial Empire in France; or Alec Hargreaves, ed., Memory, Empire and Postcolonialism (selections)
*Unit Four Presentations Due*
Challenge of postcoloniality
T Dec 5) Discuss Battle of Algiers and Feraoun; “Afrique, Je te plumerai [Africa, I will fleece you]” (Cameroon; time permitting)
Th Dec 7) Decolonization/Class Wrap-Up; Take-Home Distributed
Th Dec 14) **Exams Due; 10:45 am
