American Occupations. The United States and the Caribbean in the 20th Century (Florida State Univ.)
Winthrop-King Institute for Contemporary French and Francophone Studies
International Symposium
Florida State University
Thursday, 19th November 2015, Diffenbaugh 009
“American Occupations: The United States and the Caribbean in the 20th Century"
Speakers:
Harvey Neptune (Temple University)
Shalini Puri (University of Pittsburgh)
Valerie Scoon (Florida State University)
Matthew J. Smith (University of the West Indies, Mona)
In July 1915, 330 US Marines landed in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and began an occupation that would last 19 years. The United States military had already occupied Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic would follow in 1916.
This symposium takes the centenary of the US occupation of Haiti as an opportunity to reconsider that occupation in the context of other prominent American interventions in the 20-th century Caribbean, specifically Trinidad during World War II and Grenada in the Cold War 1980s.
Leading scholars will address the causes, effects, and implications of each American occupation. Why did the United States intervene in each case, and how did US policy in the Caribbean evolve during the 20th century? Importantly, speakers will consider the enduring consequences of each occupation in the Caribbean itself—what long-term effect did these events have on notions of race, culture, sovereignty, and independence?
FSU film professor Valerie Scoon will also screen and discuss her recent film Grenada: Colonialism and Conflict.
Schedule
9.20-10.30: Haiti at the Cross: The Polarity of Occupation (Matthew Smith, UWI, Mona), chair Martin Munro (FSU)
10.30-10.45: Coffee
10.45-11.45: “The Caliban in the Yankee”: Close Encounters of Postcolonial US Empire in the Caribbean (Harvey Neptune, Temple University), chair Jeannine Murray-Román (FSU)
11.45-1.00: Lunch
1.00-2.00: Grenada: Urgent Fury, Urgent Memory (Shalini Puri, University of Pittsburgh), chair Shanaaz Mohammed (FSU)
2.00-2.15: Break
2.15-3.30: Screening of Grenada: Colonialism and Conflict, followed by Q&A with Valerie Scoon (FSU)
3.30-4.00: Break
4.00-5.00: Roundtable with all 4 speakers