Atlantic world

Description
While a concept such as Atlantic history resists precise definition—and for this reason has wide appeal to a diverse array of historians—most scholars agree that it involves the study of the interactions and interrelations between peoples and cultures around the Atlantic rim (including South America and the Caribbean, North America, Africa, Europe, and the islands of the Atlantic Ocean). The aim is to both build on and transcend the nation as the central unit of historical analysis by treating the Atlantic Ocean as a single analytical field. In so doing, the Atlantic model seeks not to homogenize and reduce, but rather to bring into relief the intricate complexities of the region. Atlanticists use the methodologies of both connective and comparative history to investigate intercultural contact, exchange, and conflict, focusing on key themes such as exploration, imperialism, capitalism, and migration (forced and voluntary).

The Hampton Court

While most studies of and programs in Atlantic history focus on the “colonial” period from the 1490s through the 1830s, a number of scholars are currently probing the approach’s viability for the later nineteenth and twentieth century. The Department of History at the University of Florida offers excellent opportunities for studying Atlantic history.

Mulatos de Esmeraldas (1559)

Faculty
Ida Altman (colonial Latin America, early modern Spain, Mexico, early Caribbean)
Juliana Barr (early America, women, Native Americans)
Elizabeth Dale (American constitutional history)
Matthew Gallman (19th-century US)
David Geggus (colonial Caribbean, Haiti, slavery)
Jessica Harland-Jacobs (modern Britain, British empire, imperialism)
Jeffrey Needell (modern Latin America, Brazil)
Susan O'Brien (Africa, religion)
Jon Sensbach (early America, religion, Black Atlantic)

Current graduate students

Joaquim Nabuco, Brazilian abolitionist

Brian Bredehoeft

Nathan Herrod

Keith Manuel (Caribbean)

Jonathan Peine

Roger Smith

Jennifer Snyder

Rob Taber (Caribbean)

Erin Zavitz (Caribbean)

Christopher Woolley

Resources
The University of Florida boasts outstanding collections in Latin American and Caribbean history.

Faculty and graduate students in the Department of History are closely involved in the Center for Latin American Studies and the Center for African Studies.

The Haitian War of Independence

Program requirements for the Atlantic history minor
Ph.D. students must complete the normal departmental requirements for a Ph.D. in History, with these specific provisions:
• 12-18 hours in major field (AFH, AMH, EUH, or LAH).

• Students must take 12 credit hours must be in approved courses in Atlantic History. These must include courses in at least three of following areas: AFH, AMH, EUH, LAH. Approved courses include:

*AMH 5930 The Black Atlantic
AMH 6198 Early American Society
EUH 5546 Topics in British History
EUH 5934 Topics in European History: Imperialism
*EUH 5934 Topics in European History: Atlantic Exchanges
HIS 5450 Slavery in the New World
LAH 5438 Modern Mexico
LAH 5476 Caribbean History to 1800
LAH 5607 History of Amazonia
LAH 5637 Brazil since 1750
LAH 5933 Topics in Caribbean History
LAH 6934 Colonial Spanish America
*LAH 5934 The Iberian Atlantic
LAH 6936 Seminar in the History of Brazil

These must also include at least one of the three core readings courses (indicated with an asterisk above): AMH 5930 The Black Atlantic (Sensbach); EUH 5934 Atlantic Exchanges (Harland-Jacobs); LAH 5934 The Iberian Atlantic (Altman)

Note: the graduate coordinator, in consultation with members of the Atlantic History Committee, may approve relevant courses being offered but not included in the list of automatically approved courses.

• The student, in consultation with members of the committee, will produce a reading list of at least 50 books, articles, and chapters building on the core reading list in Atlantic history [link forthcoming]. The reading list will be the basis of the departmental minor exam.