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University of Florida

Raising History from the Grave


UF Faculty: Leah Rosenberg
Department: Department of English
College: College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Partner Faculty: Antonia MacDonald-Smythe
Department: Department of Humanities
Partner Institution: St. George's University
Title: Raising History from the Grave: Collaborative Research, Social Engagement, & International Exchange
Project Description: This International Virtual Exchange between students at UF and St. George's University in Grenada focuses on the significance of death in Caribbean society and culture, with a focus on popular culture and literature. The UF course ENG4910: Raising History from the Grave: Collaborative Research, Social Engagement, & International Exchange was partnered with SSCI 406: Caribbean Popular Culture and Identity at St. George's University. Together, the students discussed historical and sociological scholarship, representations of death in Caribbean literature, and current issues involving death and burials in the news. They learned to identify and employ relevant primary historical sources. In the final project for the exchange, they made a collaborative presentation with students at both institutions about a topic related to death and death rituals in Florida or the Caribbean employing primary historical documents.
Learning Outcomes:
  • Recognizes new perspectives about own cultural rules and biases; being comfortable with the complexities that new perspectives offer.
  • Demonstrates sophisticated understanding of the complexity of elements important to members of another culture in relation to its history, values, politics, communication styles, economy, or beliefs and practices.
  • Receptive to interacting with culturally different others.
  • Asks deeper questions about other cultures and seeks out answers to these questions.
  • Interprets intercultural experience from the perspectives of own and more than one worldview.
  • Demonstrates ability to act in a supportive manner that recognizes the feelings of another cultural group.
Participating Countries: Grenada
Number of Participants: 14 UF students; 12 St. George's University students
Discipline: English, Sociology
UF Course Code & Name: ENG4910 - Raising History from the Grave: Collaborative Research, Social Engagement & International Exchange
Project Duration: 6 weeks
Activity Type(s):
  • Student-to-Student Dialogue
  • Student-to-Student Project
Time allotted to each activity: Synchronous activities in class: 1 hour per week
Technology Tools:
  • Video Conferencing
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Google docs and Google slides
  • Digital Library of the Caribbean (www.dloc.com)
  • Whatsapp
Sequence of Activities:
  • Icebreaker Activity:

    On a video call, students introduce themselves using the following prompts:

    • Provide one aspect of studying or being a student at university or at your specific university that you really like or appreciate.
    • List one aspect you don’t like or would like to change about being a student or being at your university. Include your name, University, year (e.g. junior), major(s).

      Written ice breaker for discussion board:

      “How would you like to be remembered” (after death) Students discuss their answers in small groups.

  • Engagement Activity:

Students participate in a series of synchronous and asynchronous discussions on readings and videos related to the course themes. Students also describe how their families commemorate death and conduct funerals.

  • Collaboration Activity:

Working in groups of four or five, students identify a research topic related to death and mortuary practices in the Caribbean. They find primary historical documents pertaining to that topic. Each group develops an argument about the significance of their topic and each member presents at least one primary historical source and explains its significance. Each member responsible for creating at least one slide. Topics range from the missing graves of Grenada’s Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and his political colleagues who were executed in 1983 to a comparative study of Cuban obituaries, before and after the revolution. They also learn how to find historical sources in the Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC).

  • Reflection Activity:

Students reflect on their collaboration, what they learn from the Virtual Collaboration experience, what they would improve, what they would change or leave out. Each class also writes a thank you note to the other class explaining what they appreciated about the exchange.