What is so weird about racial blackness? And what’s so absurd about being black? Is black art inherently weird, absurd or surreal? What is black about absurdism, surrealism and high weirdness? Could there be an aspect of these literary and philosophical traditions that contains a rumination on blackness? If so, what is it? In this course we contend with genres that acknowledge, emphasize and sometimes even celebrate the strangeness of black life and culture. Through film, literature, visual art and music, we will interrogate and contend with the absurd, the surreal, meaning and meaninglessness, and the menacing as a form of black expression, commercial cultural product, and critical meditation on form, practice, and politics of blackness.
Days: TU TH  03:30-04:50 PM

What are we watching when we watch Black TV shows? How do we watch Black TV shows? Why do we watch Black TV shows? We must unpack our answers to these questions and sort out the complicated and sometimes contradictory logic undergirding how and how much we pursue, engage, enjoy, and critique Black media. We want to think about why we watch what we watch when we watch it, the practices of watching and engaging with Black TV shows, and what we’re watching in the first place. Our goal in this course will be to interrogate Black TV shows as unique political expressions, theoretical and artistic interventions, and fervent sites of Black discursive life—televisual moments and spaces for enjoyment, discussion, debate, and being together.
Days: TU TH  12:30-01:50 PM

"What that taste like?” Ricardo used to ask. It is a loaded question. Black food tastes like subjection, struggle, and terror; and, joy, necessity, and community; and, at the nexus of all these, and in the most vexed way, care. There are historical, political, and philosophical reasons for that because, as with everything Black folk create, what we make is seasoned by the historical and political contexts we endure, and shaped by the hands, hearts, and minds of we who be Black. This course will ask us to consider not just the physical ingredients of the recipes of Black cuisine in, and sometimes beyond, the US, but also those historical, political, and philosophical ingredients that make Black food Black as it is. You hungry?
Days: TU TH  02:00-03:20 PM

Post-emancipation and anti-colonial struggles ending with political independence for most of the region. Examines social, political, economic, cultural dimensions of post-emancipation period, including large-scale migration to Central America, the U.S., and Britain; the region's global cultural and political contribution.
Days: TU TH  09:30-10:50 AM

In this course we explore the histories, politics, and imaginaries of black indigeneity in both the Americas and Africa. We examine colonialism, chattel slavery, and imperialism as forces that shape who counts as indigenous and why.
Days: MO  09:00-11:50 AM

Course is cross-listed as a Lit Jrn 103.

This course is a survey of nonfiction writing about race in the United States of America, from the 19th century to the present. We will examine how writers have tackled issues of racial inequality and discrimination, and constructed narratives centered on the lives of people of color in various nonfiction genres, including: newspaper and magazine journalism, investigative reporting, essays, criticism, documentary film, and memoirs. Readings will include works by Ida B. Wells, W.E.B Du Bois, James Baldwin, Carey McWilliams, Ta-Nehisi Coates and others. Part of the aim of this class is what we can learn about the craft of writing as a tool of social engagement and change. How do writers construct works that cut through the falsehoods of prejudice and ignorance? How do they work to defend the humanity of those who have been marginalized or oppressed by dominant cultures? How do they express the joy and fortitude unseen or unknown by outsiders? As a final requirement, students will produce their own work of cultural reportage or criticism. Students will work on this project in several stages throughout the quarter, producing a 2,000-word piece by finals’ week. In addition, students will produce four, 300-word “responses” to the readings
Days: TU TH  12:30-01:50 PM

The concept of Diaspora has played a central role in guiding the identity formations of people of African descent in the Americas, as well as the social, political, and religious movements they constructed from the period of trans-Atlantic slavery to the present. Notions of an African Diaspora have been theorized, articulated, and utilized by Black intellectuals, organizers, and everyday people in a myriad of ways. This class seeks to historicize and examine the idea of an African Diaspora and the movements for Black self-determination it helped to inspire. We will begin by discussing varying theorizations of Diaspora, along with major debates regarding historical, cultural, and political connections between people of African descent around the world and those on the African continent. Subsequent course readings will be organized around several themes including: pan-Africanism, the political economy of the trans-Atlantic and trans-Saharan slave trades, African retentions and transferals, Black religious nationalism, Africans in Asia and the Middle East, Black resistance and Black Power, recent African immigration, and competing notions/meanings of Blackness. All these topics will be examined within a transnational context and with special consideration for the dynamics of class, gender, and national identity.
Days: TU TH  12:30-01:50 PM

Often heralded as the birthplace of modernity, the Caribbean has long stood at the crossroads of global transformation. This course traces the history of the Caribbean from the post-emancipation period to the present. Key themes include the struggles of formerly enslaved communities to define freedom; large-scale migrations to Central America, the United States, and Europe; and the Caribbean’s contributions to global culture, politics, and economy. We examine how colonial legacies of race, gender, and labor shaped the region; the rise of anti-colonial and nationalist movements; and the political and cultural assertion of self-determination (in its varied forms). Particular attention is given to the region’s enduring entanglement with global capitalism, including its vulnerability to climate change, the environmental costs of extractive industries, and the impact of neoliberal policies on social and economic life. Through historical scholarship, primary sources (ranging from treatises to song), and cultural works (novels and film), this course provides a critical perspective on the Caribbean’s past and its crucial role in shaping the modern world.
Days: TU TH  09:30-10:50 AM

Emphasis/Category: Locating Africas, Inter-Area Studies
No description is currently available.
Days: W  01:00-03:50 PM