Introduction to African American Literature
AFAM 202
Spring 2024
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
ENGL 240, AMST 275 |
This course will introduce students to African American literature. It will be divided into two parts. The first will pay particular attention to the experience of enslavement by focusing on several unique primary and secondary textual couplings, including (but not limited to): Frederick Douglass's "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave" (1845) and Saidiya Hartman's "Scenes of Subjection: Terror, Slavery, and Self-Making in Nineteenth-Century America" (1997); and Harriet Jacobs's "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" (1861) together with Hortense Spillers's "Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: An American Grammar Book" (1987). In addition to these classic 19th-century slave narratives and contemporary sources, then, the first part will also include supplementary readings by Kenneth Warren, David Blight, Angela Davis, Alexander Weheliye, Spillers, Hartman, Farah Jasmine Griffin, Shelly Eversley, Jennifer Morgan, and Frank Wilderson. The second part will focus on 20th- and 21st-century African American literature and literary criticism. It will bring together a wide range of readings from across genres and disciplines, attempting to sketch out the major aesthetic and political features of the black literary project. Authors here will include W. E. B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, Michael Rudolph West, Hazel Carby, Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, Alain Locke, Shane Vogel, Alice Walker, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, Asia Leeds, Roderick Ferguson, Claude McKay, Amiri Baraka, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Samuel Delany, Octavia Butler, Teju Cole, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Cornel West, Claudia Rankine, Warren, and Fred Moten. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA AFAM |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (AFAM-MN)(AFAM)(AMST)(EDST)(ENGL)(ENGL-Literature) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 75% - 89% |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Frederick Douglass, NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS
Saidiya Hartman, SCENES OF SUBJECTION
Harriet Jacobs, INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF A SLAVE GIRL
Hortense Spillers, MAMA'S BABY, PAPA'S MAYBE
Zora Neale Hurston, THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD
Toni Morrison, PLAYING IN THE DARK
Ta-Nehisi Coates, BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME
Claudia Rankine, CITIZEN
Fred Moten, THE FEEL TRIO
Moten, THE LITTLE EDGES
Moten, THE SERVICE PORCH
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Examinations and Assignments:
Four in-class examinations and one justificatory essay (3,000 words). |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
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| Instructor(s): Bertholf,Garry Times: .M.W... 01:20PM-02:40PM; Location: FISK302; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 19 | | SR major: 0 | JR major: 3 | | |
| Seats Available: 5 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 0 | JR non-major: 2 | SO: 5 | FR: 9 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 5 | 1st Ranked: 1 | 2nd Ranked: 1 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 1 | Unranked: 2 |
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