Sister Acts: Black Feminist/Womanist Theater of the African Diaspora
ENGL 371
Spring 2019
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
FGSS 371, THEA 371, AFAM 371 |
This course surveys the dynamism and scope of contemporary feminist/womanist drama written by black women playwrights of the African Diaspora. Reading select plays from Africa, Canada, the Caribbean, England, and the United States, alongside theory and criticism, we examine the impact of race, gender, identity, and sexuality politics on black feminist/womanist theater. Throughout our study of these dramatic texts, their performances, and their subsequent critiques, we are equally invested in the bridges and the gaps, the audibles and the silences, and the overlaps and the divides, as they are formed. Significantly, this analytic undertaking involves a simultaneous critique of the role of the playwright, the spectator, and the critic of black feminist/womanist theater. At all times, consideration is given to the ways in which these playwrights collectively use theater as a platform to explore black and female and diasporic subjectivities across regional, national, and, at times, linguistic differences. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA ENGL |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (AFAM-MN)(AFAM)(EDST)(ENGL)(FGSS)(THEA) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Less than 50% |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Selected playwrights include: Ama Ata Aidoo (Ghana, Africa), Christina Anderson (USA), Tanya Barfield (USA), J, Nicole Brooks (Haiti), Ina Cesaire (Martinique), Eisa Davis (USA), Keli Garrett (USA), debbie tucker green (UK), Danai Gurira (Zimbabwe, Africa), Katori Hall (USA), Valerie Mason-John (UK), Jackie Kay (UK), Lynn Nottage (USA), Djanet Sears (Canada), Ntozake Shange (USA), Sistren Theatre Collective (Jamaica), Lisa B. Thompson (USA)
Selected theorists include: Michael Awkward, Jean Bernabe, Sue-Ellen Case, Cathy Cohen, Cheryl Clarke, The Combahee River Collective, Patricia Hill Collins, Anna Julia Cooper, Jill Dolan, Stuart Hall, bell hooks, Deborah K. King, Patricia Mohammed, Jose Esteban Munoz, Pierre Nora, Barbara Smith, Rawwida Baksh-Soodeen, Beverly Smith, Sojourner Truth, Rinaldo Walcott, Alice Walker
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Examinations and Assignments:
Presentations (group and individual), Response Papers, Research Paper Final |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
This course fulfills the Literatures of Difference requirement and contributes to the American Lit, Race and Ethnicity, and Theory and Literary Forms concentrations of the English major. |
| Instructor(s): McMahon,Rashida Z. Shaw Times: ...W... 01:20PM-04:10PM; Location: 116MTV102; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 15 | | SR major: 2 | JR major: 5 | | |
| Seats Available: 0 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 2 | JR non-major: 3 | SO: 3 | FR: 0 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 11 | 1st Ranked: 2 | 2nd Ranked: 3 | 3rd Ranked: 1 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 5 |
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