Sister Acts: Black Feminist/Womanist Theater of the African Diaspora
ENGL 371
Fall 2021
| 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: 50% - 74% |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
"Required Plays: Ama Ata Aidoo (Ghana, Africa), DILEMMA OF A GHOST; Christina Anderson (USA) GOOD GOODS; Tanya Barfield (USA), BLUE DOOR; Eisa Davis (USA), BULRUSHER; debbie tucker green (UK), BORN BAD; Danai Gurira (Zimbabwe, Africa), ECLIPSED; Lorraine Hansberry (USA), A RAISIN IN THE SUN; Robbie McCauley (USA), SALLY'S RAPE; Tarell Alvin McCraney (USA), IN THE RED AND BROWN WATER; Lynn Nottage (USA), POOF; Lynn Nottage (USA), RUINED; Winsome Pinnock (UK, Jamaica), TALKING IN TONGUES; Djanet Sears (Canada), HARLEM DUET; Ntozake Shange (USA), FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF; Sistren Theatre Collective (Jamaica), QPH.
Required and Optional secondary reading includes select critical scholarship, personal essays, manifestos, and production reviews, authored by: Cheryl Clarke, The Combahee River Collective, Catherine Clinton, Sharon Friedman, Angelette K. M. Gourdine, Lorraine Hansberry, Mae Gwendolyn Henderson, June Jordan, Sophia Lehmann, Katherine Jean Nigh, Ann E. Nymann, Barbara Omulade, Aliyyah I. Abdur-Rahman, Ntozake Shange, Barbara Smith, Beverly Smith, Esther J. Terry, Alice Walker, and Michelle Wallace."
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Examinations and Assignments:
Two Short Essays; Research Project Abstract, Outline, and Presentation; Research Paper |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
This course fulfills the Literatures of Difference and Theory major requirements and contributes to the American Lit, Race & Ethnicity, and Theory & Literary Forms concentrations of the English major.
Class of '23 and beyond: This course fulfills the American Lit, Literary History 3, and Theory requirements of the English major. |
| Instructor(s): McMahon,Rashida Z. Shaw Times: ....R.. 01:20PM-04:10PM; Location: 116MTV102; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 15 | | SR major: 4 | JR major: 5 | | |
| Seats Available: -4 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 2 | JR non-major: 2 | SO: 2 | FR: X |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 2 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 1 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 1 |
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