Black Texts, Lost and Found
ENGL 357
Spring 2023
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
CHUM 336, AFAM 336 |
| Course Cluster and Certificates: Social, Cultural, and Critical Theory Certificate |
This course examines histories of loss and recovery of black texts in the US and the Atlantic world more broadly. We will bring a three-pronged approach to our subject matter. We will analyze first the constitutive silences of the archive: epistemic and material neglect, or what Michel Trouillot has termed the "silencing of the past"; second, the preservation efforts of black newspaper editors, librarians, and bibliophiles; and third, the "counter-archiving" work of Afro-diasporic historical and speculative fiction. As we traverse different periods and empires we will consider what the concepts of the "black archive" and "black ephemera" mean to different disciplines. We will study the repressions of black Arabic writing practices in the US South and our fragmentary recovery of them in the late 20th century, unfinished novels about Black Atlantic revolutions such as Martin Delany's "Blake," incomplete runs of historic black newspapers, debates about the illusions and desires of "recovery," and the criteria that determine what counts as ephemeral and when.
We will move across different media, from print--"I, Tituba," "M Archive," "Blake," "(Dis)forming the American Canon: African-Arabic Slave Narratives and the Vernacular"--to films--"The Watermelon Woman," "Looking for Langston," "The Last Angel of History"--and from digitized databases of photographs at the ongoing archiving project The Missing Chapter: Black Chronicles to digitized newspaper archives. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA CHUM |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (CSCT)(ENGL) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 75% - 89% |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Required texts (Bookstore)
Shola von Reinhold LOTE (Duke University Press edition)
(all other texts will be uploaded to Moodle)
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Examinations and Assignments:
Participation (68 points total)
In-class participation: 36 points max (3 points per class session, excluding introductory meeting)
Course Blog: 7 Blog posts total 28 points max (4 points per blog post
Lote reading, March 17 @6pm 4 points
Assignments: (32 points total)
1. Creative Assignment (1-2pp) plus a one-page (Single-space) reflection on this exercise. 10 points
2. Presentation on a literary text from one of the databases from our class (see list)10 points
3. Final Paper: Archive assignment (5 pp, double-spaced) 12 points
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Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
Contributes to fulfillment of English major requirements: LH2, LH3, AL, Theory, elective |
| Instructor(s): Bilbija,Marina Times: .M.W... 02:50PM-04:10PM; Location: CRT285; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 15 | | SR major: 4 | JR major: 4 | | |
| Seats Available: 10 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 4 | JR non-major: 2 | SO: 1 | FR: X |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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