The Library: Its Past, Present, and Future
CHUM 392
Fall 2024
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
ENGL 343, AFAM 393 |
The library is both a repository and a site for disciplining information. It is, at once, a space for democratizing knowledge and a locus of exclusion. A lifeline and a tomb. A place of radicalization and community, but also the handmaiden of state power. Indeed, the library's vexed role in the history of Western colonization has prompted scholars of African and postcolonial literature like Simon Gikandi to ask whether one can be a revolutionary in the library. This question has shaped the archiving sensibilities of African American collectors and librarians like Arthur Schomburg and Dorothy Porter Wesley as well as those of contemporary Black librarians and artists. This will be one of the central questions we explore in this course, too. We will examine artistic and literary representations of libraries, archives, and museums ("The Library of Babel," The Shadow Book, Lote, The Name of the Rose, Voyage of the Sable Venus, Yinka Shonibare's "The British Museum"), paying special attention to the fantasies, nightmares, and cultural narratives that cohere around the idea of the library. We will pay special attention to the place of the library in the Black literary imagination and to the theoretical and political interventions that Black librarians and bibliophiles brought into systems for categorizing and recovering knowledge. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA CHUM |
| Course Format: Discussion | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (ENGL) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 50% - 74% |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
J. L. Borges, THE LIBRARY OF BABEL
Dionne Brand, THE BLUE CLERK
Umberto Eco, THE NAME OF THE ROSE (excerpts)
Robin Coste Lewis, THE VOYAGE OF THE SABLE VENUS
Kevin Young, "THE SHADOW BOOK" (from THE GREY ALBUM)
Shola von Reinhold, LOTE
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Examinations and Assignments:
Students will write short weekly responses to the readings, an annotated bibliography, and work on a research project. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
: This course contributes to the fulfillment of ENGL major requirements: Theory, LH3, AL, WL, elective.
It can also be taken to fulfill Research Option for thesis.
Additionally, the course will count towards The Certificate in Social, Cultural, and Critical Theory
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| Instructor(s): Bilbija,Marina Times: ..T.... 07:10PM-10:00PM; Location: OLIN014; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 15 | | SR major: 4 | JR major: 4 | | |
| Seats Available: 0 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 2 | JR non-major: 2 | SO: 3 | FR: X |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 4 | 1st Ranked: 1 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 3 |
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