Girlfriend, Sister, Self: 20th-c. Black Women's Writing
AFAM 244
Fall 2026
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
FGSS 246 |
This course will examine textual and visual constructions of the girlfriend, sister, cousin, and daughter in 20th-century black women's writing. We will read novels by Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Veronica Chambers, and Marita Golden as narratives of women loving women (sexually and not) and as sites through which to engage black women's subjectivity more generally. In this course we will attend to the interior landscapes of individual black female subjects as well as the social landscapes that produce and/or complicate notions of love, kinship, friendship, and self. We will draw on African American literary theory, queer and affect theory, and black cultural memory, turning to influential works by Angela Davis, Deborah McDowell, and Kevin Quashie, among others. How do writers of the period imagine and articulate the relationship between black women and their others? |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS AFAM |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (African American Studies Minor)(African American Studies) |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
:
Veronica Chambers, MAMA'S GIRL
Marita Golden, A WOMAN¿S PLACE
Toni Morrison, SULA
Alice Walker, THE COLOR PURPLE
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Examinations and Assignments:
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Journal reflections, one short essay, and one final paper |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
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| Instructor(s): Anderson,Amanda Faith Times: .M.W... 01:20PM-02:40PM; Location: CAAS LOUNG; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 19 | | SR major: 3 | JR major: 3 | | |
| | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 2 | JR non-major: 3 | SO: 4 | FR: 4 |
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