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Description: |
In this course we will consider the special contributions of black intellectuals to the culture and controversies of America and the Atlantic world focusing on the twentieth century and the contemporary moment. Analyses and criticisms of racial identity, national belonging, political theory, artistic expression, and gender politics will focus our discussions. Works by W. E. B. DuBois, Booker T. Washington, Francis Harper, Nella Larson, George Schuyler, Frantz Fanon, C. L. R. James, Paul Gilroy, Aimé César, Eduard Glissant, Stuart Hall, Toni Morrison, Spike Lee, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Léopold Senghor, Hortense Spillers, Cedric Robinson, and Claudia Rankine will figure prominently in our discussions, as will the more general question of the political and social role of intellectuals in the modern world, the problem of elitism in democratic societies, and the crucial, leading role black writers and artists have played in defining and shaping our modern era. |