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Studies in American Literature (471-0-20)

Topic

Black Criticism

Instructors

Lauren Michele Jackson

Meeting Info

Locy Hall 106: Tues 2:00PM - 4:50PM

Overview of class

The goal of this course will be to read and examine the various means of thinking and modes of doing what we might provisionally call "black criticism." How have black writers and thinkers adopted prose-forms such as the jeremiad, the editorial, the essay, and the monograph in the context of their political, social, and economic situations over the past three centuries? What styles have emerged to meet the unique demands of race writing? And what, ultimately, puts the "black" in black criticism? And where does, and ought, the discipline reside with respect to institutions such as publishing and the press and academia?

Teaching Method

Lecture and seminar style discussion.

Evaluation Method

Weekly responses, annotated bibliography, and final project.