Graduate Topics in African American Studies (480-0-21)
Topic
Toni Morrison
Instructors
Tracy L Vaughn
8474913725
1860 Campus Dr Crowe 5-103
Meeting Info
Kresge Centennial Hall 3-410: Tues 2:00PM - 4:50PM
Overview of class
This course will be an intensive examination of the significant contributions made to American and global arts and letters by Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison. We will consider her contributions through her roles as editor, author, and public scholar. As an editor, Morrison single-handedly ensured the publication of trailblazing Black American writers. Morrison the author created a canon that centers on and celebrates the complexities of Black American life—particularly the lives of Black women. As a public scholar Morrison scrutinized the ways in which the American/Western literary canon often fails to acknowledge and include the important cultural contributions of African-descended literary artists. We will utilize Morrison's fiction, critical theory, lectures, and interviews to survey how she grappled with the constitution of blackness as it relates to the modern conception of humanity. One of the primary questions we will consider throughout the quarter is: How does Morrison's work generate a sense of individual and collective identity that extends beyond the scope of race, gender, class, and culture?
Class Materials (Required)
The Bluest Eye (1970)
The Black Book (1974)
Song of Solomon (1977)
Beloved (1987)
Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination (1992)
Home (2012)
The Origin of Others (2017)