Approaches to History (393-0-24)
Topic
Black Atlantic Cultures
Instructors
Akinwumi O Ogundiran
Meeting Info
Harris Hall L04: Tues, Thurs 3:30PM - 4:50PM
Overview of class
Black Atlantic Culture is a seminar on approaches to studying and writing the history of Black cultural formation in the Atlantic world. Black Atlantic refers to the African and Africa-descended people and their cultural geographies in Africa, Europe, and the Americas since the fifteenth century. It is a world made possible by the Atlantic slave trade, racial capitalism, drug/alcohol addiction, racism, early modern empires, and colonization. In this seminar, we will study the processes of dispossession, disruption, and displacement that created the Black Atlantic world and how Africans—enslaved, free, and displaced—used their creativity to fashion new cultures, new intellectual traditions, and new philosophies. The class emphasizes that Black Atlantic cultural formations cannot be studied separately from the political economy and intellectual project of racism and modernity. Likewise, several aspects of Black culture-making were tied to the project of resistance, liberation, and restoration of black humanity. Hence, the class will read some of the literature that unites political economy and intellectual history with liberation movement and cultural history. The readings will be illustrated with archaeological artifacts, visual arts, and documentaries. At the end of the course, students are expected to develop a sound understanding of the major historiographic debates that have shaped the study of Black Atlantic Culture and where to look for primary sources for studying the long-term Black experience in the Atlantic world.
Learning Objectives
Students will develop a sound understanding of the major historiographic debates that have shaped the study of Black Atlantic Culture and where to look for primary sources for studying the long-term Black experience in the Atlantic world.
Evaluation Method
Papers, Presentation, and Group Work
Class Notes
Concentration: Global
Class Attributes
Historical Studies Distro Area