Modernity and Its Discontents (303-0-20)
Instructors
Lwazi Lushaba
Meeting Info
Kresge Centennial Hall 3-410: Mon, Wed 11:00AM - 12:20PM
Overview of class
The course aims basically to introduce students to an intellectual tradition or body of thought that has come to be known as Black Radical Thought. It follows this itinerant tradition through its many moments of iteration, highlighting the key figures and debates that have been definitive of each of these moments. Moments, that are geographic, political, temporal, as well as intellectual. The invocation of the concept Black Radical Thought, triggers expectedly a flurry of complex at times vexatious conceptual questions: what or who does the sign Black in Black Radical Thought signify? What common underlying features render this composite body of knowledge into a recognisable intellectual tradition or identifiable field? And what historical developments, be they empirical or intellectual, both in the past and at present necessitate its emergence and continued existence? As such the intent in the first part of the course is, as it were, to clear the conceptual fog and set the theoretical stage/framework for the consideration in the second part of the key dramatis personae and their texts, key ideas and themes, and political ideologies constitutive of the tradition.
Registration Requirements
Major/Minors Only, Juniors/Seniors Only
Learning Objectives
In the main students are expected at the end of the course to be familiar with the broad tradition of thought known as Black Radical Thought. Secondly to be acquainted with the main ideas, theories and ideologies constitutive of the field. And lastly to be able to navigate the major epistemological turns that have marked the development of Black Radical Thought
Teaching Method
Seminar style lectures, class discussions and debate.
Evaluation Method
-Weekly Response Papers 20%
-Term (Essay) Paper 40%
-Final Exam 40%
Class Attributes
Ethical and Evaluative Thinking Foundational Disci
Ethics & Values Distro Area