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Graduate Topics in African American Studies (480-0-20)

Topic

Black Internationalism

Instructors

Martha Biondi

Meeting Info

Kresge Centennial Hall 2-335: Thurs 2:00PM - 4:50PM

Overview of class

This graduate seminar examines international solidarity struggles in the wake of the Black liberation movement. Spanning the late 1960s through the early 1990s, it focuses on US-based solidarity movements with southern Africa, including the struggles against Portuguese colonialism and apartheid South Africa. Key questions: Why did the early 1970s see a resurgence of a Black American left strongly rooted in internationalist concerns? What was the Tricontinental and why was Cuba so involved in southern Africa? What role did the Sino-Soviet split play in African decolonization and international solidarity efforts? Why was the Sixth Pan African Congress in Tanzania such a flashpoint for a Black Nationalist/Left schism? What was its aftermath? How did the rise of Black feminism shape US solidarity struggles? How did race and racism shape US solidarity campaigns with the Angolan and Mozambican liberation movements and the antiapartheid movement? What were sources of leadership in the solidarity movements and what role did churches, unions, students play? How did southern African freedom struggles, and allied international solidarity campaigns, collide with a resurgent/persistent anticommunist white supremacist political leadership in the US, particularly in the Reagan era? What was the aftermath of this collision? How did solidarity work evolve in the wake of formal political independence? How did activists build an independent (pre-internet) media/information network?