Skip to main content

Expressive Arts and Cultural Studies (420-0-20)

Instructors

Nicole A Spigner

Meeting Info

Crowe 5-138 Af Am Studies Sem: Tues 2:00PM - 4:50PM

Overview of class

It is impossible to capture the breadth and depth of Black people's artistic contributions, motivations, and expressions in a single quarter. However, during this course, we will sample a variety of literary, critical, multi-media, and theoretical articulations of Black expression. At the core of our inquiry through these texts lie questions that go beyond representation and identity to think about the forms and strategies that Black folk have used to reflect and hold in question the worlds in which they navigate. The class will read primary works from the nineteenth through twenty-first centuries and bring them into conversation with current and historical popular media, the extension of the tradition/s earlier artists wrote, sung, painted, struggled with and against.

EXPECTATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS OVERVIEW: Assignments will include three mini papers, discussion leading, and a fantasy course syllabus. Students will be evaluated on their performance in these assignments, class attendance, and participation. This seminar depends on the discussion and participation of every member of the class.