Topics in African-American Studies (380-0-23)

Topic

Black Mindfulness Literature

Instructors

Nicole A Spigner

Meeting Info

Kresge Centennial Hall 2-335: Tues, Thurs 12:30PM - 1:50PM

Overview of class

In his book of essays, Turning the Wheel, novelist and professor Charles Johnson says that Jean Toomer's long poem, "The Blue Meridian" (1932): "offers us a bridge between the black experience and the profound reflections on selfhood long a part of Vedic literature." Johnson identifies Toomer's work as a key text within a longer tradition of Black letters that intersect with Vedic and Buddhist philosophies and practices.

Considering the buzz word "mindfulness," this undergraduate course explores the extended tradition of spiritual, contemplative, and ancient practices influencing Black letters since the 19th century. Alluding clear and consistent definition, "mindfulness" is an umbrella term that includes contemplative practices, embodiment, transcendentalism, and many other lines of spiritual and secular strategies for survival and more. This course will consider how stillness, concentration, and focus on interiority provide alternative and complementary strategies for Black survival and thriving.

We will read works by Johnson and Toomer, Paschal Beverly Randolph, Paule Marshall, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Zora Neale Hurston. Additionally, we will consider the theory and criticism of Howard Thurman, Kevin Quashie, Martin Luther King, Jr., and others along with Buddhist, Vedic, and West African religious texts and studies to consider the many sides of a Black mindfulness literary tradition. We will contemplate the theory and praxis of meditation, transcendence, tantra, Dharma, ritual, and possession. Additionally, we will create and execute our own mindfulness exercises and consider how they may or may not support various politics of Blackness in our current moment.

This course will require active and enthusiastic participation by everyone in the class. There will be four response papers/discussion board writing assignments, group presentations, and ongoing experimentation with mindfulness, and a final project that will engage writing as well as other media. Journaling is highly recommended for this course, as well.

Learning Objectives

Students will become familiar with the history, theories, and literatures of black nineteenth century authors and social critics and be able to demonstrate that familiarity by being able to read and write critically about these works. If this course does its job, you will leave it capable of the above, as expanded in the following outcomes:

Explore: The ability to demonstrate a critical understanding of and appreciation for the history of nineteenth-century literary forms, themes, and content written by black authors.

Explore: The ability to understand and appreciate key terms relevant to nineteenth-century black literature and critics of the nineteenth century.

Critique: The ability to understand, appreciate, and apply theoretical lenses of literary critics of the nineteenth century to the assigned literature.

Reflect: The ability to identify common or culturally specific themes in literature by nineteenth-century black writers.

Express: The ability to develop a reasonable interpretation of one or more pieces of nineteenth-century black literature.

Class Attributes

Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area
U.S. Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity