230222 Harlem Renaissance (S) (WiSe 2018/2019)

The parameters of race vary in the political and public discourses of the Americas, where cultural complexity translates the historical entanglements between African, European and Native American heritage. The individual definition of racial constructs gains meaning through human interaction and intercultural contact. Since literature emerges as a space of (re)negotiation and expression of racial identity, this seminar will cover African-American writing from the Harlem Renaissance period, a cultural and literary movement subscribing to American Modernism. With writers such as Nella Larsen, Langston Hughes, Zora Neal Hurston, Jean Toomer, etc., African-American literature established an aesthetic and political voice of its own. This seminar will cover poetry and prose by these authors, with a focus on group discussions and close readings of the texts.