239573 Harlem Renaissance Revisited (S) (WiSe 2011/2012)

The Harlem Renaissance is considered the first black arts movement in the history of the United States. Being one of the most important literary, cultural, and historical manifestations of the “Jazz Age”, the Harlem Renaissance not only represents a creative and critical dialogue with but also aesthetic and political alternatives to Anglo-Saxon modernism. We will focus on literature, artistic and political manifestoes, music, film, and history to explore the complex debates between black and Anglo-Saxon nativist voices emerging in the turbulent decade of the 1920s.
We will also take a look at the social and cultural environment the Harlem Renaissance flourished in but was also hedged. The question of social networks and art patronage will be of interest as will be the venues of art performance such as the famous night clubs of 1920s Harlem. The economic side of the Jazz scene was increasingly dominated by organized crime. We will inquire in what this fact did to the art and the people performing, how this shaped audiences and, consequently, race relations in Harlem.