230574 Black Voices (S) (SoSe 2026)

This class will provide a broader African American cultural and historical framework in which to read and interpret selected works by major black writers from the U.S., the Caribbean, and Canada in context. The objective is to discuss and interpret in close reading fashion black poems, essays, excerpts from novels and memoirs as cultural, aesthetic, and political texts. Students will engage with selected writings by authors like Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Edwidge Danticat, Afua Cooper among others. Thematically we will discuss the issues of identity, blackness, creativity, coloniality, and resistance at the intersection of age, class, gender, citizenship, and race. Students are required to come to class with short written responses to each text we read and discuss. The focus in class is on lively conversation and discussion in a workshop atmosphere.