Course Description
This course is intended to introduce students to the literature of the black diaspora in an effort to provide a comprehensive, though not exhaustive, overview of black literature. We will focus on African American, Caribbean, and African literature to examine differences and similarities within their respective narratives in regards to issues of race and racism. We will concentrate on representations of black migration throughout a host of time periods and spaces. For example, we will interrogate the literary representations of African American migration from the South to the North during the Great Migration while also reading narratives from the Caribbean concerned with representing migration to former colonial countries. Additionally, we will examine contemporary African migration narratives to examine how identity shifts in accordance to a particular social space. In addition to literature, we will examine representations of migration in film and other mediums such as painting and photography.
Required Texts
Aidoo, Ama Ada. Our Sister Killyjoy.
Danticat, Edwidge. The Dew Breakers.
Diome, Fatu. The Belly of the Atlantic.
Johnson, James Weldon. The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man.
Adichie, Chimamanda. Americanah: A Novel.
Attaway, William. Blood on the Forge.
Kincaid, Jamaica. Lucy: A Novel.
Bulawayo, NoViolet. We Need New Names.