This course is cross-listed with Black Studies.

Theorizing Africana Literature is an undergraduate course designed to introduce students to 20th & 21st Centuries Africana Literature & Theory. The turn of the 20th century in the Africana literary world is marked by the WEB DuBois & Booker T Washington Controversy, along with Marcus Garvey, which ushered us into the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. Major poets of that era to be discussed include James Weldon Johnson, Claude McKay, Langston Hughes & Countee Cullen. Then WEB DuBois-Alain Locke Debate of the 30s, with emphasis on Dubois’ “Criteria of Negro Art,” a precursor to the cultural & literary debates of the 60s, following the inception of the Civil Rights Movement of the 50s, which was ignited by the 1955 brutal lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till. 3 months later came Rosa Parks’ demonstration & Dr. Martin Luther King’s leadership in the CRM.

The 60s & 70s highlight the Black Arts/Black Aesthetics Movement, with Amiri Baraka, the prime mover, & Maulana Karenga’s Kwanzaa. Then came Richard Barksdale in the 70s & the 80s with Molefi Asante’s Afrocenticity. This latter part of the 20th & early 21st centuries highlights more Africana theorists, i.e. Robert L. Williams’ Ebonics & Obedike Kamau’s analysis of Reparations. Also several Black women theorists emerged, including black feminists Barbara Smith & bell hooks, and Africana Womanist, Clenora Hudson-Weems.

The focus on the 20th & early 21st centuries will highlight the Africana literary and theoretical works of numerous known Africana writers of the period. Literary works augmented by theoretical concepts include Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison, particularly her novel, Home. The main objective of the course is to introduce students to Africana literature and theoretical constructs as an authentic way of interpreting Africana life from early 20th century up to now.