Survey of African American Literature, 1900 to Present

Cross listed with BL_STU 3410-02

Through a study of African American literature from 1900 to the present, this course analyzes the workings of the Black fantastic. From the spectral to the utopic, time travel to space travel, the Afrofuturist to the Afro-Gothic, this course examines the ways that Black American authors craft alternative worlds from the fabric of our own. Together, we will ask, “How might the Black fantastic help us reimagine both past and future?” “What can Black configurations of spectrality and magic tell us about race, gender, and power?” and finally, “What do the alternative worlds forged in the African American literary tradition suggest about our own?  Authors might include Pauline Hopkins, W.E.B. Du Bois, Octavia Butler, Rivers Solomon, Samuel Delaney, and Kiese Laymon.