Department of English

What is (or could be) black about revolution? How does race shape or reshape the history of activism? And what does literature have to do with radical politics in the first place? This course approaches these questions by examining how activist practice and theory have been developed in the African diaspora across the United States, the UK, and West and South Africa. In so doing, we will explore how race, lineage, nation, and migration affect black peoples’ understanding of class struggle and freedom. Literature can help us see how revolutionary ideas evolve over time, but this course builds up our shared understanding of “why” and “how” radical freedom visions change. Drawing together writings from the Black Panther Party, British Cultural Studies, and the editors of African Socialism, as well as social media, we will explore how geography, racial and ethnic identity interact with theories of the state and the liberatory potential of art. Students in this class will practice research methods including visual analysis, historicization, entering a scholarly debate, close reading, and revision.