Black Studies 229 - African-American Political Thought

(Offered as POSC 229 and BLST 229 [US]) This course explores key questions in modern politics through the lens of the African American experience. What constitutes politics and the political? How should we understand modern political development in conceptual and historical terms? How does domination shape the political order and the boundaries of the political? What does a politics of freedom demand of the individual and community? Who and what constitutes the/a people? What sorts of ethical demands does the practice of democracy require? What forms does self-determination take? What does racial justice require? What role can art play in the politics of freedom? What repertoires of action form the basis of a politics of emancipation? How does race, class, gender, and sexuality shape and disturb solidarity politics? These sorts of questions lead us to a practice of comparison between the social contract tradition in liberal enlightenment political philosophy, Marxism, feminist thought and the various interwoven and highly improvisational strands of Black thought critical of these approaches. By the end of the course, students will have developed a methodological framework for critical political thinking, historically-situated, yes, but always with a global view of the present.

Fall semester.  Assistant Professor Loggins.

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Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: This course is both discussion-based and reading intensive. High participation is a requirement and care will be taken to cultivate an environment in which students feel comfortable embarking on a shared journey of intellectual discovery. We will spend time in the course perfecting our ability to reason with each other by drawing on textual evidence to support our claims. There will be weekly reflection assignments as well as a final paper. Students will learn the skill of close-reading by engaging with key texts in 20th century African-American political thought.