Humanities Arts Cultural Stu 0194 - Deja Vu or Deja New?

As a 19th century phenomenon, slave narratives cataloged the pain and trauma enslaved people endured on the journey to freedom. As both autobiography and a tool in the fight for abolition, these narratives became a window into the inner lives of the enslaved. Twentieth century novelists sought to repair the trauma of enslavement in neo-slave narratives, often placing agency at the center of plotlines for enslaved actors. The twenty-first century has, yet again, rebranded the story of slavery, focusing on the screen as the primary medium for exploration of a much imagined yet still rich storytelling landscape. This course will investigate how the story of enslavement has been rewritten across centuries in its journey from fact to fiction to TV and cinema. Our course study will address why this story gets retold and how the social currents of a period shape the reemergent trends of these texts.

Culture, Humanities, and Languages Power, Community and Social Justice Multiple Cultural Perspectives Writing and Research In this course students are expected to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and preparation outside of class time.