English 350AM - Topics in African American Literature: 'Race and Sensory Perception in Nineteenth-Century American Literature'

This literature course considers the role of the senses in imagining what Black freedom might look like. Can freedom be sensed? How are the senses shaped by politics, economics, and history? By examining a range of African American literary texts before 1900, we will track how Black writers such as Harriet Jacobs, Martin Delany, Charles Chesnutt, and Phillis Wheatley Peters have used literature to explore the intertwinement of political possibility with sensory perception. We will also draw upon a number of texts from the larger abolitionist movement. Our thinking will be guided by Black radical scholars such as Christina Sharpe and Rinaldo Walcott, as well as figures such as Karl Marx and W.E.B. Du Bois.

Course limited to sophomores, juniors and seniors; Prereq: 8 credits in English.