Afro-American Studies 336 - SEM: LIT OF AFRICAN DIASPORA

Topics course. This seminar will focus on some of the major perspectives, themes, and theoretical underpinnings in the field of African Diasporic Studies. We will read 20th and 21st century fiction and nonfiction from a range of cultural traditions that explore the conditions of displacement and uprootedness, which characterize the African Diaspora; we will also investigate the transformations of culture and identity that result from forced and voluntary migrations. The course?s primary focus will be on literary depictions of transnational identities and communities and questions of citizenship and belonging, in fiction by and about "in-betweeners" who inhabit cultural and national borderlands. Our investigation will draw primarily from novels, but may also include examples from other genres, including poetry, short stories and memoir. Recommended background: at least one course in African American Studies and/or literature. Permission of the instructor required. Not open to first-years and sophomores.

Topic: Exiles, Transplants and In-Betweeners. Instructor Permission. Not open to first-years, sophomores