Afro-American Studies 336 - SEM:CONTEMP TPCS IN AFRO-AMER

Topics course. Same as ENG 316. This seminar focuses on some of the major perspectives, themes, and theoretical underpinnings in the field of African diasporic studies. We 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 also investigate the transformations of culture and identity that result from forced and voluntary migrations. The course's primary focus is 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 draws primarily from novels, but may also include examples from other genres, including poetry, short stories and memoir. Recommended background: at least one course in Afro American Studies and/or literature. Permission of the instructor required. Not open to first-years and sophomores.

Topic: Exiles, Transplants and In-betweeners: Literatures of the African Diaspora. Instructor permission. Not open to first-years, sophomores