Also offered as ENGL628D. Credit granted for ENGL 628D or CMLT679J.

This course is directed towards students who are considering a field exam in African American/African Diaspora literature and theory or who want a graduate level introduction to the field.  It is designed to introduce participants to central texts, debates, and critical issues.  The course will consider key critical terms, methodologies, and a range of literary works. Examples of topical areas to be covered include the Archive; Genre and Form; the Race Concept: Aesthetics and Politics. The syllabus may include works by José Eduardo Agualusa, James Baldwin, Suzanne Césaire, Patrick Chamoiseau, Angela Davis, W.E.B. Du Bois, Frantz Fanon; Saidiya Hartman, James Weldon Johnson, Gayl Jones, June Jordan, Paule Marshall, Katherine McKittrick, Marlene Nourbese Philip, Cedric Robinson; Edouard Glissant, Stuart Hall, and Sylvia Wynter, among others. We will visit local archives and museums. 

Evaluation will be based on weekly blog posts, participation, individual and group class presentations, a paper proposal, midterm draft, and a final essay.