CARIBBEAN CULTURE & SOCIETIES
This course offers a chronological study of the Anglophone, Hispanophone, and Francophone insular Caribbean through the eyes of some of the region’s most important writers and thinkers. We will focus on issues that key Caribbean intellectuals--including two Nobel prize-winning authors--consider particularly enduring and relevant in Caribbean cultures and societies. Among these are, for example, colonization, slavery, national and postcolonial identity, race, class, popular culture, gender, sexuality, tourism and migration. This course will also serve as an introduction to some of the exciting work on the Caribbean by professors at Barnard College and Columbia University (faculty spotlights).
INTRODUCTION AFRICAN DIASPORA
Interdisciplinary and thematic approach to the African diaspora in the Americas: its motivations, dimensions, consequences, and the importance and stakes of its study. Beginning with the contacts between Africans and the Portuguese in the 15th century, this class will open up diverse paths of inquiry as students attempt to answer questions, clear up misconceptions, and challenge assumptions about the presence of Africans in the New World.
- TR 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
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Instructor:
Tamara Walker
Info - 3 points
TONI MORRISON: AN ETHICAL POETICS
Toni Morrison set herself a challenge: to engage language in complex literary ways in order to reveal the ‘fact’ of race in the lived experiences of Americans—those made to bear the burden of being ‘raced,’ those exercising the prerogative of ‘racing,’ and those who imagine that none of this applies to them. We travel with her artistic path from
The Bluest Eye
to her later novels to learn how her choice to create figurative, logical narratives seek their own understanding of the ethics of what she called the “manageable, doable, modern human activity” of living in ‘the house of race.’
- T 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
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Instructor:
Yvette Christianse
Wikipedia Info - 4 points
UNHEARD VOICES: AFRICAN WOMEN
How does one talk of women in Africa without thinking of Africa as a mythic unity? We will consider the political, racial, social and other contexts in which African women write and are written about in the context of their located lives in Africa and in the African Diaspora.
- R 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
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Instructor:
Yvette Christianse
Wikipedia Info - 4 points
Zora Neale Hurston: A Writing Life
On her “Record of Freshman Interest” form, Zora Neale Hurston, Barnard class of 1928, wrote in response to the question of what vocation or profession she had in mind after graduation, “I have had some small success as a writer and wish above all to succeed at it. Either teaching or social work would be interesting, but consolation prizes.” No consolation prize was necessary as Hurston became one of American and African American literature’s finest writers, America’s first Black anthropologist, and a Black feminist ancestor and icon. A deep dive into Hurston’s work and writing life, this course reads Hurston as a narrative stylist and theorist in multiple genres: as poet, essayist, writer of short stories, novelist, playwright, folklorist, and memorist. The goal of this class is to read Hurston closely and widely and to identify and examine her aesthetic philosophy and stylistic choices as one of the first African American women able to have a writing “career.” We will concentrate on her work from the 1920s through the 1930s, when she was at Barnard, and a leading figure in the Harlem/New Negro Renaissance.
In her time, Hurston was adamant about writing for and about people like herself; she saw ordinary black people as keepers of a rich culture that should be celebrated and shared. In this spirit, the assignments for this course will lead to final digital projects that can be shared with the Barnard community in anticipation of the centennial of Hurston’s matriculation and graduation from Barnard (1925-1928). We will partner with the Digital Humanities Center at Barnard, as well as Barnard Archives; we will engage resources at Barnard, such as Hurston-focused issues of
The Scholar and Feminist Online
, and other institutions, such as Columbia’s Rare Book Collection, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and the Library of Congress. No prior experience with digital tools is necessary.
- W 10:10 a.m.-noon
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Instructor:
Monica L Miller
CULPA: 10
Info
- 4 points
HARLEM RENAISSANCE LITERATURE
Home to Harlem focuses on the relationship between art, activism and social justice during the Harlem/ New Negro Renaissance. Exploring the cultural contexts and aesthetic debates that animated Harlem in 1920s to 1930s, the course discusses the politics of literary and theatrical production, while exploring the fashioning and performance of New Negro identity through fiction, poetry, essays, and artwork. Topics considered include: role of Africa/slavery/the south in New Negro expression, patronage, passing, primitivism/popular culture, black dialect as literary language, and the problematics of creating a “racial” art in/for a community comprised of differences in gender, class, sexuality, and geographical origin.
- W 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
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Instructor:
Maleda Belilgne
Info - 4 points
ROMARE BEARDEN:HOME IS HARLEM
Prerequisites: This course is limited to 20 students Romare Bearden: Home is Harlem, is an exploration into one of the greatest American artists finding home in Harlem. The noted painter, collagist, intellectual and advocate for the arts, spent his childhood and young adult life in Harlem. Known for chronicling the African-American experience, he found rich sources for artistic expression in the Manhattan neighborhoods above 110th Street.
- W 10:10 a.m.-noon
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Instructor:
Deidra Harris-Kelley
Info - 4 points
BLACK WOMEN STYLE&PERFRMNCE
BLACK WOMEN STYLE & PERFRMNCE
- F 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
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Instructor:
Shirley Taylor
Info - 4 points
Apollo: History & Culture in Harlem
The Apollo: History & Culture, will survey the Apollo’s early history, pre-1934 when the theater opened to its present-day evolution as a performing arts center with an expanding footprint on 125th Street.
Apollo’s role is American entertainment and global influence. Early Apollo performers paved the way for some of today’s most popular entertainers. We look at the impact of performers over several decades and the ways in which performers and performances at the Apollo influenced American entertainment through music, dance, comedy and more.
Students are encouraged to attend events at the Apollo relative to our discussions for deeper exploration of the topic. Dates, times, and links for events will be provided in advance. Additionally, attendance at performances and events taking place at Harlem Semester member institutions and relevant to our topic, is encouraged.
- F 10:10 a.m.-noon
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Instructor:
Shirley Taylor
Info - 4 points
Black Shakespeare
This course examines Shakespeare’s role in shaping Western ideas about Blackness, in processes of racial formation, and in Black freedom struggle. As one of the most enduring representations of a Black man in Western art Shakespeare’s
Othello
will be a focal point. However, this course will examine other “race” plays as well as works perceived as “race-neutral” in tandem with Black “respeakings” of Shakespeare’s works. This class is antiracist in intent and is shaped by several interlocking questions: What is Black Shakespeare? Can creators and scholars separate Shakespeare from the apparatus of white supremacy that has been built around his works? What are the challenges for BIPOC actors performing Shakespeare on the dominant stage? What are the challenges and obstacles for BIPOC scholars working on Shakespeare in academia? Can performing Shakespeare be an activist endeavor
- T 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
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Instructor:
Kim F Hall
CULPA: 1 Info - 4 points
Slavery and Freedom in Latin America
Slavery & Freedom in Lat.
This course focuses on the long history of slavery and the many meanings of freedom in Latin America. We will trace the institution’s origins in the sixteenth century through its eventual abolition in the 19th, from Spanish Florida to South America and numerous places in between. In the process, we will compare how enslaved people across the region understood, challenged, and survived their condition, in rural agricultural settings, urban centers, and private households. We will also examine the role of gender, sexuality, religious practice, and legal systems in shaping the lived experiences of enslaved people as well as the kinds of opportunities they were able to carve out for themselves and their loved ones.
Course readings will draw from primary sources and historical scholarship related to a range of relevant topics, as well as a vast visual and artistic corpus including watercolors, portraits, films, television programs, and modern advertising campaigns.
This course is intended for both advanced undergraduates and graduate students. Graduate students will occasionally consult additional readings or materials each week and submit an 18- to 20-page paper at the end of the term.
- T 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
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Instructor:
Tamara Walker
Info - 4 points