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Academic Year 2005/2006


Engendering the African Diaspora
HIST 273 FA

Crosslistings:
AFAM 272
WMST 271

This course examines the history of the African diaspora from about the seventeenth century to the present. We begin by reviewing definitions of diaspora, in general, and the African diaspora specifically. Second, we analyze the multi-directional nature of travel between Africa, Europe, and the Americas. African women and men (here, primarily West African) and their descendants have moved in an Atlantic world by force and by choice over the centuries. Finally, we examine the intellectual work of activists, writers, and ordinary women and men of African descent who have debated the politics, artistic expression, and identit(ies) of African diaspora communities. Women as social actors and ideas about gender, femininity, and masculinity are recurrent themes in the course. Reading assignments include a range of scholarly articles, novels, primary documents, electronic sources, and films. This course illustrates that an African diaspora did not form ¿naturally¿ as a result of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Socioeconomic forces, individuals, community activism, and intellectual critique created and altered the meaning of the African diaspora over time.

MAJOR READINGS

Robin Law and Paul Lovejoy, eds., THE BIOGRAPHY OF MAHOMMAH GARDO BAQUAQUA: HIS PASSAGE FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM IN AFRICA AND AMERICA
Mary Prince, THE HISTORY OF MARY PRINCE
Ama Ata Aidoo, OUR SISTER KILLJOY
Caryl Phillips, THE ATLANTIC SOUND
Maya Angelou, ALL GOD'S CHILDREN NEED TRAVELING SHOES
Aimé Cesaire, DISCOURSE ON COLONIALISM, tr. Joan Pinkham with introduction by Robin Kelley.

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

2 short papers, midterm, final

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

This course is a gateway to the WMST major.

COURSE FORMAT: Lecture

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS HIST    Grading Mode: Graded   

Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-30-2006


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