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Apr 29, 2024
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ENGL045 PO - African American PoeticsWhen Offered: Offered alternate years; next offered fall 2022
Instructor(s): A. Johnson
Credit: 1
In this course, we will plot, puzzle through, and question the aesthetic transformations within African American Poetry from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present. We will consider artistic movements such as the Harlem Renaissance, the Black Arts Movement, Spoken Word, Hip Hop, and “Post-Soul Poetics”. Since a definition of racial identity is complicated and multifaceted, it is important to begin with an understanding that the African American poetic voice is not monolithic. In terms of a poetic tradition, however, one could argue that the history of social and political struggle (Abolitionism, Civil Rights, Black Nationalism, Black Feminism, LBGTQ rights, and Afrofuturism) established an artistic continuum. This tradition is shaped by intimacy, a desire for justice, joy, transcendence from suffering, and the simple and complicated wish to be free. We will discuss religion, visual culture, politics, dance, music, and comedy. Rather than reduce African American poetry to a timeline, we will follow the echoes of history, analyzing how voices and themes overlap.
Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
PO Area 1 Requirement
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