Introduction to Themes in Black Studies I

Combining humanistic and social scientific approaches to the study of African, African American, and Global Black society, culture and philosophy, this course will also feature lectures by AAAS affiliates and leading scholars and public figures from beyond the University. Students will be introduced to themes such as AI and Black life, race and the environmental humanities, as well as to the work of W.E.B. du Bois, Sylvia Wynter, Frantz Fanon, the Combahee River Collective, Toni Morrison, Achille Mbembe, and Antonio Benitez-Rojo, among many others. By reading key African, African American and Black thinkers from the era of Trans-Atlantic slavery to the present, this course will introduce students to the historical formation of African, African American, and Global Black identities, intellectual cultures, and political struggles in the United States, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, and beyond. The structure of the course will expose students to a wide range of interdisciplinary themes while aligning the proposed readings and speakers with each topic.