Introduction to Themes in Black Studies II

This course explores the Black Atlantic as a theoretical framework and historical lens for understanding the modern world. Tracing the entangled histories of Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, and the Americas, we will examine how the movement of people, goods, and ideas transformed societies on both sides of the Atlantic. Drawing on thinkers such as W. E. B. Du Bois, C. L. R. James, Frantz Fanon, Paul Gilroy, and Saidiya Hartman, we will engage in concepts including diaspora, double consciousness, and racial capitalism, alongside the material histories of ships, plantations, archives, music, and film. From the Middle Passage to Black Lives Matter, we will learn how the Black Atlantic offers us a way of learning about the past that is informed by our present. This course will meet in Building 80.