AFCA 295 - Seminar in Africana Studies

Credits: 3 credits in fall or winter, 4 in spring Prerequisite: Completion of FDR FW requirement. Students in this course study a group of African-American, African, or Afro-Caribbean works related by theme, culture, topic, genre, historical period, or critical approach. In the Spring Term version, the course involves field trips, film screenings, service learning, and/or other special projects, as appropriate, in addition to 8-10 hours per week of class meetings. May be repeated for degree credit if the topics are different.

Spring 2021, AFCA 295-02: Seminar in Africana Studies: The American Dream in Post-1954 Black Drama (3). While Alain Locke, as early as the Harlem Renaissance, prophesied great things for African American dramatists, it was not until the early days of the Civil Rights Movement that his optimism was fully gratified.  After Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun appeared though, black Americans garnered multiple Pulitzer prizes and, by most accounts, became vibrant contributors to a national theater.  In part, this contribution has been defined by an ironic view of that success narrative known as “The American Dream.”  This course explores African American drama since 1954, focusing on the interplay between black selfhood and the evolving notion of an American Dream.  Examining pivotal plays from this period, we will analyze what makes the struggle for progress an ambiguous, yet attractive topic for black playwrights. M. Hill.

Winter 2021, AFCA 295A-01: Seminar in Africana Studies: The Art and Politics of Rap Music (3). Since its emergence in the 1970s, hip hop culture has changed the United States and the world. Rap music has played a huge role in those changes.  Looking at rap as an art form, a political expression, and a commodity, this class will study how from 1988 to 2018, rap music used end-rhymed verse and sampling to refine black self-expression. Analyzing singles and albums, we will explore the socio-historical context out of which the music arose, the diverse creative strategies that its practitioners employed, and the major shifts in the art form’s development. Additionally, we will think about the eras in rap music’s history and the prospects for its future. This course will provide a space to meditate on the relationship between cultural products, racial identity, political progress, and economic destiny. More specifically, it invites students to confront the myths and the truths surrounding one of the late twentieth centuries more controversial artistic permutations, the rise of rap music. M. Hill.