ENGL 364, Advanced African American Literature "The Black Arts/Aesthetics Movement", Spring 2014

Abstract

Popularly conceived as the artistic arm of the Black Power Movement, the Black Arts Movement (BAM) envelops a major cultural explosion of 1960s America. As an inadvertent response to the New Negro Movement of the 1920s, and cultivated by the “re-emerging” tensions of American race relations, BAM represents one of the richest moments within literary history. This course will examine the art, politics, and theories that characterized the movement. It will pay particular attention to the ways in which “Black Art” redefines itself, the aestheticism that shapes various modes of expressions, and the movement’s contribution to a new philosophy of black subjectivity. Authors may include: Amiri Baraka, Larry Neal, Haki Madhubuti, Gwendolyn Brooks, Sonia Sanchez, Hoyt Fuller, Ed Bullins, Lucille Clifton, Askia Touré, et cetera. Prerequisites: Any 200-level literature course or permission from instructor.