Reading Revolt: Blackness, Politics, and Morality

This discussion-based seminar considers the critical question of Black revolt and its relationship to politics and morality. From the slave revolts of the 1800s century to the Black revolutionary movements of the 1960s, we will cover recurrent themes related to Black revolt through an interdisciplinary array of historical and literary sources, as well as scholarly texts. Discussions will focus on the various contributions of Black thinkers and actors who have faced the issue of revolt, and how they confront around ideas surrounding sovereignty, violence, and politics. Critically we will consider the question: What is at stake in Black revolt? Throughout the course we think comparatively across multiple contexts (enslavement, colonization, systematic oppression) to consider how the relationship between Blackness and revolt emerges, shifts, and what it means for our foundational concepts of Western order such as politics, morality, and rationality.