Mourning and Experimental Form: African Diaspora Religions in Hispanophone Caribbean Literature

How does one “move on” with loss? How does one live in the wake of loss? And what does it mean to mourn when loss is irreducible to a specific person, cause, or moment in time? In this seminar, we explore these questions by discussing Hispanophone Caribbean novels, cinema, poetry, and music. We pay particular attention to how literary and other artistic media use African diaspora religious practices and how they work with/through/against racial, gendered, and sexual tropes to address questions of loss and mourning. In each thematic unit, students will read primary materials in an intercalated manner to encourage critical dialogue across readings Class discussions will be in Spanish. A playlist of Hispanophone Caribbean music on the theme of death and mourning complements the course.