Routes, Black Internationalism

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This course, Roots and Routes of Black Internationalism, explores major currents and some paths less well tread that mark the roots and routes of black internationalism from the nineteenth century to the present. Structured chronologically and geographically with African American internationalism serving as a grounding point, the course explores political struggles, visions of freedom, and liberation movements among African descended people as they emerged in key sites across the globe. Drawing on foundational primary sources and contemporary scholarly studies, we will be attentive to critical issues in the imagining and conception of black internationalism including diaspora, colonialism, Pan-Africa, communism and the transnational. We will also explore the ways local and global networks, sites of engagement and solidarities were imagined, created and contested; the importance of class, gender, and race; and the implications of histories of slavery, expansion, and democracy in the making of black internationalism.