Blk Love, Sex, Relationships

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This course explores contemporary representations of love, sex, and relationships in Black culture, and considers how American politics and public policy often call upon Black relationships in public discourses. We will analyze different types of texts—including literature, music, films, magazine articles, and public policies to examine their roles in distributing ideas about love, marriage, and sex. We will read a range of theoretical texts as well to contextualize and shape our thinking. Some of the questions we will return to throughout the semester are: 1) How do the overlapping categories of race, gender, class, ability, and sexuality shape our views about love, sex, and relationships? 2) What factors compel people to marry, remain single, or “live-together”? 3) What are the advantages and disadvantages (personal and political) of love, sex, and/or relationships? 4) What relationships exist between “love” and “sex,” and “love” and “relationships,” and or “sex” and “relationships?” 5) Should the state and/or church define and regulate what types of relationships have political/economic advantages?