African Amer Women PopCulture

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This course will examine how Black women represent, curate, discuss, and theorize their lived experiences in the United States. Using both historical and contemporary representations, we will engage Black feminist/womanist cultural criticism, intersectionality, and other theories and modes of inquiries that specifically wrestle with depictions of Black women in popular cultural mediums. This course will also explore the meaning of “Black woman” and dissect the social-cultural-historical-political construction of Black womanhood using popular culture as a primary site of inquiry. How do Black women depict themselves and how do non-Black women depict Black womanhood? What can we learn about racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, and other forms of marginalization from engaging popular culture? How do develop a critical lens for engaging popular culture without devaluing importance of pleasure?