21A.125
Black Matters: Introduction to Black Studies
Spring 2017
Interdisciplinary survey of people of African descent that draws on the overlapping approaches of history, literature, anthropology, legal studies, media studies, performance, linguistics, and creative writing. This course connects the experiences of African-Americans and of other American minorities, focusing on social, political, and cultural histories, and on linguistic patterns.
Readings
- [Dubois] = Dubois, Laurent. Haiti: The Aftershocks of History . Macmillan, 2012. ISBN: 9781250002365
- [Melville] = Melville, Herman. Benito Cereno. Edited by Wyn Kelley. Bedford/St. Martin’s Press, 2006. ISBN: 9780312452421
- [Danticat] = Danticat, Edwidge. The Farming of Bones: A Novel . Vol. 3. Soho Press, 1998. ISBN: 9781616953492
- [Morrison] = Morrison, Tony. The Bluest Eye . Vintage Books, 2007. ISBN: 9780307278449
- Devonish, Hubert. Language and Liberation: Creole Language Politics in the Caribbean . Arwack Press, 2007.
- Roberts, Peter A. Roots of Caribbean Identity . Cambridge University Press, 2008.
- session: 1: Why “Black Matters”? What’s “Black” and why does “Black” matter? And why do “Black languages” matter? · reading: No readings
- Anderson, Stephen R. Doctor Dolittle’s Delusion: Animals and the Uniqueness of Human Language . Yale University Press, 2006, pp. 15–37. ISBN: 9780300115253.
- Lippi-Green, Rosina. English With an Accent: Language, Ideology, and Discrimination in the United States . Psychology Press, 2012, pp. v–26. ISBN: 9780415559119.
- Grubbs, Donald H., and Howard Brotz. “Negro Social and Political Thought, 1850-1920.” (1967). pp. 226–244.
- Finegan, Edward, and John R. Rickford. Language in the USA: Themes for the Twenty-first Century . Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp. 76–91. ISBN: 9780521777476.
- Mufwene, Salikoko S. Language Evolution: Contact, Competition and Change . Bloomsbury Publishing, 2008, pp. 93–112. ISBN: 9780826493705.
- Alim, H. Samy, John R. Rickford, and Arnetha F. Ball, eds. Raciolinguistics: How Language Shapes our Ideas About Race . Oxford University Press, 2016. ISBN: 9780190625696
- Makoni, Sinfree. Black Linguistics: Language, Society, and Politics in Africa and the Americas. Psychology Press, 2003, pp 155–168. ISBN: 9780415261388.
- Ferguson, Charles Albert, Edward Finegan, Shirley Brice Heath, and John R. Rickford, eds. Language in the USA: Themes for the Twenty-first Century . Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp 76–91. ISBN: 9780521777476.
- Lippi-Green, Rosina. English with an Accent: Language, Ideology, and Discrimination in the United States . Psychology Press, 2012, pp. 44–77 and Chapter 7. ISBN: 9780415559119.
- Alim, H. Samy, and Geneva Smitherman. Articulate While Black: Barack Obama, Language, and Race in the US . Oxford University Press, 2012, pp. 1–30. ISBN: 9780199812981.
- session: 6: Guest lecture/workshop: Professor Helen Elaine Lee (MIT Comparative Media Studies/Writing, Director of Women’s and Gender Studies) · reading: [Morrison] · supplemental Material: No supplemental material
- Delany, Samuel R. “The Tale of Gorgik” in Tales of Nevèrÿon . Vol. 1. Open Road Media, 2014.
- [Dubios] “Introduction” and “Independence” in Haiti: The Aftershocks of History , pp. 1–51.
- Trouillot, Michel-Rolph. Silencing the Past: Power and Production of History . Beacon Press, 1995, Chapter 3, pp. 70–107. ISBN: 9781494569693.
- James, C. L. R. “Lectures on The Black Jacobins.” Small Axe 8, no. 110 (2000): 15.
- Baker, Keith Michael, and Dan Edelstein, eds. “The Antislavery Script.” In Scripting Revolution: A Historical Approach to the Comparative Study of Revolutions . Stanford University Press, 2015. ISBN: 9780804796163.
- session: 10: Guest lecture: Professor Wyn Kelly (Literature) The “unthinkable” in Melville’s Benito Cereno (part 1) · reading: [Melville] pp. 35–107 · supplemental Material: No supplemental material
- Grandin, Greg. The Empire of Necessity: Slavery, Freedom, and Deception in the New World . Metropolitan Books, 2014, pp. 171–181, 186–196, 197–199, 265–273. ISBN: 9781250062109.
- Pilkey, Dav. 2001. Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot vs. the Voodoo Vultures from Venus: Giant Robot Vs. The Voodoo Vultures From Venus. New York: Blue Sky Press. ISBN: 9780439236249.
- Hawley, John Stratton. Saints and Virtues . Vol. 2. University of California Press, 1987. pp. 144–167.
- Das, Veena, and Clara Han. “If You Remember, You Can’t Live.” Chapter 16 in Living and Dying in the Contemporary World: A Compendium . University of California Press, 2015. ISBN: 9780520278417.
- session: 17: Guest lecture: Professor John Tirman (MIT International Studies) Immigration, Politics and Elections (part 2) · reading: No readings · supplemental Material: No supplemental material
- session: 19: Dr. Nora Jackson: Workshop on critical argumentation and working with sources · reading: No readings · supplemental Material: No supplemental material
- session: 20: Guest lecture: Professor Vince Brown (Harvard History) An immigration debate in 18th century America · reading: “Essay concerning Slavery and the Danger JAMAICA Is expos’d to from the Too great Number of Slaves and the too little Care that is taken to manage Them, and a Proposal to prevent the further Importation of Negroes into that Is.” London: Charles Corbett, 1746, pp. 31–32. · supplemental Material: No supplemental material
- session: 21: Guest lecture/workshop: Professor Helen Elaine Lee (MIT Comparative Media Studies/Writing, Director of Women’s and Gender Studies) · reading: No readings · supplemental Material: No supplemental material
- Finegan & Rickford, eds., Language in the USA: Themes for the Twenty-First Century . Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp. 305–318. ISBN: 9780521777476.
- Roberts, Peter A. From Oral to Literate Culture: Colonial Experience in the English West Indies. Kingston, Jamaica: Press University of the West Indies, 1997. pp 236–278.
- Devonish, Hubert. Language and Liberation: Creole Language Politics in the Caribbean . Red Sea Press, 1986. pp. 1–16, 38–117.
- Walton, Gregory M. “The Myth of Intelligence: Smartness Isn’t Like Height.” Education, Justice, and Democracy (2013): 155–72.
- session: 25: Guest lecture: Professor Noam Chomsky (MIT Linguistics) · reading: No readings
- Freire, Paulo, and Donaldo Macedo. Literacy: Reading the Word and the World. Routledge, 2005, pp. 32–41, 98–110. ISBN: 9780897891264.
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗Historical OpenCourseWare
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.