Black Womens Rhetorics: From Healthcare to Hip Hop

3 units

The course will permit an understanding of Black Feminism through the interdisciplinary exploration of Black feminist writings, practices, and expressions. The course will draw from literature, history, linguistics, sociology, political science, and other disciplines in order to critically examine key issues, assumptions, and debates from the perspective of Black women. We will trace the sociohistoric origins of Black Feminist Thought, ultimately attempting to understand contemporary iterations of Black Feminism within popular culture and throughout the African Diaspora. Essentially, this course asks: what kinds of cultural bonds have been created through Black women having a shared racialized and gendered experience? How has Black Feminism been a form of resistance, a kind of technological agency, and a kind of political identity? Furthermore, how have Black women historically articulated their realities to the larger public in an effort to persuade their audience(s) to listen to and value who they are and what they say in the midst of racist, dehumanizing, oppressive structures and institutions?