Culture and Identity: Indigenous Feminisms

What are the stakes of cultural criticism? Whom do we trust to tell us when something is a classic novel, album or film? Professional Critics? Fan reviews? Academic analysts? How is such acclaim, or denunciation, determined? Indeed, the stakes of these questions are only heighted when critique is directed at works produced by African-Americans. In this course we will consider these questions and more by reading/viewing/listening to a series of canonical African American cultural texts across mediums (ex. Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, Marvin Gaye's What's Going On) Upon initial read/listen/view students will work through methods of close reading of primary texts and provide their own critical review. Beyond engaging with canonical works and multidisciplinary methods this course would introduce students to the various ways that black cultural production, as a whole, is critically received; what type of expectations are set? Where are these works consumed and reviewed? What kind of language do critics consistently use? Etc. This will aid students in gaining a sense of their own subjectivity in relation to their subject matter. This course fulfills the fieldwork requirement for the AMCS major.
Course Attributes: EN H; BU Hum; BU BA; AS HUM; FA HUM; AR HUM; FA CPSC

Culture and Identity: Indigenous Feminisms

AMERICAN CULTURE STUDIES 330D

Section 01