Courses Designed to
Meet General Education Requirements
Identity/US Cultural Studies/Social
Science
The African Diaspora and the
World
Spelman College
Semester I & II Syllabi and Film
Series Schedule
Spelman College is uniquely poised
to prepare black women for the dawn
of a new century. To be sure, there
are many imponderables concerning what
the twenty-first century will bring,
but the demographic projections reveal
the general contours of the very near
future. The next century will see a
world that is increasingly dominated,
in sheer numbers, by women and people
of color. The United States itself will
experience a dramatic population shift
to the extent that the "minorities"
will collectively constitute the majority.
In both the world and the Americas,
women and men of African descent will
feature large.We at Spelman are at a
crucial juncture in the College's history.
In preparing what are bright and promising
students for roles of leadership in
the new era, we must continue making
decisions about curricula. We must be
careful to maintain the very fine tradition
of education at Spelman, a tradition
that has served it exceedingly well
for over 100 years, but we must also
attenuate that tradition in anticipation
of the growing challenges of a changing
world.
This course calls for the study of
the African Diaspora within the context
of world developments and over time.
It attempts to provide a common experience
that will represent to new Spelman students
essential issues about academic approach,
sense of identity, and values consonant
with the College's Statement of Purpose,
especially in its institutional goals
and behavioral expectations. It seeks
to help students understand relationships
between their common experience and
those of other communities. Cultural
exchange as a dynamic force is emphasized.
An appreciation of the interaction of
political, social, and economic factors
within and across continental boundaries
and throughout history is stressed.
To put it another way, this course seeks
to provide students with formal introduction
to their own background and culture
(a very legitimate need); the connection
of that background and culture to those
of other communities of African descent-,
the relationship between this comprehensive
experience and developments in the larger
world; and the fostering of a process
whereby students learn to reflect critically
upon methods and strategies of addressing
contemporary political, economic, and
social maladies. In short, the course
seeks to develop a more capable leadership.
"The African Diaspora and the
World" is a two-semester sequence
that is both interdisciplinary and gender-informed
(i.e., issues of gender constitute one
lens by which texts and themes are examined).
The course communicates the values and
concepts central to Spelman College:
sisterhood, leadership, a love of learning,
a sensitivity to cultural differences,
the use of diverse methods of scholarly
investigation, and the association between
learning and social change. Through
exposure to such an approach, students
will comprehend that there are many
ways of knowing, and that such ways
can be integrated to advantage in confronting
the challenges they inherit as women
of African descent.
GOALS
- To make the African Diaspora the
analytical center of inquiry.
- To develop an understanding of the
relationship of the Diaspora to other
cultures and to major historical,
philosophical, artistic, and scientific
developments in the world.
- To stimulate and nurture an institutional
intellectual culture that integrates
methods of inquiry, thus establishing
connections among disciplines and
encouraging students to pursue knowledge
through a variety of sources.
- To understand the experience of
black women within the context of
the collective experience of black
people and the world.
- To serve as an initial, substantive
experience at the college level that
provides a foundation for subsequent
studies, regardless of the major.
- To promote critical thinking, so
that in both written and oral communication
the student will be able to analyze
print and non-print material, make
comparisons of particulars, draw and
support conclusions, conduct independent
research and document material, synthesize
diverse information, scrutinize and
apply theory, and evaluate the characteristics
and ethical implications of diverse
world views.
- To understand that a study of the
human experience is important to an
appreciation of the student's position
as a citizen of the world.
This course is organized to enable
you to meet the goals fisted above,
in great measure, through writing. Writing
is a process, one that enables a writer
to explore initial
thoughts on a subject, to develop and
clarify those thoughts, and ultimately
learn a subject in a deeper and more
lasting way. Writing, in other words,
is a way to gain knowledge. Having knowledge
is to have power. The ability to express
knowledge articulately increases power.
This is a writing intensive course because
it aims to increase your knowledge and
your power.
OBJECTIVES
- Students will develop well-informed
questions about course content as
well as respond to such questions
in written form.
- Students will critically evaluate
and use theory to explain and predict
phenomena.
- Students will write critical essay
examinations.
- Students will introduce and discuss
ideas in formal class presentations.
- Students will produce one guided
group project that is visual or ephemeral
e.g., a dramatization, a musical performance,
a dance, etc.
- Students will be able to distinguish
the various arts (literature, plastic
and performing) generated from different
historical periods represented in
the course.
GRADE CRITERIA
- Examinations (20% of final grade).
- A visual/ephemeral group project
with a written component. (I 5% of
final grade).
- A minimum of four (4) writing assignments.
These assignments may be responses
to Common Presentations, films, and/or
unit exams. The instructor may also
assign other kinds of written assignments
(e.g., critiques, journals, free writings,
summaries, short essays; 50% of final
grade).
- Class participation (I 5% of final
grade).
RESEARCH PAPERS
Each student will be required to submit
a research paper with a minimum of 7
pages by April 1, 1999. The grade for
the term paper will be part of the overall
grade for the spring semester (ADW II
2). Although this paper will be due
in the Spring, it is helpful for students
to begin thinking about concepts and
topics from this semester that can be
used as a subject.
ADW NEWSLETTER
A newsletter to be used as a forum
for ideas and concerns for students
and faculty has been planned for this
term. It is anticipated that this newsletter
will be distributed 2-3 times during
the 1998-99 academic year. Please let
your instructor know if you are interested
in contributing to this project.
COMMON PRESENTATIONS
Common presentations are an integral
part of the course, and may be integrated
into the overall educational experience
by way of classroom discussion as well
as written assignments. At least two
common presentations are mandatory for
all ADW students.
AFRICAN FILM SERIES
Beginning in September, important and
highly acclaimed films on Africa and
the Diaspora will be shown every first
and third Thursday from 6:30-8:30pm.
At least two of the film sessions will
be required. Substantive, unstructured
discussion is encouraged. See the attached
schedule for titles and dates. Bring
a friend and enjoy.
SEMESTER ONE OF THE AFRICAN
DIASPORA AND THE WORLD:
HEMISPHERIC EXCHANGE
Texts
Mariama Ba, So Long A Letter
Aime Cesaire, Discourse on Colonialism
Maryse Conde, I,Tituba
Tsitsi Dangarembga, Nervous Conditions
Merle Hodge, Crick Crack Monke
Leroi Jones, Blues People
Lucille Mathurin Mair, Rebel Woman
D.T. Niane, Sundiata
William Shakespeare, The Tempest
Reading Packet (a complete
fist is provided at the end of the syllabus)
ORGANIZATION
The Three Main Units:
1. Interlocking Systems
of Oppression in the Diaspora:Patriarchy,
Colonialism Class and Cultural Domination
2. Old World Provenance
3. Resistance
UNIT ONE: INTERLOCKING
SYSTEMS OF OPPRESSION IN THE DIASPORA:
PATRIARCHY, COLONIALISM, CLASS AND CULTURAL
DOMINATION
Unit One contains the
following sections:
Beginning Considerations
Interlocking Systems in Africa
Interlocking Systems in the Caribbean
Interlocking Systems in the Islamic
World
Information in this
unit introduces students to the various
and interrelated dimensions of oppression
as experienced by women throughout the
Diaspora. Here. as in each of the subsequent
units, visual, verbal and musical media
will be used to investigate both different
ways of knowing and the various forms
by which what is known is communicated.
Week One: Beginning Considerations
(introduction to the discussion
of perspective as informed by gender,
race, class, and other factors)
Readings:
Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed,
chap. 2
Beverly Guy-Sheftall, "Gender
as an Analytic Category" (summer
mail)
Patricia Hill-Collins, "Knowledge,
Consciousness, and the Politics of
Empowerment"
Week Two: Beginning
Considerations cont'd
Readings:
Audre Lorde, "Age, Race, Class,
and Sex"
Charles Wagley, "On the Concept
of Social Race in the Americas"
Week Three:
Beginning Considerations cont'd
Readings: Aime Cesaire,
Discourse on Colonialism
Week Four: Interlocking Systems
in Africa
(examination of the impact of the combined
forces of patriarchy, colonialism. class
and culture)
Readings: Tsitisi
Dangarembga, Nervous Conditions
Week Five: Interlocking Systems in the
Caribbean
(continuation of the examination)
Readings: Merle Hodge,
Crick Crack Monke
Week Five: Interlocking Systems
in the Islamic World
(continuation of the examination)
Readings: Mariama
Ba, So Long A Letter
UNIT TWO: OLD WORLD
PROVENANCE
Unit Two contains the
following sections:
African and Native
American Background
Initial Encounters
Origins of Domination
Atlantic Slave Trade, Slavery, and
the Enlightenment
This four-week unit
begins with a look at African and Native
American societies prior to the slave
trade. Next, the dawn of European imperialism
and its initial impact upon African
society is considered. The unit then
examines the origins of the Atlantic
traffic, traces its development, and
concludes with a theoretical examination
of the nature of slavery and its intellectual
apology.
Week Seven:
African and Native American Background
(as Africans and Native Americans were
the two principal categories most adversely
impacted by the slave trade, examples
of their cultures prior to the trade
are examined here together)
Readings:
D. T. Niane, Sundiata
Eric Wolf, Europe and the People
without History, 58-71,129-135
Week Eight: Initial Encounters
(Europe on the verge of "discovery"
and conquest)
Readings: Shakespeare, The Tempest
Week Nine: Atlantic
Slave Trade, Slavery, and the Enlightenment
(the transatlantic slave trade, the
conceptual framework of slavery, and
the view of slavery by certain thinkers
associated with the Enlightenment)
Readings:
Olaudah Equiano, The Life of Gustavus
Vassa
St. Clair Drake, Black Folk Here
and there, 1: 13-30
Margaret E. Crahan and Franklin W.
Knight, Africa and the Caribbean,
chap. I
Visual: Benin photo
UNIT THREE: RESISTANCE
Unit Three contains
the following sections:
Resistance and Cultural
Developments in the U.S.
Resistance and Cultural Continuities
in the Caribbean and Latin America
Call and Response - Continuities/Transformations
in the Caribbean and the U.S.
This four-week unit examines. within
the context of cultural expressions,
the varying reactions and responses
to enslavement in the Americas.
Week Ten: Resistance
and Cultural Developments in the U.S.
(slave response in North America)
Readings:
Leroi Jones, Blues People,
ix-59
Angela Davis, "Reflections on
the Black Woman's Role in the Community
of Slaves"
Week Eleven: Resistance and
Cultural Developments in the Caribbean
and Latin America
(revolt in the West Indies
and Brazil)
Readings:
C.L.R. James, Black Jacobins, prologue,
6-26, 85-96, 116-117
Lucille Mathurin Mair, Rebel Woman
Joao Jose Reis, Slave Rebellion in
Brazil, chap. 8
Week Twelve:
Call and Response - Continuities/Transformations
in the Caribbean and the U.S.
Readings: Maryse Conde,
I, Tituba
Items in the Reading
Packet
Christopher Columbus,
Documents of West Indian History
Angela Davis, in Black Scholar
St. Clair Drake, Black Folk Here
and There
Olaudah Equiano, The Life of Gustavus
Vassa
Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Beverly Guy-Sheftall, "Gender as
an Analytic Category"
Patricia Hill-Collins, Black Feminist
Thought
C.L.R. James, Black Jacobins
Margaret E. Crahan and Franklin W. Knight,
Africa and the Caribbean
Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider
Joao Jose Reis, Slave Rebellion
in Brazil
Charles Wagley, Essays on Mexico,
Central and South America
Eric R. Wolf, Europe and the People
without History
SEMESTER
TWO OF THE AFRICAN DIASPORA AND THE
WORLD:
CULTURAL FLORESCENCE
AND POLITICAL RESURGENCE
Texts
Frantz Fanon, The
Wretched of the Earth
LeRoi Jones, Blues People
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, The
Communist Manifesto
Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Weep Not, Child
Wallace Thurman, et al, editors, Fire
Reading Packet (a complete
list is provided at the end of the syllabus)
ORGANIZATION
The Three Main Units:
I. The Matrix of Domination
II. Self-Determination and Cultural
Expression
III. Self-Determination and Socio-Political
Resurgence
UNIT I: THE MATRIX
OF DOMINATION: ISSUES OF IDENTITY
Unit I contains the
following sections:
The Aftermath of Slavery
- A Comparison
Marxism as Responses to the Industrial
Revolution
Freud, Marx and Gender Construction
at the Turn of the Century
Information in this
three-week unit examines economic, social,
intellectual and political developments
which impact the populations of the
Diaspora. The unit begins with a comparative
analysis of post-slavery experiences
and then moves into the first decades
of the twentieth century.
Week One: The
Aftermath of Slavery - Negotiations
of Diasporic Identities
(a comparative discussion of the emancipation
process in North America and the Caribbean)
Readings:
Woodville K. Marshall, "'We be
wise to many more tings': Blacks'
Hopes and Expectation of Emancipation."
in H. Beckles and V. Shepherd. Caribbean
Freedom
Jones, Blues People, chap.
6
Week Two: The
Aftermath of Slavery continued
Readings:
W.E.B. Du Bois, Souls of Black
Folk, chap. I
Booker T. Washington, "The Atlanta
Exposition Address"
Ida B. Wells, "Booker T. Washington
and His Critics"
Audio: Jim Reid, "Big Boss Man"
Week Three:
Marxism as a Response to the Industrial
Revolution
(an examination of representative writings
of these individuals within the context
of industrialization)
Readings:
Marx and Engels, Manifesto
Nell Painter, The Narrative of
Hosea Hudson, pp. 47-53
Week Four: Freud, Marx and Gender Construction
at the Turn of the Century
(an examination of intersection of anti-imperialism,
scientific racism and Freudian notions
of gender)
Readings:
Hazel Carby, Reconstructing Womanhood,
chap. 5
Thomson, Extraordinary Bodies,
pp. 71-78
Visual: Hottentot Venus
UNIT IL SELF-DETERMINATION AND CULTURAL
EXPRESSION
Unit II contains the
following sections:
Origins and Sources
of the New Negro Renaissance
New Negro Renaissance Continued
Negritude
This three-week span
looks at the ways in which art, music,
and politics interacted to create two
of the most celebrated periods of creativity
in both Africa and the Diaspora.
Week Five: Origins
and Sources of the New Negro Renaissance
(opening discussion of the New Negro
Movement)
Readings: Thurman,
et al, editors, Fire
Week Six: New Negro Renaissance
Continued
Readings:
Marcus Garvey, Philosophy and
Opinions, preface, 1:36-37,68-73;
2:18-19.55-61
Watkins-Owens, Blood Relations,
chapt. 2
Week Seven:
Interrogating Negritude
(an investigation of the linkages between
the two movements and some examples
of the latter)
Readings:
Lilyan Kesteloot, Black Writers
in French, pp.xiii-xix,7-11,119-122
Shapiro, Negritude , pp.
40-43,54-63,130-133
Derek Walcott, "Ti-Jean and His
Brothers"
UNIT III: SELF-DETERMINATION
AND SOCIO-POLITICAL RESURGENCE
Unit III contains the
following sections:
Struggle for Independence
Struggle for Independence Continued
Political and Cultural Resistance
Grass Roots Women Organizing for Change
The Civil Rights Movement
This is a six-week investigation
of related struggles against both colonialism
and racism.
Week Eight: Struggle for
Independence
Readings: Fanon, Wretched of the
Earth, chap. I
Film: "Black Skin, White Mask"
Week Nine: Struggle for Independence
Continued
(discussion of the process
by which Africans began to fight against
colonial rule)
Readings:
Ngugi, Weep Not, Child
Cora Presley, Kikuu Women, the
Mau Mau Rebellion
Week Ten: Political and Cultural
Resistance
(a look at the role of ideology in the
social upheavals of the Americas)
Readings:
Fidel Castro, History Will Absolve
Me
Horace Campbell, Rasta and Resistance,
pp. 121-128,140-144,147-150
Film: "Rigoberta Menchfi: Broken
Silence"
Week Eleven: Grass Roots Women
Organizing for Change
(a look at the evolution of the struggle
in the U.S.)
Readings:
Mamie E. Locke, "Is This America?
Fannie Lou Hamer and the Mississippi
Freedom Democratic Party?"
Cynthia Fleming, "Black Women
Activists and the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee: The Case of
Ruby Doris Smith Robinson"
Week Twelve: The Civil Rights
Movement
(examination of the origins of the Civil
Rights Era and its relationship to anti-colonial
struggles elsewhere)
Readings:
Eyes on the Prize, introduction
James Cone, Martin and Malcolm and
America, chaps. 9&10
Assata Shakur, Aasata, pages
216-240
Week Thirteen:
FINAL EXAM
Items in the Reading
Packet
Horace Campbell, Rasta
and Resistance
Hazel Carby, Reconstructing Womanhood
Fidel Castro, History Will Absolve
Me
James Cone, Martin & Malcolm
& America
W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black
Folk
Eyes on the Prize
Cynthia Fleming, in Clark Hine, King
and Reed, Black Women Activists:
We Specialize in the Wholly Impossible
Amy Jacques-Garvey, Philosophy and
Opinions of Marcus Garvey
Lilyan Kesteloot, Black Writers
in French
Marnie E. Locke, in Crawford, Rouse
and Woods, Women in the Civil Rights
Movement
Woodville K. Marshall, in Hilary Beckles
and Verene Shepherd, Caribbean Freedom
Nell Painter, The Narrative of Hosea
Hudson
Cora Presley, Kikuyu Women, The
Mau Mau Rebellion
Assata Shakur, Aasata
Norman R. Shapiro, Nearitude: Black
Poet1y From Africa and the Caribbean
Rosemarie Garland Thomson, Extraordinary
Bodies: Figuring Physical Disability
in American Culture and Literature
Booker T. Washington, "Up From
Slavery", The Heath Anthology
of American Literature
Irma Watkins-Owens, Blood Relations
- Caribbean Immigrants and the Harlem
Community,1900-1930
Ida B. Wells, "Booker T. Washington
and His Critics", Black Women
in United States History
African Diaspora and
the World
Fall 1999
Film Schedule
Defining Diaspora: Confronting
Xenophobia, Exploring Difference
Wednesday, September
29-Displaced in the New South (1995,
approx. 60 minutes)
This documentary profiles
the lives of various immigrant communities
of color in Atlanta and its suburbs.
Their many contributions to the cultural
life of the community alters our understanding
of racial politics and Southern identity,
while their histories challenge ingrained
assumptions about the roles and responsibilities
of public institutions.
Questions for Discussion
- How does the presence
of Latinos, Asian and African and
Caribbean people change our understanding
of racial identity and politics? How
does the presence of Latinos, Asian
and African and Caribbean people change
our understanding of Southern culture
and identity?
- What do these groups
have to contribute to the cultural
and social life of the metropolitan
area? What are some of the traditions
that they maintain, and some of the
values that they represent?
- What are some of
the problems that these groups face
in maintaining their cultural distinctiveness?
What are some of the problems that
these groups face in having access
to housing, jobs and education?
- What do members of
these groups have in common with recent
African American immigrants to Atlanta?
With the established African American
community? What should our relationship
be?
- From whom do members
of these groups face discrimination?
What forms of discrimination, what
experiences do the interview subjects
in the documentary describe?
- What does it mean
to be a refugee?
- Is Atlanta truly
an international city? How might some
of the white officials and business
people describe their vision of Atlanta
as an international city? What might
some of the immigrants say about this
vision?
- Should these immigrants
have (equal) access to public institutions
such as government and public schools?
What are some of the arguments (presented
in the documentary) for and against
participation as citizens?
- Should our institutions
change to accommodate the needs of
various groups? Should members of
these groups have to change to accommodate
our society?
- What are some of
the historical events and political
and economic changes described in
the documentary which help explain
the movement of emigrants and the
formation of immigrant communities?
What historical experiences have contributed
to the particular situation of Mexican
citizens being persecuted as illegal
immigrant workers?
- (How) do these issues
change in the more rural environment
of Gainesville, GA? What are the areas
of conflict in Gainesville?
African Diaspora and
the World
Fall 1999
Film Schedule
Defining Diaspora: Confronting
Xenophobia, Exploring Difference
Wednesday, October 13-
(1998, directed by Michael Chandler,
approx. 60 min)
This documentary examines
the burning of two black churches in
and around Manning, South Carolina,
Macedonia Baptist Church and Mount Zion
AME Church, and includes interviews
with pastors, congregation members,
former Ku Klux Klan members, and local
citizens, including the men convicted
of burning Macedonia. It demonstrates
the importance of the black church to
its community, the role of a resurgent
Klan, and the relationship of contemporary
incidents of violence to a longer history
of white supremacy and violence against
blacks.
- What do we learn
about the economic, social and political
conditions in Manning and in South
Carolina as a whole which form a context
or explaining the presence of the
Ku Klux Klan and their activities?
- What role does the
black church play in contemporary
society and in the individual lives
of its members? How is this role connected
to its historical functions?
- Is this documentary
correct in attributing incidences
of violence solely to the activities
of the KKK in Clarendon county?
- How is the situation
documented in the film related to
problems of racism and attitudes about
class in the larger society, or in
the country, as a whole?
- Is it possible (or
desirable) to both preserve the distinctiveness
of (white, working class) Southern
culture and eliminate racism and racial
violence? Can (should) racism only
be attributed to "white trash"?
What roles do more affluent and better
educated whites play in maintaining
white supremacy?
- What acts of resistance
to racism do blacks demonstrate in
this documentary in the contemporary
period?
- What incidences of
racial violence are documented in
the film in addition to the actual
burnings? How are these events in
the present connected to a longer
history of racial violence?
- What forms of political
activism did blacks engage in, in
South Carolina, in the 1940s and 1950s
and 1960s, and why?
- What elements could
help to explain who joined the KKK
in the county? Why did Timothy Welch
burn down Macedonia Baptist Church?
- What do you think
needs to happen to prevent more burnings?
What do you think needs to happen
to change the conditions that support
racism? What evidence in the film
is presented to give hope of a better
future and to show healing in the
community?
African Diaspora and
the World
Fall 1999
Film Schedule
Defining Diaspora: Confronting
Xenophobia, Exploring Difference
Wednesday, October 27-I
Shall Not Be Removed: The Life of Marlon
Riggs (l 996, directed by KarenEverett,
58 minutes)
This documentary presents
a biography of filmmaker Marlon Riggs,
from his Texas childhood, through his
education at Harvard University, his
career as an artist and teacher, to
his death in 1994. His body of work,
which includes Ethnic Notions(1986),
Tongues Untied (1990), Color Adjustment
(1991), and Black Is ... Black Ain't'
(1995), is clearly connected to his
personal experiences and political position
as a black gay man, and to his intellectual
life as a scholar and teacher.
- How does the documentary
demonstrate that Riggs was part of
the local black community in Texas
and influenced by its culture and
environment? What information do we
get about the impact that living overseas
had on Riggs personal and intellectual
development?
- How was Riggs inspired
by his educational experiences to
become a filmmaker?
- What does the reception
of Riggs' films (as controversial
products) say about the intellectual
needs and concerns of students of
black history, and the relationship
of diasporic history to white mainstream
ideas about knowledge? What does the
reception of Riggs' films (as controversial
products) say about the emotional
needs and concerns of black audiences?
- What is the critique
of homophobia which Riggs makes in
his work and in this documentary?
What is the critique of racism in
the gay community which Riggs makes
in his work and in this documentary?
What is the critique of the political
marginalization of AIDS and its impact
on the black community which Riggs
makes in his work and in this documentary?
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