One hour of lecture per week per unit. Topics will vary from term to term depending on student demand and faculty availability.

This course considers historical gatherings that we will call “Black Festivals” and what they can show us about the intersection of art, race, and freedom. In 1900, W.E.B Du Bois prophetically stated, “The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line.” This statement was made at the closing session of the Pan-African Congress held in London. It was the first of many more conferences and events that would be hosted throughout the century where scholars, artists, and politicians defined central concepts in Black intellectual thought such as Diaspora, Black Internationalism, Negritude, and Pan-Africanism. This course will broaden the category of festival to also consider various forms of gatherings such as conferences, book fairs, carnivals, and house parties. By doing so, the course will have the dual task to trace the emergence of foundational concepts in Black Diaspora Studies and to experiment with methodologies for reading these dynamic events.

Repeat Rules