English 262 - Spring, 2014

American Literature After 1914

Class Information

Instructor: Heard Mollel, Danielle
CRN: 22784
Time: T 3:10-6:00
Location: 120 Voorhies
Breadth: Later American
Focus: Interdiscipline, Other National, Theory

Description

ENL 262: Afrosurrealism

Mention of the Afrosurreal traces back to Amiri Baraka’s description of Henry Dumas as an “Afro-Surreal Expressionist,” but the term remained unaddressed until Bay Area writer, artist, and curator D. Scott Miller blogged his “Afro-surreal Manifesto” in 2009. In it he distinguishes the aesthetic concept from surrealism, because of its Afro-Asiatic revolutionary thrust, and from Afro-futurism, because of its concern with the present. Miller explains that “Afro-Surrealists restore the cult of the past. We revisit old ways with new eyes...We re-introduce ‘madness’ as visitations from the gods, and acknowledge the possibility of magic. We take up the obsessions of the ancients and kindle the dis-ease, clearing the murk of the collective unconsciousness as it manifests in these dreams called culture.” Recently, Black Camera has announced a special journal issue on Afrosurrealism, suggesting a renewed interest within studies of the African diaspora on this under-theorized artistic and intellectual movement. This course works to further define and theorize the concept by examining literature, film, visual art, music, criticism and theory that expresses or responds to the Afrosurreal. The syllabus may contain works by: Suzan-Lori Parks, Ishmael Reed, Kara Walker, Wendell B. Harris, Jr., Ralph Ellison, Adrian Piper, Darius James, Spike Lee, Franz Fanon, Robert Colescott, Henry Dumas, Charles Mingus, and Léopold Senghor.

Grading

Based on oral presentations, participation, and an article-length final paper.

Texts

Black, Brown, & Beige: Surrealist Writings from Africa and the Diaspora, Franklin Rosemont and Robin D.G. Kelley, eds.
Out of Order, Out of Sight, Vol. I: Selected Writings in Meta-Art 1968-1992, Adrian Piper
Beneath the Underdog: His World as Composed by Mingus, Charles Mingus
The America Play and Other Works, Suzan-Lori Parks
Negrophobia: An Urban Parable: A Novel , Darius James
Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
Erasure, Percival Everett