564 T SEMINAR IN LIT MODES AND GENRES, Goodlad & Thompson. TH 3:30-6:20
TOPIC: Transatlantic Blackness

In what ways is the black Atlantic complicated by its particular instantiations as a British Atlantic? The terms “transatlantic” and “transnational” imply fluid notions of citizenship and national identity, yet black Atlantic writers often take nationalist stances in order to make intraracial distinctions. Is the black Atlantic subjectivity of figures such as Olaudah Equiano and Mary Seacole challenged by claims to Britishness? In this course we explore these and other tensions between race and nation through an exploration of British and Caribbean-inflected Atlantic formations. Our primary texts include works by Olaudah Equiano, Jane Austen, Mary Prince, Charlotte Bronte, Fredrick Douglass, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Mary Seacole, and Wilkie Collins. Critical readings include works by Paul Gilroy, Edward Said, K. Anthony Appiah, Simon Gikandi, and Srinivas Aravamudan.