Professor Laura Chrisman
B401 Padelford
Spring 2025
Office hours: W 3-4pm or by appointment
Black Radicalism, Anti-Colonialism, and Marxism: literary and critical studies
Denny Hall, room 210
M/W 9.30-11.20am
This course explores the complex interactions of anti-colonial, communist, and Marxist Black political cultures across the long 20th century. Drawing upon the resources of Marxist and postcolonial studies, this course fuses literary criticism, archival enquiry and critical theory. Under consideration are writers and movements from continental Africa, the Caribbean, and North America.
Primary literary texts, in course sequence:
-Alice Childress, Like One of the Family: Conversations from a Domestic's Life (1956)
Beacon Press; Reprint edition (January 24, 2017), foreword by Roxane Gay
ISBN-10: 0807050741; ISBN-13: 978-0807050743
-Alex La Guma, A Walk in the Night (title novella only, pp. 1-91) (1961) pdf, in Files
-Sembene Ousmane, God’s Bits of Wood (1960)
Pearson (July 29, 1995)
ISBN-10: 0435909592; ISBN-13: 978-0435909598
-Dionne Brand, A Map to the Door of No Return (2001); use the 2024 edition
Picador (October 1, 2024)
ISBN-10: 1250348846; ISBN-13: 978-1250348845
-Uhuru Portia Phalafala, Mine, Mine, Mine (2023)
University of Nebraska Press (March 1, 2023)
ISBN-10: 1496235150; ISBN-13: 978-1496235152
Please order all of these except for La Guma, to own and annotate as print copies, asap.
Course requirements
--Participation (25% of final grade)
Graduate seminars depend upon fruitful discussion for success. Please come to class with readings prepared and readiness to engage with issues raised by other participants in the class.
--Twice-weekly Responses (25% of final grade) (from week 2):
150+ word responses to the next day’s readings will be due to the Canvas discussion page, by 8pm, on Sundays and Tuesdays. Please read through the responses of the other seminar members before class.
--Writing assignments. (50% of final grade)
You have a choice: either two 7-10 page research papers, or one 15-20 page research paper. If you choose the two paper options, the first is due at the start of week 5, and should focus on materials explored in weeks 1-4 of class. The other paper should focus on materials explored in weeks 5-10 of class. Both it, and the 15-20 paper option, are due by 5pm on Weds of finals week (June 11th).
Provisional Schedule.
Week 1.
Mar 31: Intro
Apr 2: Claudia Jones, “An End to the Neglect of the Problems of the Negro Woman!” (1949) (pub in Political Affairs, June 1949, p. 51-67); pdf in Files
Denise Lynn and Mary Helen Washington chapters on Claudia Jones (you can skip Washington’s discussion of Lorraine Hansberry), pdfs in Files
Supplementary: https://www.marxists.org/archive/jones-claudia/index.htm
Week 2. Alice Childress, Like One of the Family: Conversations from a Domestic's Life
April 7: Read up to and including “I Liked Workin’ at That Place” (ends on p. 70)
If your paperback edition has yet to arrive, start by reading this pdf version, in Files:
April 9: Up to/including “What is it All About?: (ends p. 135)
Week 3. Childress and La Guma.
April 14: Alice Childress, concluded.
Supplementary: the FBI Dossier on Childress, pdf in Files
Supplementary: Jennifer Hamer and Helen Neville article on Revolutionary Black Feminism, pdf in Files
April 16: Alex La Guma, A Walk in the Night (title story only)
Alex La Guma, “Whither South Africa” (1974), pdf in Files
Jabulani Mkhize article on La Guma, to p.142, pdf in Files
Week 4. La Guma and Amilcar Cabral.
April 21: Alex La Guma, A Walk in the Night
Alex La Guma, “South African Writing under Apartheid” (1975), pdf in Files
Christopher J Lee, article on La Guma, pdf in Files
April 23: Amilcar Cabral, “National Liberation and Culture”; “Identity and Dignity in the Context of the National Liberation Struggle”, chapters from Return to the Source, pdf in Files
Amilcar Cabral, “Unity and Struggle”, “To Start out from the Reality of Our Land—to be realists”; chapters from Unity and Struggle, pdf in Files
Firozi Manji and Bill Fletcher, Jr, Introduction, Claim No Easy Victories. The Legacy of Amilcar Cabral, pdf in Files
Week 5. Walter Rodney and Sembene Ousmane.
April 28: Walter Rodney, “Marxism and African Liberation”, “Marxism as a Third World Ideology”, chapters from Decolonial Marxism, pdf in Files
Shozab Raza and Noaman Ali, article on Rodney’s Radical Legacy, pdf in Files
April 30: Sembene Ousmane, God’s Bits of Wood
First five chapters, through “Houdia M’Baye”
James A. Jones article, pdf in Files
Week 6. Sembene Ousmane, God’s Bits of Wood, cont
May 5 and 7: From “Ramatoulaye” chapter to “The Return of Bakayoko” chapter
Ingrid Reneau and Patrick McDonald articles, pdfs in Files
Week 7: Sembene Ousmane, God’s Bits of Wood, concluded; The Destruction of Revolutionary Grenada.
May 12: From “The March of the Women” to “Thies Epilogue”
Supplementary: Gerard Lavatori article, pdf in Files
May 14: The Black Scholar journal articles and poetry on the 1983 destruction of revolutionary Grenada, pdfs in Files
Dionne Brand, “Military Occupations” section, from Chronicles of the Hostile Sun (1984). You can access this as a UW library EBook, viz Dionne Brand, Nomenclature: New and Collected Poems (Duke UP, 2022)
Week 8: Dionne Brand, A Map to the Door of No Return
May 19: Dionne Brand, A Map to the Door of No Return
May 21: Dionne Brand, A Map to the Door of No Return, to p. 91
We will consider Brand's text in conversation with theories and histories of Black American national self-determination struggles:
Harry Haywood, “The Negro Nation” (1948), pdf in Files (Brand materials)
Imari Obadele, “The Struggle is for Land” (1972), “National Black Elections held by Republic of New Africa” (1975), pdf in Files (Brand materials)
Week 9. Dionne Brand, A Map to the Door of No Return
May 26: no class
May 28: Dionne Brand, A Map to the Door of No Return, to p. 171
We will consider Brand's text in conversation with theories and histories of Caribbean revolutionary activism:
Extract from David Scott, Omens of Adversity: Chapter 1, pp. 33-45 (end of section), pdf in Files (Brand materials)
Walter Rodney, “Black Power, a Basic Understanding”, “Black Power-its Relevance to the West Indies”, “The Groundings with My Brothers”, “The Groundings with My Brothers, pdf in Files (Walter Rodney materials)
Supplementary: TOPIA: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies, 2023: Vol. 46
|
Dionne Brand’s A Map to the Door of No Return at 20: A Gathering: |
https://browzine.com/libraries/3478/journals/105358/issues/517404029
Week 10. Brand, concluded, and Uhuru Portia Phalafala, Mine, Mine, Mine
June 2: Dionne Brand, A Map to the Door of No Return, to the end
June 4: Uhuru Portia Phalafala, Mine, Mine, Mine
+ The two conversations with Phalafala, pdfs in Files
Class policies.
Office Hours: This is a time where you and I can meet outside class to discuss assignments, questions about the reading, concerns about expectations, etc. If my scheduled hours are inaccessible to you, please email me to make appointments for another time.
Emailing: Please do not e-mail me questions that are answered explicitly in the syllabus or elsewhere on the Canvas site. I will delete these without replying…
Academic Honesty: It is essential that you properly cite other people’s ideas and language in your writing. Academic integrity is a fundamental university value. Through the honest completion of academic work, students sustain the integrity of the university while facilitating the university’s imperative for the transmission of knowledge and culture based upon the generation of new and innovative ideas.
When an instance of suspected or alleged academic dishonesty by a student arises, it shall be resolved according to the procedures standard at the University of Washington. These procedures are listed here:
https://depts.washington.edu/grading/pdf/AcademicResponsibility.pdf
English Department’s Statement of Values:
The UW English Department aims to help students become more incisive thinkers, effective communicators, and imaginative writers by acknowledging that language and its use is powerful and holds the potential to empower individuals and communities; to provide the means to engage in meaningful conversation and collaboration across differences and with those with whom we disagree; and to offer methods for exploring, understanding, problem solving, and responding to the many pressing collective issues we face in our world—skills that align with and support the University of Washington’s mission to educate “a diverse student body to become responsible global citizens and future leaders through a challenging learning environment informed by cutting-edge scholarship.”
As a department, we begin with the conviction that language and texts play crucial roles in the constitution of cultures and communities. Our disciplinary commitments to the study of language, literature, and culture require of us a willingness to engage openly and critically with questions of power and difference. As such, in our teaching, service, and scholarship we frequently initiate and encourage conversations about topics such as race, immigration, gender, sexuality, and class. These topics are fundamental to the inquiry we pursue. We are proud of this fact, and we are committed to creating an environment in which our faculty and students can do so confidently and securely, knowing that they have the backing of the department.
Towards that aim, we value the inherent dignity and uniqueness of individuals and communities. We aspire to be a place where human rights are respected and where any of us can seek support. This includes people of all ethnicities, faiths, genders, national origins, political views, and citizenship status; LGBQTIA+; those with disabilities; veterans; and anyone who has been targeted, abused, or disenfranchised.
Statement on Religious Accommodation:
Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation,
Is available here:
https://registrar.washington.edu/staffandfaculty/religious-accommodations-policy/
Disability:
If you have already established accommodations with Disability Resources for Students (DRS), please communicate your approved accommodations to me at your earliest convenience so we can discuss your needs in this course.
If you have not yet established services through DRS, but have a temporary health condition or permanent disability that requires accommodations (conditions include but not limited to; mental health, attention-related, learning, vision, hearing, physical or health impacts), you are welcome to contact DRS at 206-543-8924 or uwdrs@uw.edu or disability.uw.edu. DRS offers resources and coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities and/or temporary health conditions. Reasonable accommodations are established through an interactive process between you, your instructor(s) and DRS. It is the policy and practice of the University of Washington to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law.
Writing Centers
Wherever you fall on the spectrum of writing in this course— whether you are struggling with a writing assignment or seeking to “reach the next level”— take advantage of the UW’s writing centers. You will receive feedback and guidance on your writing from me and from your classmates, but it’s also valuable to get the perspective of someone outside the course (especially someone with expertise in producing academic writing!). UW’s writing centers are free for students and provide individual attention from trained readers and writing coaches.
The Odegaard Writing and Research Center (OWRC) offers free, one-on-one help with all aspects of writing at any stage in the writing process. You can consult with a writing tutor at any stage of the writing process, from the very beginning (when you are planning a paper) to near the end (when you are thinking about how to revise a draft to submit to your instructor). To make the best use of your time there, please bring a copy of your assignment with you and double-space any drafts you want to bring in. While OWRC writing consultants are eager to help you improve your writing, they will not proofread your paper. Available spots are limited, so book your appointments early!