Black Studies

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Musing on Miles - An American icon — MHI2214.01

Instructor: Michael Wimberly
Days & Time: TH 10:00am-11:50am
Credits: 2

Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926 – September 28, 1991) was an American icon whose approach and innovation on the trumpet set him apart from the mainstream. Davis explored new approaches to creating and composing music. Davis was a trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. When

Other People’s Worlds — ANT4129.01

Instructor: Miroslava Prazak
Credits: 4
In the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century a European based world-economy came into existence. Fueled by the philosophy of mercantilism, traders followed, and sometimes were, explorers seeking riches in the lands discovered in the search for trade routes. The resulting contact between cultures led to fundamental transformations of all the societies and cultures involved.

Popular Culture and Music in Post-Colonial Africa — MET2140.01

Instructor: Joseph Alpar
Days & Time: TU 2:10pm-4:00pm
Credits: 2

In this course we will examine the role of music as a vehicle for political and social change in Africa. Our focus will be music-making throughout the continent of Africa during the nationalist struggles that resulted in independent African states and how musicians responded (and continue to respond) to the persistent challenges faced by those post-colonial states. We will

Race in Publishing — LIT2574.01

Instructor: Mariam Rahmani
Days & Time: FR 8:30am-12:10pm
Credits: 4

That writers of color earn less than their white peers in advances and fees is anecdotally well known. But we lack exhaustive data. Gearing up for such data collection the next few years in a faculty-driven project at Bennington, this course provides an overview of the broader ethical and social landscape around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in

Reading & Writing Fiction: Writing the Body — LIT4604.01

Instructor: Mariam Rahmani
Days & Time: WE 2:10pm-5:50pm
Credits: 4

This Reading & Writing Fiction course focuses on the novel, and in particular on reading and writing the body, with an emphasis on femininity. We will look at both the construction of and conspicuous erasure of the femme/feminine body. We will treat gender as a construct, discussing gender normativity, ciswomanhood, transness, and other related subjects and

Reading and Writing Nonfiction: Archival Work — LIT4601.01

Instructor: An Duplan
Credits: 4
The archive––and using archival materials as the generative basis for creative output––is having a moment. The visionary scholar-writer Saidiya Hartman has popularized once unknown terms like “critical fabulation” and “documentary poetics” through genre bending works like Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments and erasure projects like poet Nicole Sealey’s The Ferguson Report: an

Richard Wright and James Baldwin — LIT2193.01

Instructor: Benjamin Anastas
Credits: 4
“As writers we were about as unlike as any two writers could possible be,” James Baldwin wrote of his early mentor and later rival Richard Wright. “We were linked together, really, because both of us were black.” Now that the two writers have been found new relevance--and controversy--in a post-Black Lives Matter world, we can read their major works together, side by side, and

Sankofa & memoria: Archiving - Finding your history in order to go forward — DAN4381.01

Instructor: Kaolack Ndiaye
Days & Time: WE 10:00am-11:50am & WE 2:10pm-4:00pm
Credits: 4

In this course, we will be uncovering, re-positioning, and affirming historical legacies and traditions that stand the risk of being lost forever, and explore how to use them to fight discrimination, racism and hate today. We will do so using Sankofa, a quest for knowledge through critical examination, patient investigation, and learning

Sankofa: Archiving - Finding your history in order to go forward — DAN2412.01

Instructor: Carly Rudzinski
Credits: 4
In this course, we will be uncovering, re-positioning, and affirming historical legacies and traditions that stand the risk of being lost forever.  We will explore the history and the effects of colonization in select regions of the world, i.e. Sénégal, Gambia, and other countries in West Africa. We will focus on how specific dance practices intersect with systems of race,

Situating Black & Brown Art in Museums — BLS4001.01

Instructor: An Duplan
Days & Time: TU 10:30am-12:20pm
Credits:

In collaboration with Mass MoCA’s Director of Public Programs, Lisa Dent, this course will combine art history and museum education as modes of inquiry into the unique challenges of presenting and contextualizing Black and brown artists in museums. Students will engage deeply with three solo exhibitions at Mass MoCA: (1) RACE/HUSTLE by Zora J. Murff, whose work “bluntly

Sun Ra: Space is the Place — MHI2213.01

Instructor: Michael Wimberly
Credits: 2
SUN RA…SPACE IS THE PLACE unfolds the life of Herman Poole Blount, (May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993) founder and creator of the Sun Ra Arkestra. Considered a prolific composer of jazz and a pioneer of electronic music, Herman Blount, aka Le Sony’r Ra, better known as Sun Ra, was quite controversial for his electronic music and unorthodox lifestyle. He claimed he was of the “Angel

The Literature of Black Insurgency — LIT4390.01) (day/time updated as of 10/9/2023

Instructor: An Duplan
Credits: 4
Looting, shooting, and gangs. We have many words for Black violence, a violence frowned upon not just by the racist and reactionary, but also by the ‘reasonable’ neoliberal. Stokely Carmichael’s “The Pitfalls of Liberalism” describes liberals’ tendency to “try to convince the oppressed that violence is an incorrect tactic, that violence will not work, that violence never

The Social Psychology of Systems of Domination in the U.S. — PSY4250.01

Instructor: Audrey Devost
Days & Time: MO,TH 1:40pm-3:30pm
Credits: 4

Social psychology is the scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another. This course will explore social thinking, influence, and social relations that shape our lived experiences through a U.S. contextual lens. Social psychologists are increasingly concerned with the effects of the various systems of

Traditional Music Ensemble — MPF4221.01

Instructor: John Kirk
Days & Time: W 10:00AM-10:50AM
Credits: 2

We will study and perform from the string band traditions of rural America. Nova Scotia, Quebecois, Irish, New England, Scandinavian, African-American dance and ballad traditions. In addition, these will be experienced with listening, practice (weekly group rehearsals outside of class), and performing components. Emphasis on ensemble intuition, playing by ear, and lifetime

Traditional Music Ensemble — MPF4221.01

Instructor: John Kirk
Days & Time: W 10:00AM-10:50AM
Credits: 2

We will study and perform from the string band traditions of rural America. Nova Scotia, Quebecois, Irish, New England, Scandinavian, African-American dance and ballad traditions. In addition, these will be experienced with listening, practice (weekly group rehearsals outside of class), and performing components. Emphasis on ensemble intuition, playing by ear, and lifetime

Translating from Zero — LIT2573.01

Instructor: Mariam Rahmani
Days & Time: TU,FR 2:10pm-4:00pm
Credits: 4

Designed to help beginner translators with no experience build their own ethical translation practices—with attention to issues of race, gender, and queerness—this course offers an introduction to translation via a hands-on approach. What pronouns do you use when translating from a language that doesn’t have gendered pronouns? Do you translate slurs? We

Why Jazz? How this music known as jazz came to be and how it influenced modern day music — MHI2002.01

Instructor: Jen Allen
Credits: 2
In this course we will walk through the timeline of how this music, often known as jazz, came into existence and how it proceeded to open doors for many other types of music.  We will look at how the social and political atmosphere of the early 1900s in New Orleans created the perfect environment for the creation of a new and unique music.  We will walk through the