ENGL 40818 - Thinking through Crisis

Institution:

University of Notre Dame

Subject:

English

Description:

What does it mean to be in a crisis? We live only a few years after a natural disaster ravaged the southern coast of the United States; we live only a few years after incidents of racial violence and judicial mishaps culminated in national protest; finally, these issues have been swallowed up by our worry over an economic breakdown that has been called a mere downturn by some, a recession by others, and even fewer have called it a depression. But none of these descriptions help us understand what we mean by crisis and what potential there is to think and act in such turbulent times. The same sorts of issues troubling our present also troubled Americans living in the Great Depression. African American writers of that period wrote novels, short stories, autobiographies, historiographies, poetry and other literary pieces that were both aesthetically rich and experiments in thinking critically about these issues. This course simply asks: How can Depression-era African American literature help us understand what it means to think during a crisis, and see the word as a concept, not just a media buzz word? Readings will include canonical authors like W.E.B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, and Carter G. Woodson, studied alongside artistic and theoretical responses to Hurricane Katrina, Jena 6, and other recent events.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.nd.edu

Phone Number:

(574) 631-5000

Regional Accreditation:

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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