GNDR 300RRR - Black Women, Citizenship, Love

Institution:

Westminster College (Salt Lake City)

Subject:

Gender Studies

Description:

This past October, in a South Carolina high school, a Black teenage girl was violently flipped out of her desk chair by the school resource officer while her Black male teacher passively looked on. The schoolteacher had called the officer because this Black teenage girl refused to put away her phone or some other typical teenage behavior. The video of this incident was captured on phones by other students in the class and spread like wild fire over social media. Quickly-too quickly-a cacophony of voices rose to justify the officer's excessive use of force, while others cried out in anger and pain at the violence enacted on this Black teenage girl. Why was the national outcry over this incident so mixed? This course sets out to investigate a set of complex question: does the U.S. deny Black women love? What is the relationship between love and citizenship? Why are Black women both vilified in the news media and sexually glorified in music videos? Through a variety of disciplinary perspectives-history, law sociology, cultural anthropology, visual art and literature-we will focus on the key issues of Black feminist theory that can help shed light on the longevity of public policies and laws put into place during slavery that allows for the systematic abuse of Black women and how this manifest today in law, education, culture and society. This course will begin by investigating Black female stereotypes-such as jezebel, sapphire and the mammy and their more recent manifestations such as welfare queen and baby mama-and how these manifest in the court of law, political speeches and in stand-up acts by popular Black comedians to understand how sexism, class oppression and racism deny Black women basic human rights.

Credits:

4.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.westminstercollege.edu

Phone Number:

(801) 484-7651

Regional Accreditation:

Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities

Calendar System:

Four-one-four plan

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