Black Gender: Constructions of Manhood and Womanhood in the African American Community Course Description: This course engages the complexities of racial and gender identities within Black communities. We question the concepts of manhood and womanhood and their intersection with racial constructs as categories of personhood through the critical lens of Africana/African American Studies and Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies. We will discuss how gender in the U.S. is mediated by race by focusing on intraracial or “insider” everyday conversations about race and gender within Black communities. This class makes use of popular culture, current events, and emphasizes the importance of creating a democratic learning community. By the end of the course, students are expected to be able to: • Identify how gender is simultaneously raced for U.S. Black women and men. • Critique and question the notions of Black manhood and Black womanhood. • Discuss race and gender as social constructions. • Identify the ways in which these social constructions are mediated by culture and popular media. • Discuss the ways in which Black sexualities are affected by Black gender and vice versa.
Grade Distribution & Assignments Syllabus Quiz 50 Familiarize yourself with the syllabus. This quiz will guide you in doing so. You may take the quiz up to three times. This quiz will be administered on Canvas from the first day of class and is due for completion by class period October 2. Participation 200 Participation is a very important part of our class dynamic here. Because the material in this class affects how we view ourselves and the world around us, it is important that we be able to articulate what we are learning to ourselves and to each other in a respectful yet engaged manner. This process allows for a group dynamic wherein, we are learning from each other in community, rather than struggling with material on our own. Every day of class will count in your final participation grade. When discussion board assignments are due on days we do not meet, those will count as participation grades as well. Pop quizzes will also count towards your participation grade. Participation is graded twice in the quarter: once at the end of the first week in November and finally in the last week of the quarter. Film Reflections 100x5
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Every Tuesday with the exception of December 4th, we will not convene class discussion but we will be viewing films instead. The films listed in the syllabus are to be viewed along with their accompanying readings in preparation for discussion for the following Thursday. Access to those films is through the library. Most can be screened online, but there are a few cases in which you will have to check out the DVD at the library. If you find the film by other means (Amazon Prime Video, iTunes, Netflix, Hulu and the like) that is perfectly fine. You are responsible for turning in five of these one-page response assignments. This assignment is used to assess critical thinking and engagement with the films and readings. An assignment sheet that guides how you should approach this reflection is available on canvas. Film reflections are due the Friday evening of the week in which they were viewed and discussed. No exceptions, no makeups toward the end of the quarter. Community Learning Assignment 250 This final learning analysis will be a group assignment that you will develop in collaboration with your classmates. Breakdown of the CLA • Final Project Proposal (25) • Final Project Bibliography (75) • Final Project Presentations (25) • Final Projects (100) • Peer Review (25)
Course Outline Identity/Community Thursday, September 27, 2018 Introductions Tuesday, October 2, 2018 View Black Is… Black Ain’t by Marlon Riggs https://bit.ly/2zz4ExU Chapters 1 and 2 of The Origin of Others Thursday, October 4, 2018 – Syllabus Quiz Due Chapters 3 and 4 of The Origin of Others “Having Their Say” and “The Personal is Political” from Gender Talk Tuesday, October 9, 2018 View Daughters of the Dust by Julie Dash https://bit.ly/2IjOH1x Chapters 5 and 6 of The Origin of Others Thursday, October 11, 2018 “Mama’s Baby, Papa’s Maybe” – Hortense Spillers 2
En/Ungendering Tuesday, October 16, 2018 – Final Assignment Discussion View The Life and Times of Sarah Baartman https://bit.ly/2xOSgYJ “Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female” by Frances Beale Thursday, October 18, 2018 – Mid Quarter Evaluations Due No Class Tuesday, October 23, 2018 View The Return of Sarah Baartman https://bit.ly/2QQoR9f “Olympia’s Maid” by Lorraine O’Grady Thursday, October 25, 2018 – Submit final assignment proposal and group contracts from Black on Both Sides by C. Riley Snorton Tuesday, October 30, 2018 View Paris is Burning available on reserve at the Library (Alternatively, if you have access to Netflix, it is available there.) “Race Secrets and the Body Politic” and “Black, lesbian, and gay: speaking the unspeakable” in Gender Talk Thursday, November 1, 2018 “Reflections on the Black woman’s Role in the Community of Slaves” Angela Davis http://www.jstor.org/stable/25088201 “Chapter II. The Negro American Family” The Moynihan Report from the U.S. Department of Labor http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/history/moynchapter2.htm Tuesday, November 6, 2018 View The Color Purple Spielberg. Available at the library on course reserve. “Blacks in Heated Debate Over “The Color Purple” by E.R. Shipp from The New York Times 1986 http://www.nytimes.com/1986/01/27/us/blacks-in-heated-debate-over-the-color-purple.html Thursday, November 8, 2018 Research Day – No Class
Warped Images Tuesday, November 13, 2018 View Ethnic Notions by Marlon Riggs https://bit.ly/2zyRDnW “Myth and Fact: The Reception of ‘The Birth of a Nation’” Film History, Volume 16, pp. 117-141, 2004. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3815447
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Thursday, November 15, 2018 – Bibliographies Due “Constructing and Visualizing Race” by Michael D. Harris in Colored Pictures: Race and Visual Representation Tuesday, November 20, 2018 Hip Hop Beyond Beats and Rhymes by Byron Hurt available on course reserve in the library “No respect: gender politics and hip-hop” in Gender Talk
Love Thursday, November 22, 2018 “Loving Black Folks as Political Resistance” Black Looks bell hooks [C] Section “The Hard Headed” in Head off and Split Tuesday, November 27, 2018 View Eve’s Bayou available on course reserve in the library Introduction to “The Black Sexism Debate,” “The Myth of Black Macho: A Response to Angry Black Feminists” by Robert Staples and “Feminism & Black Liberation: The Great American Disease,” by Audre Lorde from The Black Scholar Thursday, November 29, 2018 Section “The Head Over Heels” in Head off and Split Tuesday, December 4, 2018 Section “Section “The Head Waters” in Head off and Split “A Black Feminist Statement” by Combahee River Collective Thursday, December 6, 2018 – Final Assignment Presentations
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