From Civil War to Civil Rights: African American Literature, Activism and Sentimentality
Spring 2008
English 98/198
2 Unit(s)
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About the Course:
How is the Civil Rights Movement rooted in Civil War literature? What do Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X have to do with Harriet Beecher Stowe? Why has Disney's film Song of the South been widely banned, and how does it illustrate the literary traditions of sentimentality? These are only a few questions we hope to delve into during the course of this semester. Through the lens of sentimentalism, this class will explore how the legacy of Civil War era writers (Stowe, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Dubois) impacts the literature of the Harlem Renaissance (Jean Toomer, Langston Hughes), and of the Civil Rights Movement (Amiri Baraka, Ishmael Reed). After exploring what "sentimentality" means, we will focus on three main aspects of it: first, the idea that "right feelings" naturally lead to right actions; second, the importance of family reunification; and third, the implications of the use of dialect. From there, we will trace how this inheritance of sentimentality gets worked out in literature and film from just before the Harlem Renaissance all the way through the American Civil Rights Movement. We will examine how sentimentality and the critical reactions against it were manifested in the literature, films, and socio-political atmospheres of the different eras.
This course will be discussion-based. Although the facilitators will provide relevant background information, we will not be lecturing you on the material. Rather, our class time will consist of discussion, so come ready to talk and learn together!
How to Enroll:
Please e-mail the facilitators if you would like to be put on the preliminary class list, and be sure to specify whether you are a lower or upper division student. Come to the first day of class, as Course Control Numbers will only be handed out after the first day to those who were in attendance. Priority will be given to those who e-mail the facilitators and show up. We have 10 lower division and 20 upper division spots.Course Contact: allisonlahl AT berkeley.edu, codonnell AT berkeley.edu
Faculty Sponsor: Professor Bryan Wagner
Time & Location:
| Section | Facilitators | Size | Location | Time | Starts | Status | CCNs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | Allison Lahl Caitlin O'Donnell | 30 | 234 Dwinelle | T 6-8 | 2/04 | started | — |
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Course info last modified December 5, 2007. This page has been viewed 1927 times.