Against Mastery

Catalog description

In “A Black Poetics: Against Mastery” Dawn Lundy Martin argues against mastery as a creative, compositional mode. She writes that mastery “is an attempt to dominate the artwork.” We will investigate Martin’s assertion in the context of decolonial (and) queer poetics. How might poets’ negotiations of mastery speak to the intersection of their aesthetic, linguistic, cultural, historical, and political concerns? How do poets materialize a rejection or reconfiguration of mastery within decolonial practices attentive to craft and concept? The texts we will primarily engage are African, Arab(ic), and Native American, by authors at home(s) and in diaspora. Class time will blend workshop, discussion, and writing. Assignments include a group presentation, book review, and a final portfolio.