Black Popular Culture ((3))

Catalog description

This course critically examines the definitions and development of black popular culture from the rise of blackface minstrelsy performances in the 1800s to the present day. The course will primarily focus on black popular culture in the United States but will also consider the work of diasporic authors and artists and the international implications of American media. The course will draw upon theories and concepts in media studies, cultural studies, and rhetoric to center the critique and discussion of black popular cultural texts such as television shows, films, music, poetry, theater, and fashion. Additionally, this course will investigate and interrogate social conceptions of popular culture, ¿authenticity,¿ Blackness, Black masculinity, Black femininity, Black queerness, and Black respectability.