Black Feminist Thought and Theory

Catalog description

Black women’s relationship to the politics of gender identity has been a subject of both interrogation and theorization since the 18th century when Black women first began publishing on matters of both race and gender. Beginning here, this interdisciplinary course in Black Studies and Women, Gender, and Sexuality course will allow students to explore contemporary and emerging topics related to race, gender, class, and sexuality. This course will trace the long history of Black Feminist thought, arguing primarily for Black women as theorists of their own experience. This class will seek to explain how Black women are defined in a variety of cultural contexts, as well as examine how race, class, gender, and sexuality are central to the analysis of Black Feminist Theory. This course will utilize a variety of texts to define womanhood and examine how social and institutional mechanisms of power and privilege and a variety of everyday practices impact Black women.