English R1A

Book List

Lorde, Audre: Zami: A New Spelling of my Name; Robinson, Marilynne: Gilead; Wise, Tim: White Like Me

Description

What do we gain from learning about White privilege and experience from the perspective of both ethnic-minority and White writers and thinkers? What do these different perspectives reveal about the contours of racial privilege in the contemporary United States, as simultaneously lived and structural, explicit and implicit? This course will examine how works of literature and theory attempt to disrupt whiteness as a social construct, by imagining forms of solidarity that could transcend racial categories. We will examine both the social risks and potentials of these projects, asking what role art, writing, thinking, or imagining play in helping us envision such solidarity. Additionally, we will consider both the compelling and problematic aspects of Whites critiquing whiteness, relying on arguments by scholars of color.

This course will be taught in Session C, from June 18 to August 9.