Lavender, Isiah
TR 9:35 AM
Park Hall 136
English 4630: African American Fiction—Black Satire
Laughter to keep from crying and perhaps dying summarizes the intent of this class on Black satirical fiction as authors boldly grapple with race and racism and their influence on Black identity. We are talking about surviving physical, emotional, and spiritual death at the denial of personhood through laughing at the absurdities of race presented in dark humor. It reinforces humanity. This class will tap into the rich history of satirical narratives expressing Black experiences of the United States. Wry humor and wit offer the means of overcoming trauma, violence, and diminishment as we evaluate what it means to be Black in America. We will intentionally explore painful stuff through humor and talk about it to purposefully undermine and topple the racial status quo. That is to say, we will examine stunning and cunning social critique embedded in laughter to create a social frame where the potential for justice might possibly emerge in the real world through the imaginary worlds of these writers, where jokes, laughter, and misunderstandings open up a space to explode the idiocy of race itself in terms of its stereotypes and preconceptions and how it marginalizes folks.
Texts include:
Black No More, George Schuyler
Apex Hides the Hurt, Colson Whitehead
Erasure, Percival Everett
Oreo, Fran Ross
The Sellout, Paul Beatty
Symptomatic, Danzy Senna
Obamistan! Land Without Racism: Your Guide to the New America, damali ayo