Pavlic, Edward
MWF 11:30 AM
Park Hall 0259
21st Century Black Writing: (I'm still listening for the precise title of this year's class)
This course features new and recent Black voices and visions that depict a wide variety of contemporary Black experience. I intend to focus specifically on the ways that music supports and informs the characterization of Black experiences in 21st century works. We'll concentrate on the narratives found in game-changing TV series: Insecure: Season One (2016); I May Destroy You (2020); and Queen Sono (2020). While considering the characterizations in these series, we'll read recent literary works of different (and at times blurring) genres including: Kiese Laymon's Heavy (2018); Jesmyn Ward's Let Us Descend (2023); Jamel Brinkley's Witness (2023); Binyavanga Wainaina's How to Write About Africa: Collected Works Vol. 1 (2023); and Alexis Pauline Gumbs's Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mamals (2020). Students will be responsible for in-class viewing and close listening as well as listening and close reading assignments outside class. All students will keep a journal logging both in-class and outside-of-class work from which written assignments will be refined.