Course Description
Summary
1970 was a watershed year for Black feminism, with the publication of several monumental books including The Black Woman: An Anthology, edited by Toni Cade Bambara. How did women writers of color contend with race, class, gender, and sexuality in the decades leading up to the coining of the term “intersectionality?” What works from this period were foundational for our understanding of intersectional feminism today? This is an introductory course on literature and theory written during the emergence of Black, Chicana, Asian American, and other WOC feminisms in the ‘70s and ‘80s. We will read key works of poetry, fiction, and critical theory by writers including Audre Lorde, Gloria Anzaldúa, June Jordan, bell hooks, Maxine Hong Kingston, Angela Davis, Trinh T. Minh-Ha, and others. We will examine both how politics of race and gender show up in literature, and how poetic and artistic sensibilities shaped the radical visions of this period. Students will submit a mix of critical and creative assignments over the course of the term, of which they will revise and expand one for the final assignment.
