Monday, August 29, 2022

August 29, 2022: Fall Semester Previews: 19C African American Lit

[This week we start a new semester, one I desperately hope will feel a bit more settled and positive than the last few. To that end, for my annual Fall previews I’ll highlight something I’m especially looking forward to in each class, leading up to a weekend update on my current book project!]

I’ve been able to teach this class once before, in Spring 2018, and by far the best part of that semester was the chance to read for the first time (in many cases) and teach (in almost all cases) so many phenomenal texts, including the three I highlighted in this semester recap post. I’ll be teaching them again this semester, now with the knowledge of how much they speak to our students, so of course I’m very excited for that chance. But I’m even more excited for us to engage overtly and centrally, from the first day to the last, with a conversation that has become far more present over these past 4+ years: the debate over “Critical Race Theory” and (more genuinely) why and how we should teach, learn, discuss, and engage histories of race and racism in America. While a lot of that conversation at the national level is fearmongering, there are at the same time thoughtful and important ways to ask and answer those questions, and I couldn’t be more excited to do so with a class of FSU students.

Next preview post tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Classes or other things you’re looking forward to this Fall?

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