AADS 5534 Authorship as Ownership: 18th-century Black Narratives

Can we learn someones life story based on letters or journal entries alone? Can white people write Black narratives? In 18th-century Black (Auto) Biography, students and I will work together to answer these questions and more. In this course, students will read 18th-century Black narratives that range from autobiographies to execution sermons. In this course, students will familiarize themselves with canonical 18th-century Black authors. Students will also differentiate narrative subgenres, such as the conversion narrative and the captivity narrative, and argue for why other biographical forms should (or should not) be included in the study of Black narrative tradition, such as the epistolary form and the execution sermon. Students will also become familiar with historical methodologies, gain hands-on experience with historical objects, and learn how interacting with the material object can help us ask questions the text alone may not raise. Through various assignments, students will develop original arguments and apply literary criticism and historical frameworks to their work.