Eric Darnell Pritchard

AFR372D: Black Literacy and Language

Course Description

In this course we will explore the role and meanings of literacy among people of African descent in the United States from the 18th and 19th centuries to the present. We will begin by defining literacy and historic and contemporary debates about it, and move to a more robust emphasis examining the symbiotic relationships between literacy and racial, ethnic, gender, class, and sexual identity formation and affirmation as covered in literacy history and contemporary debates around literacy in United States education.  Course assignments will invite students to use the knowledge gained about African American literacy history and contemporary debates about literacy to think and write about literacy through creative, autobiographical, and ethnographic assignments including a historical envisioning essay, a literacy autobiography, and a documentation of literacy in Austin through participant-observation methods.

Texts

- Self-Taught: African American Education in Slavery and Freedom by Heather Andrea Williams. The University of North Carolina Press, 2005.

- PhD to PH.D.: How Education Saved My Life by Elaine Richardson. Parlor Press, 2013.

- Course Reader

Assignments/Percentages

25% Literacy Ethnography Paper

20% Life Story Interview and Class Presentation

20% Literacy Autobiography Paper

20% Literacy Historiography

15% Class Participation (Quizzes, Writing Workshops, Free-writes)

AFR372E: Hip-Hop Rhetorics

Course Description

This course examines the hip-hop rhetorics of writers, performers, and activists of the hip-hop generation. These rhetors draw on hip-hop cultural tools, including rap, fashion, dance, graffiti, and deejayin’, to construct their identities and make and disseminate meaning within and about their social worlds, particularly around issues of racism, sexism and misogyny, poverty, heterosexism, and xenophobia. Reading some foundational and more recent scholarship in Hip-Hop Studies we will examine the ways hip-hop operates with historical, cultural, economic, and political consequence within the U.S. and all over the world.

Topics the course may include: hip hop and feminism; race and masculinities; Latin@s and hip-hop; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) hip-hop performers; youth culture and activism; spoken word and hip-hop theater; commercialism and commodification of culture; hip-hop and the sex industry; southern hip hop; reggaeton; hip hop fashion, and hip-hop vernacular.  Engaging these topics through a variety of written and oral communication projects, students will learn the usefulness of employing hip-hop cultural tools as a tool of analysis and self-expression within the everyday.

Texts

- The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip-Hop by Tricia Rose. New York: Basic Civitas Books, 2008.

- The Anthology of Rap edited by Adam Bradley and Andrew DuBois. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010.

- Course Reader

Assignments/Percentages

25% Final Paper

20% Paper 2

20% Paper 1

20% Performance Analysis Paper/Presentation

15% Class Participation (Quizzes, Writing Workshops, Exercises, Free-writes)

This course is the second of two-parts. We will explore the history of African-American rhetorical traditions in the United States from 1954-Present.  We will focus on the moments and specific rhetorical strategies African-Americans have and continue to employ in quests for social change as manifested through speeches, the essay and various black cultural productions (poetry/spoken word, visual culture, theater).  We will begin by exploring the rhetorical strategies of African-Americans and other supporters of desegregation drew on in their arguments regarding the US Supreme Court case Sweatt v. Painter (1950) which contested the separate but equal doctrine upholding segregation at the University of Texas School of Law and the passage of the Supreme Court’s landmark Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka decision in 1954, which sought to end government sanctioned segregation of public education in the US. The course will conclude with the 20th/21st century re-popularizing of spoken word through the advent of slam poetry and, more recently, the creation of hip-hop theater and its investment in visions of social justice.

Other topics we will cover: rhetoric/rhetorical education in the Civil Rights and Black Power movements; the Black Arts Movement; Black Feminisms and rhetorics of intersectionality; anti-homophobia/transphobia/”homonormativity” rhetoric and movements for Black lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender liberation; African-American political rhetoric and Shirley Chisholm’s presidential campaign; rhetoric of the work of artists Kara Walker and Kehinde Wiley.

Texts May Include

•    _Understanding African-American Rhetoric: Classical Origins to Contemporary Innovations_ – eds. Elaine Richardson and Ronald Jackson

•    _After Mecca: Women Poets and the Black Arts Movement_ – Cheryl Clarke

•    _The Hip-Hop Wars_ – Tricia Rose

•    A course reader to include essay/article/poetry/speeches from: Combahee River Collective, James Baldwin, Joseph Beam, Staceyann Chinn, Patricia Hill-Collins, Melissa Harris-Lacewell, Essex Hemphill, bell hooks, Audre Lorde, Kobena Mercer, Pat Parker, Gwendolyn Pough, Loretta Ross, Barbara Smith, Kimberly Crenshaw-Williams, and others.

•    Audio/visual clips:  Def Poetry Jam, Martin Luther King, Jr., Ella Baker, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Malcolm X, Shirley Chisholm, Kwame Toure and others.

Grades:

30% -- Final Research Paper (10 pages)

25% -- Short Paper (5 pages)

20% -- Individual OR Group Presentation (TBD)

15% -- Discussion Leader (Submit critical questions/lead discussion of text or concepts)

10% -- Class Participation

This course is the second of two-parts. We will explore the history of African-American rhetorical traditions in the United States from 1954-Present.  We will focus on the moments and specific rhetorical strategies African-Americans have and continue to employ in quests for social change as manifested through speeches, the essay and various black cultural productions (poetry/spoken word, visual culture, theater).  We will begin by exploring the rhetorical strategies of African-Americans and other supporters of desegregation drew on in their arguments regarding the US Supreme Court case Sweatt v. Painter (1950) which contested the separate but equal doctrine upholding segregation at the University of Texas School of Law and the passage of the Supreme Court’s landmark Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka decision in 1954, which sought to end government sanctioned segregation of public education in the US. The course will conclude with the 20th/21st century re-popularizing of spoken word through the advent of slam poetry and, more recently, the creation of hip-hop theater and its investment in visions of social justice.

Other topics we will cover: rhetoric/rhetorical education in the Civil Rights and Black Power movements; the Black Arts Movement; Black Feminisms and rhetorics of intersectionality; anti-homophobia/transphobia/”homonormativity” rhetoric and movements for Black lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender liberation; African-American political rhetoric and Shirley Chisholm’s presidential campaign; rhetoric of the work of artists Kara Walker and Kehinde Wiley.

Texts May Include

•    _Understanding African-American Rhetoric: Classical Origins to Contemporary Innovations_ – eds. Elaine Richardson and Ronald Jackson

•    _After Mecca: Women Poets and the Black Arts Movement_ – Cheryl Clarke

•    _The Hip-Hop Wars_ – Tricia Rose

•    A course reader to include essay/article/poetry/speeches from: Combahee River Collective, James Baldwin, Joseph Beam, Staceyann Chinn, Patricia Hill-Collins, Melissa Harris-Lacewell, Essex Hemphill, bell hooks, Audre Lorde, Kobena Mercer, Pat Parker, Gwendolyn Pough, Loretta Ross, Barbara Smith, Kimberly Crenshaw-Williams, and others.

•    Audio/visual clips:  Def Poetry Jam, Martin Luther King, Jr., Ella Baker, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Malcolm X, Shirley Chisholm, Kwame Toure and others.

Grades:

30% -- Final Research Paper (10 pages)

25% -- Short Paper (5 pages)

20% -- Individual OR Group Presentation (TBD)

15% -- Discussion Leader (Submit critical questions/lead discussion of text or concepts)

10% -- Class Participation

This course is the second of two-parts. We will explore the history of African-American rhetorical traditions in the United States from 1954-Present.  We will focus on the moments and specific rhetorical strategies African-Americans have and continue to employ in quests for social change as manifested through speeches, the essay and various black cultural productions (poetry/spoken word, visual culture, theater).  We will begin by exploring the rhetorical strategies of African-Americans and other supporters of desegregation drew on in their arguments regarding the US Supreme Court case Sweatt v. Painter (1950) which contested the separate but equal doctrine upholding segregation at the University of Texas School of Law and the passage of the Supreme Court’s landmark Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka decision in 1954, which sought to end government sanctioned segregation of public education in the US. The course will conclude with the 20th/21st century re-popularizing of spoken word through the advent of slam poetry and, more recently, the creation of hip-hop theater and its investment in visions of social justice.

Other topics we will cover: rhetoric/rhetorical education in the Civil Rights and Black Power movements; the Black Arts Movement; Black Feminisms and rhetorics of intersectionality; anti-homophobia/transphobia/”homonormativity” rhetoric and movements for Black lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender liberation; African-American political rhetoric and Shirley Chisholm’s presidential campaign; rhetoric of the work of artists Kara Walker and Kehinde Wiley.

Texts May Include
•    _Understanding African-American Rhetoric: Classical Origins to Contemporary Innovations_ – eds. Elaine Richardson and Ronald Jackson
•    _After Mecca: Women Poets and the Black Arts Movement_ – Cheryl Clarke
•    _The Hip-Hop Wars_ – Tricia Rose
•    A course reader to include essay/article/poetry/speeches from: Combahee River Collective, James Baldwin, Joseph Beam, Staceyann Chinn, Patricia Hill-Collins, Melissa Harris-Lacewell, Essex Hemphill, bell hooks, Audre Lorde, Kobena Mercer, Pat Parker, Gwendolyn Pough, Loretta Ross, Barbara Smith, Kimberly Crenshaw-Williams, and others.
•    Audio/visual clips:  Def Poetry Jam, Martin Luther King, Jr., Ella Baker, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Malcolm X, Shirley Chisholm, Kwame Toure and others.

Grades:
30% -- Final Research Paper (10 pages)
25% -- Short Paper (5 pages)
20% -- Individual OR Group Presentation (TBD)
15% -- Discussion Leader (Submit critical questions/lead discussion of text or concepts)
10% -- Class Participation

This course is the second of two-parts. We will explore the history of African-American rhetorical traditions in the United States from 1954-Present.  We will focus on the moments and specific rhetorical strategies African-Americans have and continue to employ in quests for social change as manifested through speeches, the essay and various black cultural productions (poetry/spoken word, visual culture, theater).  We will begin by exploring the rhetorical strategies of African-Americans and other supporters of desegregation drew on in their arguments regarding the US Supreme Court case Sweatt v. Painter (1950) which contested the separate but equal doctrine upholding segregation at the University of Texas School of Law and the passage of the Supreme Court’s landmark Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka decision in 1954, which sought to end government sanctioned segregation of public education in the US. The course will conclude with the 20th/21st century re-popularizing of spoken word through the advent of slam poetry and, more recently, the creation of hip-hop theater and its investment in visions of social justice.

Other topics we will cover: rhetoric/rhetorical education in the Civil Rights and Black Power movements; the Black Arts Movement; Black Feminisms and rhetorics of intersectionality; anti-homophobia/transphobia/”homonormativity” rhetoric and movements for Black lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender liberation; African-American political rhetoric and Shirley Chisholm’s presidential campaign; rhetoric of the work of artists Kara Walker and Kehinde Wiley.

Texts May Include
•    _Understanding African-American Rhetoric: Classical Origins to Contemporary Innovations_ – eds. Elaine Richardson and Ronald Jackson
•    _After Mecca: Women Poets and the Black Arts Movement_ – Cheryl Clarke
•    _The Hip-Hop Wars_ – Tricia Rose
•    A course reader to include essay/article/poetry/speeches from: Combahee River Collective, James Baldwin, Joseph Beam, Staceyann Chinn, Patricia Hill-Collins, Melissa Harris-Lacewell, Essex Hemphill, bell hooks, Audre Lorde, Kobena Mercer, Pat Parker, Gwendolyn Pough, Loretta Ross, Barbara Smith, Kimberly Crenshaw-Williams, and others.
•    Audio/visual clips:  Def Poetry Jam, Martin Luther King, Jr., Ella Baker, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Malcolm X, Shirley Chisholm, Kwame Toure and others.

Grades:
30% -- Final Research Paper (10 pages)
25% -- Short Paper (5 pages)
20% -- Individual OR Group Presentation (TBD)
15% -- Discussion Leader (Submit critical questions/lead discussion of text or concepts)
10% -- Class Participation

It is recommended that students enrolling in this course should have a basic
grounding in rhetoric OR African-American/gender/sexuality, history or theory.

This course is a rhetorical approach to the politics of black sexuality as
examined across disciplines, including: literacy, history, literature, visual
culture and performance. Of particular interest are the multiplicity of black
sexualities with gender, race and ethnicity, class, disability and other
identities. We will examine the ways rhetoric is employed historically and
contemporarily to construct claims regarding black sexuality through various
mediums such as writing and visual culture and the consequences of those
claims. In addition, we will explore the rhetorical strategies Black folks
employ in the interest of “sex-positive” self-making and other expressions of
sexual agency and also how this rhetoric is deployed in resistance to
pathologizing claims and problematic depictions of black sexuality.

After reviewing African-American rhetorical traditions topics may include:
historical perspectives on stereotypes of black sexuality from enslavement
through the present; black women and reproductive justice; rape, sexual
assault, street harassment and other forms of sexual violence; lynching and
black sexuality; “the down low” and queer black male sexualities; sexuality in
black lesbian cinema; sex-work (pornography, sex tourism, prostitution); black
spirituality, the body and the erotic; the impact of HIV/AIDS on the black
community and black political agendas; black LGBTQ people,
hetero/homonormativity and the public sphere.

In addition to knowing all concepts presented in class lecture, students will:
1) be expected to be active and regular contributors to class discussions, 2)
write regular critical response papers selected from course readings (possibly
6 in total), 3) prepare critical questions for and lead at least one day of
discussion, 4) a presentation on an issue related to course content and a final
research paper or other project to be decided on in consultation with and
approved by the professor.