This class examines the way in which race makes meaning in American culture through images and narrative. The class focuses most clearly on racial identities, such as blackness and whiteness, as important symbols that have tangible social and cultural consequences. We will also address issues of identity more generally in our theoretical readings and discussions. How do we know, understand, and live racial identities? We will examine literature and films as a means to approach the question of how race comes to be understood and conveyed in culture. In what ways do such texts use race to make meaning? Texts include Toni Morrisons short-story Recitatif, Nella Larsens Passing, Octavia Butlers Dawn, Omi and Winants Social Construction of Race, Cornel Wests Race Matters, excerpts from Morrisons Playing in the Dark, and several films.
