2020-21 Academic Catalog

A survey of black British literature across Great Britain, focusing on regional identity and tensions between rural and urban spaces. This course examines the history of black British communities and their overlapping diasporas, and the ways the British nation state has defined black British identity. Readings include poetry, novels, and short stories by John Agard, Jackie Kay, George Lamming, Grace Nichols, Helen Oyeyemi, Samuel Selvon, and Zadie Smith, and foreground issues of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class.