|
ENGL-179-01 Seminar: Staging Anti-Slavery
Fall only
Fall 2008
What are the rewards and dangers of activism? What is the place of empathy in activist performances, both in print and in person? Can historical performances illuminate the challenges facing us as we try to work for justice? Through an investigation of the activist strategies used by nineteenth-century black and white female abolitionists, we’ll address these questions. We’ll pay particular attention to those women who staged their resistance to slavery and racism from 1825 through 1865. How did these women perform their abolitionist activism, in print and onstage, and what can we learn from their practices? We’ll study anti-slavery essays, speeches, letters, poems, short stories, slave narratives, tell-all books, and autobiographical novels. We’ll trace the legacies of these women in our world, one which still sustains global human trafficking and fosters what many call the “new abolitionism.” Our readings will include works by Lydia Maria Child, Angelina and Sarah Grimké, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and a host of lesser-known anti-slavery lecturers and essayists. Students in Performance Studies, American Studies, African American Studies, Women’s Studies, Literary History, and Justice & Peace Studies may be especially interested in the material of this course.
Credits: 4
Prerequisites: None
|
 |
Other academic years
There is information about this course number in other academic years:
More information
Look for this course in the schedule of classes.
The academic department web site for this program may provide other details about this course.
|
