ENGL-365 Staging Anti-Slavery

Faculty:

Cima, Gay

In this course, we’ll examine late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century women’s anti-slavery texts, in hopes of understanding how concepts of religion, race, and gender became entangled during the formative years of the American republic. What propels black and white women to enter the risky world of abolitionism, and how do they protect themselves as they enter fiercely contested public debates about race? What are the limits of their literary imaginings? What is the relationship between self-love and sympathy within women's abolitionist performances? We’ll track the changes in how abolitionists gained access to the public sphere or redefined the “private” sphere, and search out archival materials as we analyze anti-slavery poems, essays, plays, speeches, short stories, letters, and autobiographical novels. In addition to a variety of theoretical articles, our readings may include Phillis Wheatley’s poems, Susanna Rowson’s plays, Maria W. Stewart’s speeches, and Ellen Craft’s narrative, along with a host of lesser-known anti-slavery texts. Students in American Studies, African American Studies, Performance Studies, Women’s Studies, Literary History, and Justice & Peace Studies may be especially interested in the material of this course.

Credits: 3

Prerequisites: Any two of the following: ENGL 040, 041, 042, 043, CULP 045, ENGL 090, ENGL 091, ENGL 092, CPLT 043; or with instructor's permission

Other academic years
There is information about this course number in other academic years:

• 2012-2013 Fall and Spring

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