Instructors: Chris Clements and Alex Corey
Meeting time: Thursday, 12-2:45
Syllabus
This course introduces methods for studying questions of social belonging and racial ideology. We consider a range of overlapping political developments and artistic practices around the turn of the twentieth century, focusing on Indigenous and Black peoples who found themselves at the center of nationalist and imperialist conflicts in North America. Our topics move from Indigenous uprisings on the Northern Plains to anti-lynching activism in the United States, from US imperialism in the Caribbean to residential schools in Canada. Our sources include government documents, published fiction, personal correspondence, photographs, journalism, and sound recordings. Throughout, we consider how artists, politicians, and activists negotiate relations of power through their engagement with race.