Instructors: Marina Magloire and Debbie Sharnak
Meeting time: Thursday, 10-1
Syllabus: Canvas site
In this course, we will examine the ways race and gender shaped the ideologies behind several important revolutions in sites such as Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and the United States. The musical Hamilton has recently served as an important visual corrective to the notion that white men are the sole architects of revolution. However, the absence of non-white historical figures in Hamilton calls into questions its commitment to representing marginalized voices. Revolutions are often times of hope for disenfranchised populations invested in overturning existing forms of oppression, but the post-revolutionary period is sometimes one of disenchantment for these groups when social hierarchies are reinstituted or transmuted. Through an exploration of historical and literary representations of racialized and gendered revolutionary action, we will explore the promise and the pitfalls of revolutionary ideology.