Santa Clara University

ETHN 130 Black Political Thought in Action (Winter 2009, TR 11:50-1:35)

This course explores the political theories and praxis of social movements in the black diaspora through the lens of memoir.  Beginning with the slave narrative genre, autobiographies of activists of African descent have served as important tools for organizing support for social movements, providing historical evidence of the experiences of black communities and challenging domestic and international policies that affect people of color.  In addition, memoirs have provided an alternative space for black voices to be heard when they have been excluded or ignored by academic, media and political institutions.  Throughout this course, we will examine social movements in the African diaspora through the life stories of activists.  We will also observe how these texts reveal concerns about the meaning of autonomy, freedom, justice and collective consciousness that are common to historically marginalized groups and significant to our understanding of democracy and political liberalism.  In addition, we will consider how personal experiences of race, class, gender, sexuality and citizenship influence various forms of political participation.  Last, we will interrogate the subjectivity and distortion of fact that are often found in even the most well-intentioned memoirs. (5 units)

This course fulfills the Ethnic Studies requirements

Instructor: Robin Hayes Professor Hayes received her Ph.D. in African American Studies and Political Science from Yale University in 2006.  Her research interests include Black Political Thought and Political Theories of the African Diaspora.  She has taught courses on Transnational Black Cultures, Poetry and Protestin U.S. Civil Rights Movements, and Memoirs of African American Social Movements.  She is the producer and director of Beautiful Me(s): Finding Our Revolutionary Selves in Black Cuba.