Dates: 02/01 - 05/21
M	T	W	Th	F	Sa	Su
		6:00 pm 9:00 pm JRC 301

Subject: English (Grad) (GENG)

CRN: 21159

In Person | Lecture

St Paul: John Roach Center 301

Requirements Met:
     Identity & Power

  Kanishka Chowdhury

DuBois and Morrison: Race, Memory, and Nation. This graduate seminar explores the intellectual and artistic dialogue between W.E.B. DuBois and Toni Morrison, examining how their works interrogate race, history, and identity in both national and global contexts. Through close readings of Du Bois’s sociological and literary texts, such as The Souls of Black Folk (1903,) Dusk of Dawn (1920), and Dark Princess (1928), alongside Morrison’s novels and essays, including Song of Solomon (1977) Beloved (1987), Paradise (1997), and Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination (1992), the course investigates shared themes such as double consciousness, historical memory, and the construction of Black subjectivity. Students will consider how Morrison extends, revises, and reimagines DuBois’s thought, and how both authors contribute to a radical tradition of Black critique and cultural production. We will also read the works of scholars such as Hazel Carby, Farah Jasmine Griffin, and Saidiya Hartman, among others. This course satisfies the Identity & Power requirement. Prerequisite: GENG 513 or permission of the instructor.

3 Credits

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