The Black Atlantic MAP-UA 534| Cultures and Contexts SILV 206 | Mondays & Wednesdays, 12.30-1:45 pm Course Format Course description 1 Course Schedule 2-4 Course Requirements 4 Grading Scale 4 Required Texts 3 Professor Michael Ralph Social & Cultural Analysis 20 Cooper Square, 434 Office Hours| Wednesdays 8.45-10.45 am michael.ralph@nyu.edu TAs Carmen Phillips Recitations| Sec. 002, 8:00am-9:15am, SILV 510 Sec. 003, 9:30-10:45am, TISC LC4 clp295@nyu.edu Max Mishler Recitations| Sec. 004, 3:30-4:45pm, TISC LC7 Sec. 005, 4:55-6:10pm, TISC LC4 mam895@nyu.edu Lorem Ipsum Dolor This course introduces students to the ways that scholars have defined Africa’s historical relationship to the Atlantic World, how they have conceived of what has come to be known as “The Black Atlantic,” and the approaches they have used to critique and enrich this formulation. This means exploring key events of the modern period: the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions, the Enlightenment, the Transatlantic slave trade, the birth of capitalism, and the formation of international systems for diplomacy and economic exchange. We will examine how race, gender, economic standing, social status, generation and ability shape economic and political aspirations and emotional attachments. Scholarly approaches to the “Black Atlantic” tend to use the “African Diaspora” as a lens and have historically focused on religion as a medium of historical transmission. We will review this literature yet push beyond it to consider how forms of credit/debt and exchange, injury, militarism and aesthetic production create forms of social belonging. As a case study, this course will focus critical attention on the city of New Orleans, first as an early modern commercial shipping center, then as a slave entrepôt, and finally as a colony of France and then Spain, and finally as a US city. Continued on page 2 Issue #: [Date] MAP-UA 534| Cultures and Contexts Dolor Sit Amet Course Schedule 1 Theorizing “The Black Atlantic” 2 5 3 6 4 Wednesday, September 7th Course Overview If God is Willing and the Creek Don’t Rise. Spike Lee, dir. Monday, September 12th Paul Gilroy. 1993. “The Black Atlantic as a Counterculture of Modernity, pp. 1-40. Michel Rolph-Trouillot. 2002. “North Atlantic Fictions: Globalization, 1492-1945.” Herskovits at the Heart of Blackness. Vince Brown, dir. Militarism and Modern Credit-Debt 7 8 Required Texts Walter Johnson. 2001. Soul by Soul: Life Inside an Antebellum Slave Market. Harvard. University Press. Gwendolyn Midlo Hall. 1992. Africans in Colonial Louisiana. LSU Press. Jane Landers. 2010. Atlantic Creoles in the Age of Revolution. Harvard University Press. Daniel Rasmussen. 2011. American Uprising: The Untold Story of America’s Largest Slave Revolt. W.W. Norton. Bryan Wagner. 2009. Disturbing the Peace: Black Culture and Police Power after Slavery. Harvard University Press. Wednesday, September 14th Robert Farris Thompson. 1983. Flash of the Spirit, pp. xiii-xvii. Vince Brown. 2003. “Spiritual Terror and Sacred Authority in Jamaican Slave Society,” pp. 24-53. Kate Ramsey. 2011. “Introduction.” Spirits and the Law: Vodou and Power in Haiti, pp. 1-23. Monday, September 19th John K. Thornton. 2010. “African Soldiers in Haitian Revolution,” pp. 195-213. Naomi Klein. 2010. “A Creditor not a Debtor Nation.” ZNet 13 February Julius Scott. 2010. “Negroes in Foreign Bottoms,” pp. 69-98. Select one essay from Michael Ralph, ed. 2010. Ayiti Kraze [Haiti in Fragments]. Wednesday, September 21st James Searing. 1993. West African Slavery and Atlantic Commerce, pp. 59-92. Monday, September 26th James Searing. 1993. West African Slavery and Atlantic Commerce, pp. 163-193. Problem of Political Legitimacy Wednesday, September 28th Gwendolyn Midlo Hall. 1992. Africans in Colonial Louisiana, pp. 1-55. 2 Issue #: [Date] MAP-UA 534| Cultures and Contexts Dolor Sit Amet Contradictions of Modern Sovereignty Wednesday, October 26th Jane Landers. 2010. Atlantic Creoles in the Age of Revolution, pp. 55-137. Monday, October 31st Jane Landers. 2010. Atlantic Creoles in the Age of Revolution, pp. 138-203. Risk, Liability and Political Belonging Wednesday, November 2nd Daniel Rasmussen. 2011. American Uprising, pp. 1-60. Monday, November 7th Daniel Rasmussen. 2011. American Uprising, pp. 61-114. Monday, October 3rd Gwendolyn Midlo Hall. 1992. Africans in Colonial Louisiana, pp. 56-118. Wednesday, November 9th Daniel Rasmussen. 2011. American Uprising, pp. 115-166. The Social Network Monday, November 14th Daniel Rasmussen. 2011. American Uprising, pp. 167-218. Wednesday, October 5th Gwendolyn Midlo Hall. 1992. Africans in Colonial Louisiana, pp. 119-200. Monday, October 10th No Class Wednesday, October 12th Gwendolyn Midlo Hall. 1992. Africans in Colonial Louisiana, pp. 201-274. Monday, October 17th Gwendolyn Midlo Hall. 1992. Africans in Colonial Louisiana, pp. 275-342. Wednesday, October 19th Gwendolyn Midlo Hall. 1992. Africans in Colonial Louisiana, pp. 343-380. George E. Brooks, Jr. 1976. “The Signares of SaintLouis and Gorée, pp. 19-43. Age of Freedom Wednesday, November 16th Walter Johnson. 2001. Soul by Soul, pp. 1-44. Faubourg Tremé. Lucie Faulknor & Dawn Logsdon, dirs. Monday, November 21st Walter Johnson. 2001. Soul by Soul, pp. 45-116. Wednesday, November 23rd Walter Johnson. 2001. Soul by Soul, pp. 117-161. Monday, November 28th Walter Johnson. 2001. Soul by Soul, pp. 161-221. Law & Order, Crime & Capital Wednesday, November 30th Bryan Wagner. 2009. Disturbing the Peace, pp. 1-57. Transnationalism and the Politics of Mobility Wednesday, October 24th Jane Landers. 2010. Atlantic Creoles in the Age of Revolution, pp. 1-54. Midterm Exam due 3 MAP-UA 534| Cultures and Contexts Issue #: [Date] Dolor Sit Amet Monday, December 5th Bryan Wagner. 2009. Disturbing the Peace, pp. 58-115. Wednesday, December 7th Bryan Wagner. 2009. Disturbing the Peace, pp. 185-238. Monday, December 12th Zada Johnson. 2010. Walking the Post-Disaster City, pp. 25-80. Final Exam due Wednesday, December 14th Zada Johnson. 2010. Walking the Post-Disaster City, pp. 136-202. A Village Called Versailles. S. Leo Chiang, dir. Course Requirements Academic Integrity Plagiarism will not be tolerated in any form. Please read NYU’s statement on Academic Integrity here: http://www.nyu.edu/cas/map/guidelines/academicintegrity.html. Any student caught plagiarizing will automatically fail the course. Attendance Please note that your attendance grade is based on your participation—and not merely your presence—in class and at recitation. Discussion Questions Students are expected to submit 2-3 discussion questions by email to the instructor and to both TAs by midnight of each scheduled class period. Students will also be expected to submit discussion questions to their TAs during recitation. Discussion Questions should reflect sustained engagement with assigned readings. Discussion Questions should identify key themes, incorporate illuminating quotes and pose critical questions. [Recipient] Exams The midterm and final grade will each consist of a take-home essay exam. that draws from classroom discussion, reading assignments and recitations. Each exam will consist of 4 questions, from which the student will select 3 questions s/he will respond to in 2-3 pages each. The goal of the essay is to challenge certain assumptions the writers have made or to illuminate a perspective the student has developed while digesting the argument. The essay is not a summary, rather it is a chance to explore some issue the writer has discussed unsatisfactorily. Grading Scale 20% Class Participation (including Attendance) 20% Assignments 25% Midterm Exam 35% Final Exam No Late Assignments. No Incompletes. No Exceptions.