AFR 155: Introduction to Black Women’s Studies at Smith College

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course examines historical, critical, and theoretical perspectives on the development of Black feminist theory/praxis from the fifteenth century to the present. Taking a long look at the lives, experiences, and activism of women of Africa and the Diaspora, we will pay particular attention to the intellectual thought and social activism of African American and Caribbean women. Through scholarship, novels, art, poetry, and film, we will think critically about the social, political, cultural, and geographic contexts in which race, class, gender, sexuality, and ability intersect to impact the lives of Black women across the globe—exploring the diversity of thought and action that shape Black women’s strategies in their world and laid the ground for Black Women’s Studies as a field of study. 

A Note on Content: 

Living in the aftermath of slavery, the African diaspora and Africana methods are critically shaped by the forces of white supremacist, capitalist, cisgendered patriarchy, as well as its accomplices—imperialism, colonialism, and militarism. In this course, you will confront the difficult legacies and disparate impacts of these violent systems through the assigned readings and media. Some of this material will present challenging histories, unequal narratives, and violent language that demand digestion, mediation, and contextualization.