Listed in: Black Studies, as BLST-295
Formerly listed as: BLST-55
John E. Drabinski (Section 01)
[D] During the middle decades of the twentieth century, existentialism dominated the European philosophical and literary scene. Prominent theorists such as J-P Sartre, Albert Camus, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty put the experience of history, alienation, and the body at the center of philosophical and literary life. It should be no surprise, then, that existentialism appealed to so many Afro-Caribbean and African-American thinkers of the same period and after. This course examines the critical transformation of European existentialist ideas through close readings of black existentialists Aime Césaire, Frantz Fanon, George Lamming, and Wilson Harris, paired with key essays from Sartre, Camus, and Merleau-Ponty. As well, we will engage black existentialism not just as a series of claims, but also a method, which allows us to read works by African-American writers such as W.E.B. Du Bois, James Baldwin, and Ralph Ellison in an existentialist frame. Lastly, we will consider the matter of how and why existentialism continues to function so centrally in contemporary Africana philosophy.
Fall semester. Professor Drabinski.
Section 01
M 12:00 PM - 01:20 PM MORG 110
W 12:00 PM - 01:20 PM MORG 110
| ISBN | Title | Publisher | Author(s) | Comment | Book Store | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notebook of a Return to the Native Land | Wesleyan University Press, 2001 | Aime Cesaire | Amherst Books | TBD | ||
| Souls of Black Folk | Dover, 1994 | W.E.B. Du Bois | Amherst Books | TBD | ||
| Black Skin, White Masks | Grove Press, 2008 | Frantz Fanon | Amherst Books | TBD | ||
| Toward the African Revolution | Grove Press, 1988, c1967 | Frantz Fanon | Amherst Books | TBD | ||
| Existentia Africana | Routledge, 2000 | Lewis R. Gordon | Amherst Books | TBD | ||
| Anti-Semite and Jew | Schocken Books, 1995 | Jean-Paul Sartre | Amherst Books | TBD | ||
| Eight Men: Short Stories | Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2008 | Richard Wright | Amherst Books | TBD |
These books are available locally at Amherst Books.