Thank you for taking this journey with me! Black Music as Literature explores the music of people of African descent as represented aesthetically, culturally, politically, and socially in African American and Black diasporic literature. We focus on Black music as the subject of novels (primarily), poetry, art, television, film, dance, and as a tool that influences how writers, poets, and other artists approach their creative process and writing style. Music genres we explore include reggae and dub, swing, jazz, blues, soul, hip-hop, and Afropunk. Teaching approach is student-centered and includes subject framing, discussion, group activities, viewings, listening sessions, and the workshopping of writing. Our assignments constitute active engagement, two short reading quizzes, and an interdisciplinary writing portfolio of 8 pages that you will write in stages, workshop, and volunteer to revise. The three strongest portfolios will have an opportunity to enter the course portfolio competition. Your active engagement is 25 percent of the grade, quizzes are 25 percent, and the writing portfolio is 50 percent of the grade. Required books on reserve and available at UI Bookstore: RL’s Dream, On the Come Up, Black Card, and How to Love a Jamaican: Stories.
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