Spring 2024 Update 
    
    Dec 04, 2024  
Spring 2024 Update [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

ABC (0101) 235 - Jazz and Blues in African American Literature


Credits: 3.00

Students will examine the emergence of the blues tradition in African American literature. Students will analyze how the Blues Novel constructs gender, disrupts racial hierarchies, and questions spiritual boundaries. Through the analysis of blues form, characters, and ideology, students explore themes such as: violence; historical trauma; cultural memory; and racism.

 

Repeatable: No Grade Type: Regular or Pass/Fail
Free Note: Cross-listed with ENG 235

Course Learning Goals: By the end of the course, students should be able to:

  1.     Describe the development of the vernacular tradition from spirituals to blues
  2.     Identify major authors and works in the Blues Novel genre
  3.     Articulate the broader social, political, and economic contexts of the Blues Novel genre
  4.     Understand how and why Black writers use music in different genres; including poetry, the novel, the essay, drama, and the short story
  5.     Develop close-reading skills for literary texts and music lyrics