Please check this online syllabus often. Any changes to assignments or due dates will be posted here. Depending on the circumstances, I may send an accompanying email announcing updates to the syllabus, but you should not rely on receiving.
By now, you’re used to be hearing folks tell you be flexible, but nevertheless, I’ll say it again. Be flexible. Under normal circumstances I’ve been known to tweak a bit as the course unfolds in order to better fit the needs of the particular class. This semester we have to additionally account for the facts that 1) at any point in the semester we have to move to a completely remote format; 2) at any point of the semester one or more of your classmates may need to zoom in to the class from their dorms or off campus residence due to be required to self-isolate/quarantine; 3) the professor may be required to self-isolate and thus will thus move the class to a hybrid format. I have designed the syllabus to fairly adaptable to a variety of virtual and in-person formats. However it’s impossible to plan for every outcome, and depending on how events unfold, I may need to make adjustments to the assignment requirements and/or due dates. Know that whatever changes I make will be in the service of accessibility, feasibility, and continuity. If I add a reading that seems more conducive to a remote discussion (i.e. a short story that accompanies a film), I will also cut another assignment in order to ensure there is no increase in the expected work load.
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Date
Readings
Notes
9/1
What is Performance?
Watch: “Childish Gambino – This is America (Official Video)” YouTube.com posted by Childish Gambino 3.5.18. Accessed 8.27.20. Childish Gambino.
Watch: “Beyonce – Formation,” YouTube.com. Posted by Beyonce. 12.9.16. Accessed 8.27.20.
Read: Madison, Soyini D. “Forward.” Black Performance Theory. Eds. Thomas F. DeFrantz and Anita Gonzales. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 2014.
First Day
9/3
What’s Black Performance? Read: Harry Elam’s “Reality Check” & Ch 6 of Houston Baker’s Modernism & the Harlem Renaissance
9/8
Read: Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo by Ntozake Shange
Read: Through page 75. (Through the end of the italicized letter addressed “My Littlest Angel, Indigo.“)
9/10
Read: Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo by Ntozake Shange At least through page 153 (Through the end of the italicized letter that ends with “. . . placing you with a fine ballet company in New York City. Lovingly, Mama.”)
9/15
Read: Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo by Ntozake Shange
9/17
Read: Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo by Ntozake Shange
9/22
Read: Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo by Ntozake Shange
Post 1: A, B, C
9/24
Read: Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo by Ntozake Shange
10/1
“Bodies on the Line” Chapter in Goldman, Danielle. I Want to Be Ready.
Read: Goldman, Danielle. “Sound Gestures.” Women and Performance 17:2 (2007): 123-138.
Post 2: A
10/8
Read: Color Struck by Zora Neale Hurston in Fire!!
Read: Richards, Sandra. “Writing the Absent Potential.” Performativity and Performance. Eds. Andrew Parker and Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick.
Post 2: B
10/13
No Class
10/15
Post 2: C
Midterm Journal Assessment – Due Sunday 10/18/20 by 5 pm
10/20
Read/Listen/Watch: “Deep and Far Out: AfroFuturist Performance” Multimedia Packet
Read: “The Space Traders” by Derrick Bell
Watch: “The Space Traders” Cosmic Slop
Listen to James Brown “Get Down”; Curtis Mayfield “Move on Up” and Kanye West “Touch the Sky”
Post 3: A
10/22
Read Sun Ra Poetry (a selection) + Brent Hayes Edward’s essay
Watch and listen to “Space is the Place” film– link to the film is in the “Deep and Far Out” packet.
11/10
Read: Harriet by Lydia Diamond
Post 4: A
11/12
Read: Harriet by Lydia Diamond
11/17
Watch: The Fits (streaming on Amazon Prime)
Post 4: B
11/19
Watch: The Fits (streaming on Amazon Prime)
Project Check-In Due
11/24
Watch: The Fits / Project Check-In/Flex Day
11/26
Thanksgiving – No Class
12/1
Watch/Listen: 3 Episodes “Value”; “B.A.N.” & “Juneteenth” of Atlanta + Beyonce’s “Diva”; “Upgrade”; “Grown Woman”; “APES**T The Carters” ; first two minutes of “Haunted” ; “Already”; and “Beyonce out dancing her dancers for 11 minutes and 36 seconds straight.”
Post 4: C
Project Check In #2
12/3
12/8
Presentation Day
12/10
Presentation Day
12/11
Under Grad Classes End
Outstanding blog posts & comments due
12/12-12/13
Study Days
12/13
Last Day to Submit Semester (aka non finals) work.
Final Journal Assessments Due 12.13 (midnight)
12/14
Start of Finals
Final Projects Due 12/14 (midnight)
12/14-12/19
Exam Week
Final Project Reflection / Assessment Sheet Due 12/16
EVAL 1 XC & EVAL 2 XC Due 12/17 by 9:00am