Nature, Land, and Wilderness in African American Writing - Einzelansicht

This course considers the multifaceted relationships of Black people and the part of the planet referred to as North America, by approaching terms such as wilderness, nature, and land through African American texts. One section of the course looks at the role that nature played in slave narratives. While the transatlantic slave trade is intimately linked to displacement, and displacement likewise was an integral means to maintain enslavement in the USA, this does not imply the absence of relations to land/nature for those enslaved: surviving off land while in enslavement, maroons living on what White people assumed to be uninhabitable land, or using knowledge of nature during their escape – ”slave landscapes” (Rebecca Ginsburg, 2007) were part of the quest for freedom. In the second part, we discuss African American plans and accounts of living off the land: Black homesteaders, Black communes and Black gardening exemplify the role that land/nature/wilderness made for Black utopias. Furthermore, we turn to Black spirituals and poetry to emphasize the meaning of land beyond practical usage. In the last installment, we engage with an example of pollution and dispossession in today’s USA, which showcases that Black connections to land are systemically undermined by a White system that rejects Black connections to the land for those it once displaced for profit. We will be joined by a prolific poet and essayist, Chet'la Sebree, for the final event and discussion (see next paragraph).This course is part of the project ”Landscapes of In/justice,” which encompasses three classes offered in the department this semester (”Sacrifice Zones and Disaster Landscapes: Ecocriticism and Environmental Justice,” ”Nature, Land, and Wilderness in African American Writing,” ”Narrating Indigenous and Settler-Colonial Land Relations on Turtle Island”). Each class explores ”landscapes of In/justice” from distinct research perspectives – from environmental humanities, Indigenous studies, and Black studies – and will  have the chance to exchange their ideas and findings, and present them in a symposium at the end of the semester (July 17). The organization and co-hosting of the symposium gives students the opportunity to participate in academic knowledge production, learn from international guests, and gain knowledge in science communication and event management. The event and its dates are obligatory and non-negotiable. This will be factored into the workload of the class and reduced number of weekly sessions.

 for an introduction, consider: https://blackflash.ca/in-search-of-new-ground-black-art-and-the-natural-world/  (selection: in part excerpts)

Ginsburg, "Freedom and the Slave Landscape"; Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom; Harper, ”Bury Me in a Free Land”; Meeropol/Allan, ”Strange Fruit”; White, ”Black Women and the Wilderness”; Irving, Dreaming the Present; Du Bois, Quest of the Silver Fleece; Robertson, Black Utopians; Sebree, Turn Where: A Geography of Home

Presentation in joint student conference