HIS 456SEM—Slavery’s Archive: Black Womanhood in the African Diaspora

What does a usable history of black womanhood look like? Black women’s history across time and space? This course is an introduction to the history of the African diaspora, a working definition of which is the history of the dispersal of Africans and their descendants throughout much of the world. At times their movement has been voluntary; often it was compelled. Throughout their long history, Africans have been both conqueror and conquered, slaveholder and enslaved. In all circumstances, they have made significant and lasting contributions to the economies and cultures of the societies into which they were introduced. Over the course of this semester we will examine the African Diaspora via the lives of women of African descent. What does the trans-Atlantic slave trade create in the early modern and the modern world? How is our understanding of trade, culture, capitalism, justice, race, gender, and work shaped by the histories of dispersal that characterize the Atlantic World? What aspects of culture, politics, identity, and social formations are illuminated when we think critically about the African Diaspora and the women that propel it? This course is the same as AAS 426SEM and course repeat rules will apply. Students should consult with their major department regarding any restrictions on their degree requirements.