ASRC 4508 - From the Harlem Renaissance to New Harlem Novels

(crosslisted)
(also ENGL 4508) (LA-AS)

Fall. 4 credits.

R. Richardson.

The “Harlem Shake” meme is the latest popular production that has brought attention to Harlem in recent times. In this course, we will explore the long history of this place, beginning with an examination of multiple perspectives on Harlem as a social context, including Monique Taylor’s Harlem: Between Heaven and Hell and Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts’s Harlem is Nowhere. We will go on to explore selected literatures of the Harlem Renaissance, including themes related to race and passing, by reading authors such as Nella Larsen, Langston Hughes, George Schuyler, and Wallace Thurman. We will continue on to explore more contemporary novels set in Harlem, including Sapphire’s Push and The Kid, and films such as Looking for Langston and Precious, and For Colored Girls. Additionally, we will explore the work of noted Harlem photographers, artists and musicians and ponder the extent to which we are in the midst of a new Harlem studies.