Section Info: ENGL-257-01

Course Title: Survey of African American Literature
Start Date: 01/27/2026 End Date: 05/12/2026
Term: Spring Semester 2026
Description: This course surveys Black literary production with special attention to the idea of genre as a choice of form made by Black writers from the antebellum era through the present to communicate critique, effect political change, and render new worlds. Structured around debates about the genre status of Black writing, this course introduces students to slave era texts by Harriet E. Wilson, David Walker, and Phillis Wheatley; twentieth-century works by Nella Larsen, Zora Neale Hurston, Amos Tutuola, Chester Himes, Bill Gunn, James Baldwin, and Toni Cade Bambara; and contemporary work by Saidiya Hartman, Octavia Butler, Jeremy O. Harris, and Rita Dove. Reading, writing, and critical viewership will be central to the course.
Distribution(s): I - Humanities , MP - Multicultural Perspectives
Academic Level Of Course: Undergraduate     Credits:4.00    

Faculty         Phone         Email address        
Kristen Maye             kmaye@mtholyoke.edu  

Meeting Dates         Method         Meeting days         Meeting times         Building name         Room     Frequency    
01/27/2026 - 05/12/2026   Seminar   Tuesday and Thursday   10:30AM - 11:45AM   CLAP - Clapp Laboratory   225   Weekly

REGISTRATION DETAILS

Requisite Courses        
None                    

Comments        
Additional Comments        
Course Tags        
ENGL0002   ENGL-RP: Race, Power, and Difference   This course has been approved to count towards the English major's Race, Power, and Difference Disciplinary Perspectives requirement.  
AFRAM0002   AFRAM: African American concentration   This course has been approved to count towards the concentration in African American Studies within the African & African-American Studies major and minor.  
AFCNA0001   AFCNA: Africana Studies major   This course has been approved to count towards the Africana Studies major and/or minor.  
AFCNA0001   AFCNA: Africana Studies minor   This course has been approved to count towards the Africana Studies major and/or minor.  
CRPE0001   CRPE-1: CRPE - Major Pathway/Minor   This course has been approved to count towards the CRPE major pathway and the CRPE minor.  
CRPE0002   CRPE-2: Africana Studies - Major Pathway/Minor   This course has been approved to count towards the CRPE Africana Studies major pathway and the CRPE Africana Studies minor.  
CRPE0003   CRPE-3: Critical Social Thought - Major Pathway   This course has been approved to count towards the CRPE Critical Social Thought major pathway.  
CRPE0007   CRPE-RE: Representation Courses   This course has been approved to count towards the CRPE Representation requirement.  
ENGL0003   ENGL-TM: Theory and Methods   This course has been approved to count towards the English major's Theory and Methods  

Cross-listed Sections        
None  

Course Availability
Section status: Open     Capacity: 18     Enrollment: 17     Available: 1     Waitlist: 0

BOOK INFORMATION

Book List         Required         Publisher Full Price        
To be determined.                    

Additional Book Comments        
This is NOT the complete book list for this class.