Freedom in Black and White: Black Philosophical Literature and the “Western” Canon
This course was available in the past and may be presented again as part of the Open Enrollment curriculum.
The relationship between African American philosophical literature and the western canon is complex. Whereas great works of European literature have had an undeniable influence on the work of many black authors, the racially inflected inaccessibility, elitism, and bigotry with which the canon has been associated raise the question of whether that influence is entirely positive. As a result, the relationship has received countless opinions. Some individuals celebrate the connections, others deny its value, and still others recognize it as a singular dimension of African American philosophical literature. This course takes up the subject by analyzing the work of James Baldwin and Toni Morrison - two authors who simultaneously drew from and critiqued established works from the Western tradition and the growing American canon. After beginning with close readings of one major work by each of the authors, you will then shift to canonical works that influenced those books, move on to scholarly analyses of those connections, and end by reading the authors' own reflections on the canon. Throughout this process, we will note the differences between the authors' self-identified relationships with the canon and those outlined by scholars and critics.