AFRS 223 - Surrealism Across the African Diaspora

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

(Same as ENGL 223) Decades of historiographic erasure have resulted in canonical accounts of the Surrealist movement that overlook the involvement of Black artists. This course introduces students to surrealism through the work of African diasporic artists from the early to late 20th century to assess the impact they had on print culture, ethnography, as well as visual and performance art. Students learn how surrealist creative techniques that call into question the authoritative dominion of consciousness and rationalism were utilized by Black surrealists to dissent openly against Eurocentrism, colonialism, and unquestioned respect for the law. By comparison, the course also considers how Black artists’ practices that predated the arrival of surrealism converged with the movement upon its transnational growth. Assigned readings include works by Jean Toomer, Zora Neale Hurston, Jayne Cortez, Katherine Dunham, Skunder Boghossian, Wifredo Lam, Sun Ra, Aimé Césaire, Suzanne Césaire, Abdellatif Laâbi, Léon-Gontran Damas, and Amílcar Cabral. Michael Reyes Salas.

Two 75-minute periods.

Course Format: CLS