3.0

credits

Average Course Rating

#BlackLivesMatter, #SayHerName, #ICantBreathe #IfIDieInPoliceCustody #BlackOutDay are just some of the many hashtags that black people have recently created and used on Twitter to protest police brutality and proclaim their full humanity. Over the past two decades Black people have utilized a variety of digital spaces and media to reconfigure the terms and terrain of debates and discussions on what it means to be Black in the United States and larger world. This course is an interdisciplinary investigation into the relationship between historical and contemporary cultural, social and political expressions of Blackness and the digital. More specifically, lectures, readings and class discussions will deconstruct the cultural, political economy and social construction of Blackness in the digital in an effort to uncover the ways that meanings of race more broadly and Blackness more narrowly influences and shapes Black Americans’ present social status and struggles for social justice. This course is designed to provide a “hybrid” experience, including both face-to-face (F2F) and online class meetings.