Jonathan Fenderson

Black women have been at the forefront of the Black radical tradition since its inception. Often marginalized in both the scholarship and popular memory, there exist a long unbroken chain of women who have organized around the principles of anti-sexism, anti-racism, and anti-capitalism. Frequently critical of heterosexist projects as well, these women have been the primary force driving the segment of the Black radical tradition that is commonly referred to as Black Feminism. Remaining cognizant of the fact that Black Feminist thought has also flourished as an academic enterprise-complete with its own theoretical interventions (ie. standpoint theory, intersectionality, dissemblance, etc.) and competing scholarly agendas-this course will think through the project of Black Feminism as a social movement driven by activism and vigorous political action for social change. Focusing on grassroots efforts at organizing, movement building, consciousness raising, policy reform, and political mobilization, Feminist Fire will center Black Feminists who explicitly embraced a critical posture towards capitalism as an untenable social order. We will prioritize the life and thought of 20th century women like Claudia Jones, Queen Mother Audley Moore, Frances Beal, Barbara Smith, Audre Lorde, Angela Davis and organizations like the Combahee River Collective, Chicago's Black Women's Committee, and the Third World Women's Alliance. At its core, the course aims to bring the social movement history back into the discourse around Black Feminism.

This seminar explores the Black Power Movement as an international phenomenon. By situating Black Power within an African World context, this course will examine the advent and intersections of Black Power politics in the United States, parts of Africa (including Ghana, Algeria, Nigeria and Tanzania), the Caribbean (Jamaica, Bermuda, the Bahamas and Cuba), South America (Brazil) and Canada. Particular emphasis will be placed upon unique and contested definitions of "Black Power" as it was articulated, constructed and enacted in each region.

Newscasters, pundits, pollsters, analysts and even politicians often think of African Americans as a monolithic population, held together by a uniform set of beliefs that run steady across the entire community. However, this simply is not the case. When it comes to politics and political thought, African Americans, and those who make up the Black population in the United States, exhibit a broad range of intra-racial diversity. Manifested along the fault lines of class, gender, age, ideology, and a number of other factors, the complexity of Black political thought is built upon the structure of both African American communities and the larger American political landscape. This course will explore the contours of Black political thought in the United States, while paying close attention to various ideologies, pivotal historical moments and major debates shaping the course of African American political life.