Topic for Spring 2024: Black Cinemas of North America: Theory and History
PREREQUISITES: Sophomore standing or instructor permission. Traversing the history of films produced by and for Black communities in North America, this course will explore various themes in critical race theory in order to ask how this work illuminates cinema and vice versa. Example weeks might include concepts of racial capitalism paired with Bill Duke’s 1984 film The Killing Floor, work on enslavement in conversation with the film Sankofa (Haile Gerima, 1993), and prison abolition writings in discussion with Time (Garrett Bradley, 2020). Covering a history that moves from early “race cinema” to the contemporary moment, students will explore the politics of Black film production, representation, afrofuturism and afropessimism.