GS 330 2DG - Harlem Renaissance in Paris

Minimum Credit(s) Awarded: 4
Maximum Credit(s) Awarded: 4

France has long been a destination for African Americans seeking to escape to a culture that wasin some important waysmore racially tolerant than that of the United States. In the 1920s, prominent black American artists, thinkers, writers, and musicians made pilgrimages to France as others had done before them. Their experiences intersected in complicated ways with both American and French ideas of liberty and social identity. Their interactions with black artists and thinkers from Africa and the Caribbean deepened their understandings of racism and colonialism. In this course, we will study the expressions of these African American artists and writers to find our own inspiration and apply their notions of freedom and justice to contemporary social issues.

At the heart of this course is travel to Paris, where we will explore cultural and historic sites related to prominent black American, French, and African creative and intellectual communities. We will also visit areas of Paris that are significant for contemporary black French and diasporic communities. Throughout the semester, students will reflect upon what they are learning about themselves and their role in a multiracial and global society, and about their understanding of the experiences of black American artists and writers in France. For our COR 2 project, students will curate their own digital archives that focus on African American expatriate experiences and aesthetic productions, and on their own and others’ experiences of metropolitan life and culture both a century ago and in our contemporary world. Requires travel to Paris with additional cost for travel. Cross-listed ETHS 340

Prerequisite(s): Completion of COR 1 or COR 199 or COR 199 in progress; two full-time semesters of college credit, excluding retro credits, AP credits, and college credit earned while in high school.