Course Highlight: African American Writers
Chenoa Baker ’21 interviews Dr. Anissa Wardi, professor of English, about the African American Writers course. African American Writers, according to the course catalogue, “introduces African-American expressive tradition, including poetry, fiction, autobiography, song and folktales from the 18th century to the present. Examining writers such as Douglass, Chesnutt, Brooks, Baldwin, Ellison, and Walker, this course works to delineate the critical and historical contours of the African American literary tradition.”
How is the Course Organized?
Dr. Wardi organizes African American Writers by themes in the book she co-edited with her dissertation adviser Dr. Keith Gilyard. Some of the themes include The Blues, The Great Migration, The Middle Passage, the South, Folklore, Environmental Determinism, and Black Feminism. The course includes mostly short-length texts but some full novels to introduce students to the field. Dr. Wardi organizes the course based on themes because many of the writers call and respond to each other so it is not as linear as chronology would present it.
During COVID-19, the instruction format shifted a bit from in-class lectures and discussions to online delivery. Dr. Wardi includes multimedia presentations with lecture notes and movie clips for students to enjoy. In many ways, an online delivery allows for more videos and the sharing of various online sources in discussions.
How Does African American Writers Embody the Values of Chatham?
“African American Writers” embodies diversity and inclusion through learning about Black life and literary traditions. Reading this literature broadens understanding or various positions and “Chatham, having the history of being a women’s college, recognizes the need to bring in positions that are not dominant or occupying the center historically,” according to Dr. Wardi. Because Chatham started out making a space for marginalized groups, namely women in the beginning of its founding, it values multiple social locations today. Wardi talks about how this class catalyzes deeper conversations when she says, “some of the ways we talk about diversity as a culture is simplistic; I advocate for reading writers, such as Cornell West, bell hooks, and Angela Davis, among others who are not always making the best seller’s lists, but they are making significant contributions to national and international discourse.”
What you Hope Students Gain from This Course?
Dr. Wardi wants students to read the texts. It is not about quizzes or essays the students write, she says, but their exposure to great Black writers. Many students come into college without much background in African American literature, so this class showcases many writers and thinkers. Since the class is a survey course, it introduces several different writers with varying theoretical positions.
Reading these creative and critical writers opens students up to the infinite possibilities within the study of African American Literature by sparking interest in special topics courses, deep-dive studies, or one-author classes. Dr. Wardi says, “Having writers help us to understand what’s happening racially in this moment allows us to understand more and have an educated discussion in this moment, but we want the tools to have those discussions.” Think of this class as the introduction to some of the writers and some of the tools to understand where we are racially currently and in the past.
What is Your Favorite Class Memory?
When students connect their real-life experiences with the text, something magical happens. “This is an academic discipline, but it also comes out of lived experience. I tell students that this is not my lived experience, so students who identify as African American have knowledge in addition to the scholarly tradition. When I did a unit on folklore, we talked about the role of a conjure woman as a position within the community. An adult male in the class talked about his late grandmother—seeing her in a new light with this literary trope. She engaged in healing but wasn’t literally a medical doctor, but in real time, he understood her communal healing. He got into folklore after that.”
Students Should Take This If…
They love reading, are passionate about social justice, and interested in African American studies. It is truly an exciting time to listen and hear the stories that the authors share with us.
Learn more about African American Writers on the Course Schedule and visit our webpage about the Cultural Studies major and African American Studies minor.
