History 197
Spring 1996
Mr. Sabean

This course is suggested by an argument in Paul Gilroy's Black Atlantic, which considers the problem of slavery and domination to be at the core of any understanding of the process of modernity. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the philosopher Hegel put the problem of the lord and bondsman towards the beginning of his grand vision of philosophy in the Phenomenology of Spirit Either directly or indirectly many writers who have dealt with the issues have struggled with this text. Gilroy argues that even a figure like Frederick Douglass, who appears to write a text about his unmediated, direct experience, frames his account in a dialogue with European literature. In this course, we will begin by reading Hegel's difficult text and continue to read ways in which his problematic has been taken up in accounts of slavery, race, colonialism, gender, and popular culture. We will read considerable sections in Gilroy's book and consider ways in which modernity might be implicated in issues of domination and resistance.

Considerable emphasis will be placed on writing assignments. A paper based on the assignment will be due each week. The first paper will be based on the reading assignment for week 2, Hegel's discussion of the lord/bondsman relationship, and should be five pages in length. The point is not to summarize his argument but to find a problem of interpretation or an issue to clarify in the text. The papers for the rest of the course will be iterative, with each subsequent reading assignment incorporated in the original paper. The final paper (on which the grade will be based) should be 20-25 pages in length. Its shape will be determined by the problem worked out in the course of reading. Some students will want to explore the original issue adumbrated by Hegel, while others will want to emphasize a later text, such as Fanon's or de Beauvoir's.

During the course of the seminar, it is expected that grammatical errors will disappear. Students should consult a standard grammar. I suggest memorizing Strunk and White, Elements of Style. All paper assignments will be due in class, and late papers will be graded down..

Attendance and participation in discussion is mandatory.
 
 

Week I:  Introduction
April 3

Week 2
April 10
G.W.F. Hegel, Phenomenology of spirit, pp. 111-138.

Alexandre Kojeve, Introduction to the Reading of H (on
reserve), pp. 31-70.

Week 3
April 17
Narrative Of Frederick Douglas, An American Slave, Written by Himself

Paul Gilroy, The Black Atlantic (on reserve), pp. 41-71.

Week 4
April 24 Life and Times of Frederick Douglas

Paul Gilroy, The Black Atlantic (on reserve), pp. 187-223.

Week 5
May 1
Sources relating to the Margaret Garner fugitive slave case (course reader)

Julius Yanuck, "The Garner Fugitive slave Case," Mississippi Valley Historical Review 40 (June 1953), pp. 47-66 (on reserve)

Herbert Aptheker, "The Negro Woman," in Masses and Mainstream 2 (Feb. 1949), pp. 10-17 (on reserve)

Week 6
May 8
Toni Morrison, Beloved

Week 7
May 8
W.E.B. Dubois, Souls of Black Folk

Paul Gilroy, Black Atlantic (on reserve), pp. 111-45

Week 8
May 22
Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks

 Week 9
 May 29
Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex

Luce Iragaray, "Any Theory of the "Subject' Has Always been Appropriated by the 'Masculine'," in Speculum of the Other Woman (on reserve), pp. 133-46.

Week 10
 June 5
Joseph Losey's film, "The Servant" (1963)