AAST 306: Black Politics in the United States

three people marching, one holding an American flag and another with

This course is an intensive overview of African American politics segmented into three parts. Part I of the course revisits the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster and its aftermath while weighing the implications of neoliberal privatization and its role in producing contemporary inequality. Part II considers the historical origins of black ethnic politics and how the popular black liberation struggles of the 1960s and 1970s advanced and challenged racial liberalism. Part III examines the rise of the prison state and the various popular mobilizations against police violence in Ferguson, Baltimore, and beyond. The course uses historical studies, classic essays, and documentary film to move through this timeline.