Ayanah Moor--"ThugNiggaIntellectual"
Spring 2011
(Il)Legible Black Masculinities
AAAS-299S-02
Tuesday 6:00pm-8:25 pm
Mark Anthony Neal, Ph.D.
Ernestine Friedl Building, room 240
Duke University
Stereotypes that circulate in contemporary American culture of black bodies are premised on the idea that said black bodies are legible to the average American. The “legible” black male body, for example, is often a criminal body and/or a body in need of policing and containment thus “legible” black male bodies ironically bring welcome relief—a comforting sameness—and it is this logic and comfort that this course aims to disturb by suggesting the radical potential of rendering “legible” black masculinities as “illegible,” while simultaneously rendering so-called “illegible” black masculinities as “legible.”
The course will utilize contemporary and emergent theorists and practitioners including, Francesca Royster, Grant Farred, Marc Lamont Hill, Aaronette White, Marlon Riggs, Michael Ray Charles, Louis Chude Sokei, Sylvester, ArchBishop Carl Bean, Bert Williams, Jay Z, the DeepDickollective, David Simon, Danny Hoch, Richard Iton, Monica Miller and Dave Chappelle, Grace Jones, Avery Brooks, David Simon, Idris Elba, Hank Willis Thomas, Paul Beatty, Jack Johnson, Moms Mabley, Michael Jackson, Byron Hurt, Queen Latifah Walton Muyumba, Darieck Scott, Spike Lee, Charles Burnett and others.
Texts
Grant Farred—What’s My Name: Black Vernacular Intellectuals
Walton Muyumba—The Shadow and the Act: Black Intellectual Practice, Jazz Improvisation, and Philosophical Pragmatism
Riche Richardson—Black Masculinity And the U.S. South: From Uncle Tom to Gangsta
Louis Chude Sokei—The Last Darky: The Last 'Darky': Bert Williams, Black-on-Black Minstrelsy, and the African Diaspora
Geoffrey C. Ward—Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
Carl Bean—I Was Born This Way: A Gay Preacher's Journey through Gospel Music, Disco Stardom, and a Ministry in Christ
Darieck Scott—Extravagant Abjection: Blackness, Power, and Sexuality in the African American Literary Imagination
Jay Z w/Dream Hampton) – Decoded
Charise Chaney—Brothers Gonna Work It Out: Sexual Politics in the Golden Age of Rap Nationalism
WEEK ONE—JANUARY 18
Introductions
WEEK TWO—JANUARY 25: TO BE A BLACK MAN IN AMERICA?
Primary Readings:
Black Masculinity And the U.S. South: From Uncle Tom to Gangsta
– Riche Richardson
WEEK THREE—FEBRUARY 1: THE DANCING, SINGING, AUTHENTIC (?) BLACK MALE
Primary Readings:
The Last 'Darky': Bert Williams, Black-on-Black Minstrelsy, and the African Diaspora
~ Louis Chude-Sokei
“Damned Funny: The Tragedy of Bert Williams”, William McFerrin Stowe, Jr.
(Journal of Popular Culture, Vol. X Issue 1 , Summer 1976, 5-13) PDF
WEEK FOUR—FEBRUARY 8: BIRTH OF THE BLACK ATHLETE
Primary Readings:
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
—Geoffrey C. Ward
“Snap That Tiger”
—Mark Anthony Neal (http://newblackman.blogspot.com/2010/01/snap-that-tiger.html)
Screening: Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson (dir. Ken Burns, 2005)
WEEK FIVE—FEBRUARY 15: MAKING A WAY, OUT OF NO WAY
Primary Reading:
The Shadow and the Act: Black Intellectual Practice, Jazz Improvisation, and Philosophical Pragmatism
—Walton Muyumba
“Jazz and Male Blackness: The Politics of Sociability in South Central Los Angeles”
—Joao H. Costa Vargas (Popular Music and Society, Volume 31, Issue 1 February 2008 , pages 37 –56)
“John Coltrane's Style of Jazz and the Improvisational Lives of Profeminist Black Men”
—Aaronette White (Journal of African American MenVolume 6, Number 3, 3-28)
WEEK SIX—FEBRUARY 22: THE SOUL OF BLACK MEN
Primary Reading:
“Queer figurations in the media: Critical reflections on the Michael Jackson sex scandal”
--John Erni (Critical Studies in Media Communication,Volume 15, Issue 2 June 1998 , pages 158 – 180)
“Trapped in the Epistemological Closet: Black Sexuality and the “Ghettocentric Imagination”
--C. Riley Snorton (Souls, Volume 11, Issue 2 April 2009 , pages 94 – 111)
“Any Love: Silence, Theft and Rumor in the work of Luther Vandross,”
--Jason King (Callaloo 23:1 2000).
““Feeling like a woman, looking like a man, sounding like a no-no”: Grace Jones and the performance of Strangé in the Post-Soul Moment”
--Francesca Royster (Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory, Vol 19, Issue 1 March 2009 , pages 77 – 94)
WEEK SEVEN—MARCH 1: WRITING IS FIGHTING
Primary Reading:
Grant Farred—What’s My Name: Black Vernacular Intellectuals
Screening: Ring of Fire: The Emilie Griffith Story (dir. Dan Klores and Ron Berger)
WEEK EIGHT—MARCH 15: TRAPPED IN MOTOWN’S CLOSET
Primary Readings:
Carl Bean—I Was Born This Way: A Gay Preacher's Journey through Gospel Music, Disco Stardom, and a Ministry in Christ
“‘Will the Big Boys Finally Love You’: The Impossibility of Black Male Homoerotic Desire and the Taboo of Black Homosexual Solidarity in Thomas Glave’s ‘Whose Song?’”
--Eva Tettenborn’s (Callaloo 26.3 (2003), 855-866)
“The Lost Boys of Baltimore: Beauty and Desire in the Hood”
--James S. Williams (Film Quarterly , Volume 62 (2) Dec 1, 2008)
Screening: Looking for Langston (dir. Isaac Julien, 1991)
WEEK NINE—MARCH 22: DANCE TO THE MUSIC
Primary Readings:
Darieck Scott—Extravagant Abjection: Blackness, Power, and Sexuality in the African American Literary Imagination
“Against Bipolar Black Masculinity: Intersectionality, Assimilation, Identity Performance, and Hierarchy”
--Frank Rudy Cooper (39 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 853 2005-2006)
Screening: Killer of Sheep (dir. Charles Burnett, 1977)
WEEK TEN—MARCH 29: DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE
Primary Readings:
Charise Chaney—Brothers Gonna Work It Out: Sexual Politics in the Golden Age of Rap Nationalism
“Scared Straight: Hip-Hop, Outing, and the Pedagogy of Queerness,”
--Marc Lamont Hill (The Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies 31 (2009), 29.)
Screening: A Huey P. Newton Story (dir. Spike Lee, 2001)
WEEK ELEVEN—APRIL 5: REAL RECOGNIZE REAL
Primary Readings:
Jay Z w/Dream Hampton) – Decoded
“Punked for Life: Paul Beatty's The White Boy Shuffle and Radical Black Masculinities”
--L.H. Stallings (African American Review Volume 43, Number 1, Spring 2009)
Screening: Jean Michel Basqiuat: Radiant Child (dir. 2010)
WEEK TWELVE—APRIL 12: ROUND BOXES
Primary Readings:
“‘The Rain Comes Down’”: Jean Grae and Hip-Hop Heteronormativity”
-- Shante Paradigm Smalls (American Behavioral Scientist January 2011; 55 1)
“Owning Black Masculinity: The Intersection of Cultural Commodification and Self-Construction in Rap Music Videos”
-- Murali Balaji—“Communication, Culture & Critique Volume 2, Issue 1, pages 21–38, March 2009
Screening: Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes (dir. Byron Hurt, 2005)
WEEK THIRTEEN—APRIL 19: SQUARE CIRCLES
Primary Readings:
“Reconstructing Manhood; or, The Drag of Black Masculinity”
--Rinaldo Walcott (Small Axe 2009 13(1):75-89)
“The Ruse of Engagement: Black Masculinity and the Cinema of Policing”
--Jared Sexton (American Quarterly, Volume 61, Number 1, March 2009, pp. 39-63)
Screening: Still Black: A Portrait of a Black Transman (dir. Kortney Ryan Ziegler)
The course will utilize contemporary and emergent theorists and practitioners including, Francesca Royster, Grant Farred, Marc Lamont Hill, Aaronette White, Marlon Riggs, Michael Ray Charles, Louis Chude Sokei, Sylvester, ArchBishop Carl Bean, Bert Williams, Jay Z, the DeepDickollective, David Simon, Danny Hoch, Richard Iton, Monica Miller and Dave Chappelle, Grace Jones, Avery Brooks, David Simon, Idris Elba, Hank Willis Thomas, Paul Beatty, Jack Johnson, Moms Mabley, Michael Jackson, Byron Hurt, Queen Latifah Walton Muyumba, Darieck Scott, Spike Lee, Charles Burnett and others.
Texts
Grant Farred—What’s My Name: Black Vernacular Intellectuals
Walton Muyumba—The Shadow and the Act: Black Intellectual Practice, Jazz Improvisation, and Philosophical Pragmatism
Riche Richardson—Black Masculinity And the U.S. South: From Uncle Tom to Gangsta
Louis Chude Sokei—The Last Darky: The Last 'Darky': Bert Williams, Black-on-Black Minstrelsy, and the African Diaspora
Geoffrey C. Ward—Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
Carl Bean—I Was Born This Way: A Gay Preacher's Journey through Gospel Music, Disco Stardom, and a Ministry in Christ
Darieck Scott—Extravagant Abjection: Blackness, Power, and Sexuality in the African American Literary Imagination
Jay Z w/Dream Hampton) – Decoded
Charise Chaney—Brothers Gonna Work It Out: Sexual Politics in the Golden Age of Rap Nationalism
WEEK ONE—JANUARY 18
Introductions
WEEK TWO—JANUARY 25: TO BE A BLACK MAN IN AMERICA?
Primary Readings:
Black Masculinity And the U.S. South: From Uncle Tom to Gangsta
– Riche Richardson
WEEK THREE—FEBRUARY 1: THE DANCING, SINGING, AUTHENTIC (?) BLACK MALE
Primary Readings:
The Last 'Darky': Bert Williams, Black-on-Black Minstrelsy, and the African Diaspora
~ Louis Chude-Sokei
“Damned Funny: The Tragedy of Bert Williams”, William McFerrin Stowe, Jr.
(Journal of Popular Culture, Vol. X Issue 1 , Summer 1976, 5-13) PDF
WEEK FOUR—FEBRUARY 8: BIRTH OF THE BLACK ATHLETE
Primary Readings:
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
—Geoffrey C. Ward
“Snap That Tiger”
—Mark Anthony Neal (http://newblackman.blogspot.com/2010/01/snap-that-tiger.html)
Screening: Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson (dir. Ken Burns, 2005)
WEEK FIVE—FEBRUARY 15: MAKING A WAY, OUT OF NO WAY
Primary Reading:
The Shadow and the Act: Black Intellectual Practice, Jazz Improvisation, and Philosophical Pragmatism
—Walton Muyumba
“Jazz and Male Blackness: The Politics of Sociability in South Central Los Angeles”
—Joao H. Costa Vargas (Popular Music and Society, Volume 31, Issue 1 February 2008 , pages 37 –56)
“John Coltrane's Style of Jazz and the Improvisational Lives of Profeminist Black Men”
—Aaronette White (Journal of African American MenVolume 6, Number 3, 3-28)
WEEK SIX—FEBRUARY 22: THE SOUL OF BLACK MEN
Primary Reading:
“Queer figurations in the media: Critical reflections on the Michael Jackson sex scandal”
--John Erni (Critical Studies in Media Communication,Volume 15, Issue 2 June 1998 , pages 158 – 180)
“Trapped in the Epistemological Closet: Black Sexuality and the “Ghettocentric Imagination”
--C. Riley Snorton (Souls, Volume 11, Issue 2 April 2009 , pages 94 – 111)
“Any Love: Silence, Theft and Rumor in the work of Luther Vandross,”
--Jason King (Callaloo 23:1 2000).
““Feeling like a woman, looking like a man, sounding like a no-no”: Grace Jones and the performance of Strangé in the Post-Soul Moment”
--Francesca Royster (Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory, Vol 19, Issue 1 March 2009 , pages 77 – 94)
WEEK SEVEN—MARCH 1: WRITING IS FIGHTING
Primary Reading:
Grant Farred—What’s My Name: Black Vernacular Intellectuals
Screening: Ring of Fire: The Emilie Griffith Story (dir. Dan Klores and Ron Berger)
WEEK EIGHT—MARCH 15: TRAPPED IN MOTOWN’S CLOSET
Primary Readings:
Carl Bean—I Was Born This Way: A Gay Preacher's Journey through Gospel Music, Disco Stardom, and a Ministry in Christ
“‘Will the Big Boys Finally Love You’: The Impossibility of Black Male Homoerotic Desire and the Taboo of Black Homosexual Solidarity in Thomas Glave’s ‘Whose Song?’”
--Eva Tettenborn’s (Callaloo 26.3 (2003), 855-866)
“The Lost Boys of Baltimore: Beauty and Desire in the Hood”
--James S. Williams (Film Quarterly , Volume 62 (2) Dec 1, 2008)
Screening: Looking for Langston (dir. Isaac Julien, 1991)
WEEK NINE—MARCH 22: DANCE TO THE MUSIC
Primary Readings:
Darieck Scott—Extravagant Abjection: Blackness, Power, and Sexuality in the African American Literary Imagination
“Against Bipolar Black Masculinity: Intersectionality, Assimilation, Identity Performance, and Hierarchy”
--Frank Rudy Cooper (39 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 853 2005-2006)
Screening: Killer of Sheep (dir. Charles Burnett, 1977)
WEEK TEN—MARCH 29: DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE
Primary Readings:
Charise Chaney—Brothers Gonna Work It Out: Sexual Politics in the Golden Age of Rap Nationalism
“Scared Straight: Hip-Hop, Outing, and the Pedagogy of Queerness,”
--Marc Lamont Hill (The Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies 31 (2009), 29.)
Screening: A Huey P. Newton Story (dir. Spike Lee, 2001)
WEEK ELEVEN—APRIL 5: REAL RECOGNIZE REAL
Primary Readings:
Jay Z w/Dream Hampton) – Decoded
“Punked for Life: Paul Beatty's The White Boy Shuffle and Radical Black Masculinities”
--L.H. Stallings (African American Review Volume 43, Number 1, Spring 2009)
Screening: Jean Michel Basqiuat: Radiant Child (dir. 2010)
WEEK TWELVE—APRIL 12: ROUND BOXES
Primary Readings:
“‘The Rain Comes Down’”: Jean Grae and Hip-Hop Heteronormativity”
-- Shante Paradigm Smalls (American Behavioral Scientist January 2011; 55 1)
“Owning Black Masculinity: The Intersection of Cultural Commodification and Self-Construction in Rap Music Videos”
-- Murali Balaji—“Communication, Culture & Critique Volume 2, Issue 1, pages 21–38, March 2009
Screening: Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes (dir. Byron Hurt, 2005)
WEEK THIRTEEN—APRIL 19: SQUARE CIRCLES
Primary Readings:
“Reconstructing Manhood; or, The Drag of Black Masculinity”
--Rinaldo Walcott (Small Axe 2009 13(1):75-89)
“The Ruse of Engagement: Black Masculinity and the Cinema of Policing”
--Jared Sexton (American Quarterly, Volume 61, Number 1, March 2009, pp. 39-63)
Screening: Still Black: A Portrait of a Black Transman (dir. Kortney Ryan Ziegler)
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