Music and The Black Radical Imagination

This seminar introduces students to key texts on histories and theories of Black radicalism, and spotlights the role of the imagination and creativity within modern Black political struggles. Building on the foundational scholarship of Cedric Robinson, Robin D. G. Kelley, and others, students will investigate how the philosophical and ideological foundations of the Black Radical Tradition have been nurtured and transmitted across time and space as culture. Special emphasis will be placed on the study of sound, music, and performance as manifestations of the Black radical imagination, from the era of Atlantic slavery to the contemporary Black Lives Matter Movement.