0ATo refer to "social life"
is to speak of the personal and communal relationships we have with each other and the ways those complex and intimate relationships extend themselves across all of the spaces we inhabit. In this interactive and dialogic course we will consider the form and function of black social life by way of specifically African American cultural practices and cultural producers. Collectively we will explore a range of forms, from reality television and dramatic film, to R&B and rap music, stand-up comedy, and black foodways, in order to get at the heart of a number of critical themes that shape and/or reflect contemporary black social life, which include, but are not limited to, twenty-first century racism, representation in popular media, the significance of black respectability and upward mobility, aesthetic value, the debate over reparations, gender and sexual politics, class ideology, and movements for social justice. Thus, by the end of the course we will be more actively attuned to how social, cultural, and political norms intersect to shape how we engage with and understand difference in the U.S. context.