ClassInfo - Spring 2020 Political Science Classes

Spring 2020 | POL 4210 Section 002: Topics in Political Theory -- Black Political Thought: Conceptions of Freedom (66147)

Instructor(s): Anuja Bose
Class Component:: Lecture
Credits:: 3 Credits
Grading Basis:: Student Option
Instructor Consent:: No Special Consent Required
Instruction Mode:: In Person Term Based
Class Attributes:: Topics Course
Times and Locations:: Regular Academic Session

01/21/2020 - 05/04/2020

Tue, Thu 09:45AM - 11:00AM

UMTC, West Bank

Blegen Hall 240
Enrollment Status:: Open (20 of 30 seats filled)

Course Catalog Description:: Topics in political theory, as specified in Class Schedule.
Class Notes:: http://classinfo.umn.edu/?a-bose+POL4210+Spring2020
Class Description:: On January 21, 1964, Ella Baker, one of the most important Black leaders of the Civil Rights Movement stood in front of large crowd in Hattiesburg, MS & said: "Even if segregation is gone, we will still need to be free; we will still have to see that everyone has a job. Even if we can all vote, but if people are still hungry, we will not be free. Remember, we are not fighting for the freedom of the Negro alone, but for the freedom of the human spirit, a larger freedom that encompasses all mankind."

With these words, Baker held before the crowd a political vision that went beyond the immediate goals of social struggle & defined one of the central impulses of Black political thought: to articulate a large & expansive conception of freedom. In this course, our main objective is to enter an intellectual terrain of rich & vibrant debates between African American political thinkers over the meaning of Black freedom.

We will explore questions about 1) the geographical reach of their visions of freedom 2) their strategies for agitating for & achieving freedom 3) their different understandings of the nature of domination & how this informs their conception of freedom & 4) their emphasis on political affect in the struggle for freedom.

Our orientation will be historical & theoretical. To this end, we reconstruct theoretical debates from four important periods of African American history 1) pre-Civil war debates about the Abolition of slavery (1830-1860) 2) Turn of the century debates about racial progress (1880-1910) 3) Civil rights era debates about integration & separatism (1950-1970) & 4) contemporary debates about law enforcement, police killings, mass incarceration & political disenfranchisement (1990-).

As we move through these four historical periods, we will examine the ways in which African American political thinkers articulated conceptions of freedom that sought to transform the American polity & the world at large.
Textbooks:: https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/66147/1203
Instructor Supplied Information Last Updated:: 12 December 2019

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