HIST477

The African diaspora is a concept that attempts to comprehend the shared experiences of African-descended peoples throughout the world, particularly in the Americas. While many of these peoples identify with a particular nationality (being Brazilian, Cuban, or from the United States above or alongside being black, of color, or of African descent), many of them have forged connections with each other across national boundaries and recognized commonalities that transcend their national contexts. This class will use fiction, memoir, and recent historical scholarship to explore the history of the links that Afro-Latin American and Afro-North Americans have created in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Ultimately, the course will help us understand the historical possibilities and limitations of conceiving of African Americans as a hemispheric, transnational social group.