In this seminar, the exploration of Modernism in Africa and in the African diaspora will be framed by the visual art and cultures of Negritude and Pan-Africanism. While Negritude began as a Francophone modernist avant-garde and Pan-Africanism as its Black Anglophone counterpart; both movements are anchored in constructing Black and African subjectivities that contradict the hegemony of colonial alienation. As a starting focal point—we will examine how the curatorial and interdisciplinary approaches underpinning Okwui Enwezor’s exhibition The Short Century have influenced African art histories. The modernisms of African cinema and architecture will also be considered within the above-mentioned framework. Often overlooked, the conceptual framings of Negritude by Black women intellectuals will be examined. The themes in this seminar will enable us to revisit the Pan-African intellectual movements and festivals that took place in the diaspora and on the continent in the early to mid-twentieth century.

This course fulfills the following Major requirements: Geographical area (D) or (E) and Chronological period (III), based on the topic of the final research paper or project.