ENGL2470 · English
Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences
This course asks: what do discussions of contemporary social issues look like when depicted in popular literatures written by writers of African descent? What is the benefit of fictionalizing these issues in genre literatures? Students address these questions by examining the forms of "speculative fictions" (specifically thriller, science fiction/fantasy, and mystery/detective) as well as urban romance to determine how each represents concerns of twentieth/twenty-first century black peoples in the U.S., Canada, Jamaica, and Martinique. Our focus on these genres' explorations of race, class, culture, incest, social engineering, and intimate relationships is complemented by socio-historical studies of these issues and countries.
Course experience
Averages use the original five-point historical evaluation scale.
Organization
4.4 / 5
How well the course was organized
Challenge
4.6 / 5
How intellectually challenging students found it
Attendance
4.6 / 5
How necessary attendance was
Assignments
4.3 / 5
How helpful assignments were
Weekly effort
~5
hours per week
Estimated from the original workload response buckets. Individual sections may differ.
Instructor options
Ratings below reflect only recovered evaluations connected to this course.
Across time
Section-level results available in the recovered archive.
Fall 2024
1 sectionSpring 2023
1 sectionFall 2021
1 sectionSpring 2020
1 section