W.E.B Du Bois

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (1868-1963) was an American civil rights leader, Pan-Africanist, sociologist, Marxist, historian, writer, editor, and novelist. W.E.B. Du Bois was one of the most imaginative critical thinkers of the 20^th century. Even though Du Bois’s work with the NAACP and his landmark 1903 text: The Souls of Black Folk are frequently acknowledged, the vast scope and breadth of his ideas seldom receive the sustained attention they deserve.

This course will consist of close readings of the ideas and stylistic dimensions of Du Bois’s major essays and longer works. This will allow us to understand and analyze some of the concepts/arguments at the center of Du Bois’s thinking and ask how they might be relevant to contemporary conceptual and political problematics. Here are some of the topics we will discuss: the history of social science, autobiography, aesthetics, photography, the relationship between progress and history, racial uplift, race and globalization. Since Du Bois published in a wide variety of venues, we will also consider how Du Bois’s writings have been shaped by their publication history, including some recent digital presentations.

Requirements

*Regular attendance

*Essays (the first 5 pages and the second 7 pages)

*In-class participation

*Creating or editing three Wikipedia entries related to the course topic

Rules

*Laptops may only be used for class related activities; otherwise they will be taken away.

*Cell phones, pagers, etc. should be turned off during class time

*You are required to bring reading materials to class

*Please familiarize yourself with the “Avoiding Plagiarism” document posted on the Blackboard site.

*Attendance is mandatory. Missing more than one class will result in a lower grade.

Texts:

W.E.B. Du Bois, Writings (Library of America College Editions), Darkwater, The Philadelphia Negro: A Sociological Study, John Brown, Dark Princess, Black Reconstruction, Autobiography of W.E.B. Dubois, Selected Essays.

Schedule