The main goal of the course is for students to gain a clear grasp of African American Gothic literature as a
genre and to come to their own understanding of what “African American Gothic”
means. In doing so, students should come to understand and identify the Gothic (and most, if not all, of its sub-genres), Africanism, and Americanism as genres.Furthermore, the course will
allow students to meet the department goals by empowering them to think
critically not only about literature, history, race relations, politics, and
academia, but also write about it. By defining significant works of Gothic,
American, and Black literature, students will engage within the framework of
multicultural and multiracial societies and communities.
To meet the department objectives, students will study a peculiar aspect of the African American experience: horror, dread, violence, the supernatural, mystery, distress, and gloom. While these Gothic elements appear throughout the lived African American experience, the course will allow students to see the translation of these concepts through the power of the written word. The global Black experience will be understood in new terms throughout the entirety of the course. While students will be encouraged to understand the global Black experience as it is presented throughout the course, the expectation will be for students to understand the Black experience in relation to Africana texts, the Transatlantic slave trade, and the resulting transmittal of ideas (and in the case of this course, the transmittal and rewriting of the Gothic).
With these goals in mind, it is extremely important that an ethical teaching philosophy be adapted and communicate. As Victor Okafor explains, "teaching Africology is not like teaching an abstract subject like mathematics" and teachers of the discipline "must be instructive" (101). In other words, it is necessary that instruction of the course be based on an understanding of "the wholism of the African world," (i.e. Africa and its Diaspora) (101). The instruction of this course will thus be distinguishable from many European-derived disciplines and courses. Again, that is not to say that the Africological framework replaces Eurocentricity, but instead offers another view to students in Afrocentric teaching and learning.
