This course explores Afro-Surrealism as a genre that challenges reality, illuminates hidden truths, and reimagines possibilities. Students will engage with the works of poets like Henry Dumas, Danez Smith, Porsha Olayiwola, Suzanne Cesaire, Krista Franklin, Wangechi Mutu, the Nardal sisters and other influential writers to uncover how Afro-Surrealism navigates the intersections of identity, power, and history through the lens of the surreal. By studying its roots and contemporary iterations, students will learn how Afro-Surrealism challenges traditional narratives and offers transformative approaches to storytelling. Participants will leave equipped to craft work that reimagines reality, disrupts conventions, and resonates with cultural depth.

Course Takeaways:
•        Develop a list of contemporary and established afro-surrealist writers.
•        Experiment with genre-based practices to further develop understanding of speculative fiction and creative writing.  
•        Reflect on your current writing practice while expanding your writer’s tool box.
•        Collaborate with other writers to explore major themes of afro-surrealism in poetry.

Course Expectations:
•        Delve into disciplinary inquiry of afro-surreal principles based on seminal genre-defining texts.
•        Closely read and engage in discussions on both the mechanics and craft of influential afro-surrealist creative writers.
•        Engage in writing prompts which are designed to generate new ideas and implement novel practices.Critical Ethnic Studies 2000-level seminars introduce students to the complexities and nuances of intersectionality, gender, disability, decolonial theory & philosophy, in imperialist and non-imperialist societies. 2000-level seminars may incorporate one or more of the following interdisciplinary fields of critical ethnic studies: Africana studies, African-American Studies, Asian American studies, Indigenous studies, Chicano/a /x, and Latino /a/x studies, border studies, cultural studies, critical disability studies, critical gender studies, and global racialized and global silenced communities.

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